In this column, I will spotlight plotlines by writers that probably weren't a good idea at the time and have only become more problematic in retrospect. I'll try to stick with stuff that's more ill-conceived than flat-out offensive (like racist stereotypes of characters during the 1940s).
Today, based on suggestions by readers Shaun M. and Luke M., we take a look at Power Girl's magical pregnancy...
A few months back I did one of these about Ms. Marvel's pregnancy. I mentioned then that I wanted to get that one out of the way before I did this one, as they were so similar that I couldn't really do this one without people bringing up that one. So now it's time for this one!
Power Girl is famous for the problems Crisis on Infinite Earths caused with her origin. Originally she was the cousin of the Earth-2 Superman, but Crisis on Infinite Earths erased Earth-2, yet Power Girl remained. Paul Kupperberg decided to take a shot at giving her a new origin, and he decided to tie her in with one of his own creation, the ancient Atlantean sorcerer, Arion. Honestly, that idea itself almost qualifies for this column (but probably more of a "Remember to Forget" type of thing).
In Secret Origins #11 (by Kupperberg and artist Mary Wilshire), we see Power Girl's new Atlantean origin...
The whole Atlantean aspect of Power Girl was not something that Keith Giffen was particularly interested in, so when Power Girl became pretty much just a Justice League Europe character, he didn't do a whole lot with it. Even when Gerry Jones took over JLE as the scripter on the series (J.M. DeMatteis no longer wanted to script both Justice League books), nothing changed. However, when Jones took over writing duties entirely from Giffen in Justice League Europe #37 (by Jones, Ron Randall and Randy Elliot), he began to address it, including designing a new costume to reflect her heritage...
He also played up the attraction Power Girl had for her fellow Atlantean, Aquaman, as shown here in Justice League Europe #45 (by ones, Randall and Elliot)...
Next issue, while on their mission, they share a moment together...
But the following issue, Aquaman regrets it...
(the way that they depicted Aquaman in this series was seriously odd)
In Justice League Europe #50 (by Jones, Randall and Elliot), Power Girl and Hal Jordan then have a moment of their own...
Already this is getting pretty cheesy. Aquaman leaves the team in that issue, partially because of the now awkward situation between he and Power Girl.
The following issue (by Jones, Randall and Elliot now joined by Will Jacobs as Jones' co-writer) has a hint that something is up with Power Girl...
The following issue (same creative team), Power Girl and Dr. Light are on a PR mission together, and Power Girl shows some more mysterious signs of something being up with her...
At the end of the issue, she reveals why she's acting so weird...
Oddly enough, the next issue doesn't address the pregnancy at all (Power Girl is not even in the issue).
#54 starts a two-parter where the League has their minds swapped into robot duplicates of their original bodies without them knowing it (Roy Richardson has now replaced Randy Elliot as the inker on the book - everyone else remains the same). So Kara is suddenly seemingly not pregnant, but she when she discovers this, she also makes a major revelation...
By the way, later in the issue, she expresses sadness over not being pregnant anymore.
Seriously, guys? This lady just had a virgin conception and her thought is, "Wow, this is great!" and not, "What the hell is wrong with me?! Why in the world am I pregnant without having had sex?"
Dr. Light's freak out at the end was her discover that Kara was a robot. She tells Hal and Elongated Man, and Hal freaks out over the pregnancy news...
Anyhow, once that robot-body-switch story ended, Hal confronts Power Girl about her pregnancy, and does so in his own Hal Jordan-esque manner...
In #57 (guest art by Mike Collins and Romeo Tanghal), Power Girl has her first realization of "Oh, wait, fighting bad guys might be dangerous for my baby")
So in the next issue (back to Randall and Richardson on art), Power Girl tells her teammate, Maya, that she is likely going to have to take a leave of absence because of the baby...
In #61 (with new artists Chuck Wotjkiewicz and Craig Gilmore), Power Girl suddenly has a protective sphere around her when she is in danger...
She uses it again the next issue...
In #64, it goes even further, with the baby communicating with her now!!
The next issue was part of the Judgment Day crossover of the then-three Justice League titles (Justice League America, Justice League International and Justice League Task Force), and Power Girl doesn't play a huge role, just getting in a line when death and birth are temporarily frozen on Earth...
and then, the following issue (in the conclusion of the story) when they are returned...
