What’s better for this spooky month than to deal with a little body horror! Time to deal with that storyline, the one where a blonde powerhouse of a hero becomes pregnant with a mystery baby. As this is a Power Girl blog it’s not Avengers #200, but from a complicated series of events, that started in Justice League Europe #51.
Unlike the before mentioned Marvel Comics, it’s not a one-and-done, but a series of events that kinda/sorta starts in the last issue of JLE #51.
The Ice Breaks
Justice League Europe #50 (May 1993)
Technically this isn’t anything to do with mystery baby but it quite obviously shows what was originally planned. It’s a massive event comic with the JLE and JLA, with a brief appearance of the JSA, where a villain called Sonar has captured and brainwashed a vast number of the JLE and his attack has caused Hal Jordan to lose his memory. In a fight with Sonar Power Girl tricks the villain into dropping a building on them relying on Hal to provide a protective bubble.
In this bubble, they have a moment where they bond about not knowing who they really are, remember this is during Kara’s Atlantic era. We then cut away and what happens next is left to the imagination, though she almost admits something to Doctor Light (Kimiyo) before being distracted by finding Stinky!
Oh and at the very, very end they go back to being the Justice League International.
The New World
Justice League International #51 (June 1993)
The story isn’t important here, a reborn Aztec Empire wants to take over Mexico, but all through the issue Power Girl feels nauseous.
They even mention Hal’s loss of memory this cannot be me having a tin foil hat moment!
All is Maya
Justice League International #52 (July 1993)
This issue is mostly setting up the backstory about Maya (Chandi Gupta) an Indian woman with elemental powers who was introduced relatively recently (JLE #47). At the start of the story Pee Gee, is on a diplomatic mission with Kimiyo in Bombay (now Mumbai).
At the beginning of the comic she feels a little faint, and at the very end drops a massive bombshell, she’s Pregnant!
(She is also incredibly dismissive of India, its culture and Mumbai itself, which bears no bearing on the story or subplot but I figured it was worth mentioning.)
Imposter
Justice League International #54 (September 1993)
After a month off we get an exchange between Kara and Kimiyo where Pee Gee claims there wasn’t a father, she just started being pregnant.
And she is still pregnant, this is a robot duplicate made by aliens so the JLI can go fight in a war on another planet, who have all been likewise replaced with robot doubles!
In a, for once, nice connection of the main plot and running subplot they find out about Pee Gee being a robot by conducting a sonogram to find out what happened!
Ambush
Justice League International #55 (October 1993)
After a little light space war, the real Hal asks the (real) Kara if he’s the baby daddy, only for Pee Gee to punch him for suggesting such a thing!
Apart from this lovely panel of Hal being punched, it still plays no part in the story as a whole!
Inferno
Justice League International #56 (November 1993)
Nothing much happens except for a few panels Pee Gee freaks out a little after taking an energy blast to the stomach, which to be honest I’m surprised they hadn’t done early or the whole conversation about her not fighting when pregnant. Let’s not forget that at best she might be around three to four months pregnant tops, or at least it’s you figure that each story is a month and we’ve had mostly two-parters the whole time.
Also, it has this amazing cover!
The Sacrifice
Justice League #62 (March 1994)
Apart from every now and then mentioning that she needs to keep the baby safe nothing really happens until #62 where when after reluctantly goes into a fight (because endangering the baby again). She finds that she can project a protective force field but only it seems in self-defense!
Visions of Death
Justice League #63 (April 1994)
When someone goes to attack Power Girl her mystic shield attacks her foe, though…
Immortal Truth
Justice League #64 (May 1994)
When Pee Gee tries to use the shield to go on the offensive the selfish git gets all possessive and uses his powers to knock her out!
A Whole New Ball Game
Justice League #65 (June 1994)
From there on into the cross-over era, first, it’s Judgment Day where ahead of Torchwood: Miracle Day at some point it happens that no one can die or be born!
There is a moment where Power Girl actually looks like she is along in her pregnancy as she realised that no one is being born…
From there again the Justice League is being jiggled around its membership, and things are being altered again as we go into the first follow-on from Crisis to try and fix everything they missed the first reboot ago!
At the start of Zero Hour Power Girl is now heavily pregnant, something they actually lampshade for once. And after all the time travel shenanigans the universe is once again reborn, and the series ends with her baby finally being born into the world.
Zero Hour #0, they counted down to zero, was September 1994, meaning in real-time she was pregnant for 16 months. If you take the two-parters and events it’s more or less about right for in-universe time. Though the universe was rebooted so it could be any time frame really.
So Power Girl has a baby now, that must mean that everything is rosy now and the weirdness is all done right?
Oh no, we’re just getting started…