Posted in: Batman, Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: Batman, Becky Cloonan Michael W Conrad, dc comics, harley quinn, poison ivy

Poison Ivy Gets A Redefined Origin And A New Future Today (Spoilers)

We always like to take a look at how Poison Ivy is handled by DC Comics, with all manner of contradictions. Poison Ivy was created by Robert Kanigher and Sheldon Moldoff for Batman #181 in 1966.  Partly inspired by Bettie Page, and the titular character in Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "Rappaccini's Daughter", she was originally a misanthropic botanist and biochemist who possesses a poisonous touch, enhanced physical abilities, and a supernatural control over plant life, which she uses for the purposes of ecoterrorism. The character is typically barefoot in a one-piece costume adorned with leaves and vines, with occasional variations to her skin tone. She uses plant toxins and mind-controlling pheromones for her criminal activities, which are usually aimed at protecting endangered species and the natural environment from the careless actions of humans. Originally characterized as a supervillain, she has been depicted as an antiheroine and straight-out hero.

Gerry Conway and Jack Abel first gave her an origin in World's Finest #252 in 1978. Originally Dr. Lillian Rose, PhD, a promising botanist who is poisoned by ancient Egyptian herbs as part of a heist, she survives this murder attempt and discovers she has acquired an immunity to all natural toxins and diseases.

Following the events of the DC maxi-series comic Crisis on Infinite Earths, which massively retconned DC Universe history and continuity, Poison Ivy's origins were revised in Secret Origins #36 in 1988, by Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham.

Her previous origin was now a story she made up. Now Dr. Pamela Lillian Isley, PhD, a Gotham City botanist, she studies advanced botanical biochemistry at a university under Dr. Jason Woodrue, the future Florinic Man. Isley, depicted as a shy girl who is easily seduced by her professor. Woodrue injects Isley with poisons and toxins as an experiment, causing her transformation.

In Black Orchid #1 in 1989 by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, Alec Holland, the future Swamp Thing, and his wife Linda Holland, were added to the university research class, as well as Philip Sylvain.

She nearly dies twice as a result of these poisonings, driving her insane. Woodrue flees from the authorities leaving Isley in the hospital for six months. Enraged at the betrayal, she suffers from violent mood swings, being sweet one moment and evil the next, we learn that her parents died many years ago. But she is also an agent of The Green, just as Swamp Thing is its avatar.

In the New 52 reboot, in 2013's Detective Comics #23.1, Poison Ivy's story is rewritten again by Derek Fridolfs and Javier Pina. Pamela Isley was now born with a skin condition that prevented her from leaving her home. She spent most of her limited time outside in her family's garden. Her abusive father murdered her mother and buried her in the garden, she later kills him with a poisoned kiss. Later she landed an internship in Wayne Enterprises' Bio-Chemistry division developing pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications, fired after suggesting to Bruce Wayne that the company develop chemicals that could brainwash people, then accidentally spilling the chemicals she was working with on herself, giving her powers to control plant life and immunity to all poisons and viruses.

And now today, in Batman #117 and Batman: Secret Files: The Gardener, we get another new origin for Poison Ivy and a look forward at who she will be now. With The Gardener now part of the research team.

And a reference to Jason Woodrue's first appearance in The Atom #1 in 1962 as an exile from an interdimensional world, Floria, inhabited by dryads, before that would be retconned into him as a scientist using an experimental formula to transform his body into a plant/human hybrid.

Because the science research team is back… though some participants make an early exit.

And is that a hint as to who may have lit that fire now? No longer the Conclave? But Pamela Isley is now a part of it as well again.

And rather than being a shy scientist taken advantage of, Pamela Isley is now far more of a protagonist in her relationship with Woodrue.

However it doesn't stop Woodrue from all but killing her with his experiments and restoring that Neil Gaiman/Mark Buckingham part of her origin.

As well as making Batman her chief opponent – and obsession – from the beginning.

As her powers begin to grow and expand to something far more… elemental.

As well as establishing an earlier relationship with Harley Quinn in Arkham Asylum.

And as something that was healthy for both of them.

But that Harley's involvement in the Suicide Squad…

… and their separation is what led to Poison Ivy's darker outbursts.

And, involved with The Gardener, setting up the Tom King/Mikel Janin Batman storyline Everyone Loves Ivy.

That's the one.  But also having the Gardener's actions explain why some folk thought she was out of sorts from that appearance onwards.

Maybe explaining outbursts such as this.

And in today's Batman #117 it is that which is being referred to. As, again, Harley is seen as the way to get to Poison Ivy. And the seed that The Gardener took now has a little more realisation herself.

And the Poison Ivy who was recently threatening to raze it all down to the ground.

… is the way to raise it all up instead.

And going forward, it's always going to be better, it seems, when the two of them stay together.

Will Amanda Waller see it that way?

BATMAN #117 CVR A JORGE JIMENEZ (FEAR STATE)
(W) James Tynion IV, Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad (A) Jorge Jimenez, Jorge Corona (CA) Jorge Jimenez
As the full scope of the Scarecrow's plans is revealed, a bloodied Dark Knight fights for his life, and all the lives in Gotham City, against an unrelenting, unstoppable opponent. The shocking conclusion to "Fear State" is here…Will Batman ever be the same? Backup: After what happened in the Magistrate's Skybase-01, nowhere is safe, and the Batgirls hide out in a hotel room until Babs arrives offering a plan for their future. Seer, the "Anti-Oracle," is revealed here! And who they are will make you question everything you see moving forward in Gotham… Retail: $4.99 In-Store Date: 11/16/2021

BATMAN SECRET FILES THE GARDENER #1 (ONE SHOT) CVR A CHRISTIAN WARD (FEAR STATE)
(W) James Tynion IV (A/CA) Christian Ward
She is shrouded in mystery, her motives a secret, and one cannot help but ask: Who is Bella Garten, a.k.a. the Gardener, really? Green-thumbed storytellers James Tynion IV and Christian Ward dig deep into her past and unearth the secret origin of the latest addition to Batman's rogues gallery. Learn not only how Bella Garten came to know Pamela Isley, but how she was integral to the origin of the woman who would one day be known to all as Poison Ivy. Retail: $4.99 In-Store Date: 11/16/2021

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