The various Leagues all disband in the next issue. Power Girl goes off to search for someone (that someone is never named) (art by Anthony Williams)...
Go to the next page as Power Girl's pregnancy progresses quickly!
Despite not showing for 17 issues of Justice League International, Zero Hour #3 (by Dan Jurgens and Jerry Ordway) shows up and now Power Girl is nearly ready to give birth...
The next issue (Zero Hour #2), she begins labor...
In the next issue, everyone, for some reason, decides Wonder Woman is the best midwife (huh?)...
And in the end of the series, she has her kid...
So now Gerry Jones and Chuck Wotjkiewicz take over Justice League America, along with inker Bob Dvorak. Power Girl is chilling in Greece with her baby...
when a demon named Scarabus attacks them...
The baby protects Power Girl and sends the both to Atlantis, where they meet Arion...
The next issue, he explains the pregnancy...
Not cool, dude! I love how he impregnated his own granddaughter without even knowing WHY he was doing it. That is so not cool.
Anyhow, the baby gives Power Girl new powers to stop the bad guy...
And so things are seemingly back to normal...
It is so weird that she isn't naming the baby.
She decides to stay with the Justice League on their space station for safety...
Gotta say, I'm glad that superheroes were cool with a woman breastfeeding in front of them in 1994. Good for them!
But in the next issue, the baby is growing quickly...
So by the next issue (guest art by Randy Green and Andrew Pepoy), the baby is grown enough to try to leave her. She and the baby are then written out of the book temporarily as she goes to try to catch up with her growing son...
Go to the next page as the whole mess comes to a conclusion!
In #101, we see her searching for him while he avoids her...
Notice that he now has a monk helping him for some unexplained reason, and calling him master. Mysterious!!
In #105, we meet a young grad student in Thailand who comes across Power Girl's son and his monk friend battling some inter-dimensional creature...
She distracts them, and things go sideways, just before Power Girl shows up, missing her son again by only a matter of moments...
The next issue, Scarabus returns for Power Girl's son...
He then transforms the grad student into a feline creature called Civet and has her fight Power Girl.
The following issue, #107 (Wotjkiewicz by this time has had a pile of inkers. I think Drew Geraci was inking him now), Scarabus starts unleashing chaos upon the Earth, transforming people around the globe into monsters.
So the monk tries to stop him and, well, it does not go well for him...
Power Girl shows off her new powers again, but now we get the truth...
So yeah, they used the genetic material of a chaos demon and then mixed it with Power Girl's genetic material and then secretly impregnated Power Girl with that offspring. That is so messed up.
Power Girl tries to still defend her son, but then the power leaves her and goes to her son...
He introduces himself the next issue...
He and his father battle for a while, but Equinox is a bit lost because he is unbalanced, he is giving into anger at his father. Ultimately, the Justice League has to show up to give him time to center himself. Once he does, however, it is not a good time to be Scarabus (not that ANY time is particularly good to be a chaos demon)...
He then gives his mom a sort of condescending, "Really, mother, you have to get your own life."
And then, I shit you not, he's never heard of again. Ever. The Atlantean heritage is later retconned away for Power Girl and this is just never spoken of again. Jones' run on Justice League America only lasted five more issues. Power Girl skips the next couple of issues and when we pick up with her again, she's all mopey. In the final issue, the League are all captured and Blue Devil provokes Power Girl into showing her famous anger, which forces her to break free, rescuing everyone. At the end, she's basically back to the Power Girl she was before Jones' run even began, even arguing with the Flash like she used to do during the Giffen run.
Then JLA happened and she was out of the book pretty much for good (she ended up on Sovereign Seven for a while). Eventually Geoff Johns brought her over to JSA, where she ultimately got her Earth-2 Kryptonian origin back.
Man, what a mess of a story. I really do like Gerard Jones' work as a whole, but his Justice League America run had a lot of problems. Great Wotjkiewicz artwork, though!
The whole thing somehow lasted from April 1993 through December 1995. Very close to THREE years. Cuh-ray-zee.
That's it for this installment! If you can think of a good example for this column, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com.