Poison Ivy: Origin One

"Born in Seattle, Washington, of a wealthy family, Pamela Lillian Isley (her full correct name, despite some confusion in print) was early attracted to botany, which became her major at college. Her professor, a frenchman named Marc LeGrand, romanced her, convincing her of his intention to marry her-as soon as he had enough money. He told her he might be able to make a fortune with a discovery based on an urn containing ancient Egyptian herbs. But only burglary could get it from the museum. Pamela was brilliant enough to do just that. What she didn't know was that the herbs were a deadly untraceable poison, and he slipped a bit into her drink when they toasted their future. He thought he was rid of the one person who knew of his part in the theft. He was wrong. Somehow, Pamela's system resisted the poison and assimilated it, making her immune to all poisons. She then took on the identity of Poison Ivy, from her interest in plants, her immunity to poison, and her initials. She has since committed a series of crimes so brilliant she was never even suspected."

The fore mentioned origin is the first interpretation of how Poison Ivy may have become the now infamous Batman villain. This origin was touched on in an issue of Dollar Comics -- World's Finest # 252, in the year 1978 (Gerry Conway - writer). But, it appears that little thought was put into how this contrived and hollow origin would stand the test of time because it was later dismissed.

Incidentally, Poison Ivy was given the civilian name of Lillian Rose through out this story and there was no mention of the name Pamela Isley. This affirms my belief that the character development of Poison Ivy, at this time, was so weak that any histories pertaining to her alter ego were all but absent. Details were penciled in without any serious consideration.

In the story containing this origin a defeated Wonder Woman discovered that the character Redwood (one of Poison Ivy's henchmen) was actually a spellbound Marc LeGrand. Though his outward appearance now resembled that of an actual tree. Wonder Woman was able to contact the true nature of Marc LeGrand by repeating his name and after he realized his mutated state was an act of revenge from the twisted mind of his former flame -- he turned against Poison Ivy.

The final panels in this story show both Redwood (LeGrand) and Poison Ivy falling over a cliff -- plunging into the watery depths below and left for dead. The final thoughts in this story are from the amazing amazon, Wonder Woman...

"In the end they've both repaid their seperate betrayls! It's not what I intended...but it was inevitable...now they have peace together...the long final peace...of the grave."

That sentiment makes me wonder if DC Comics ever intended to use the character of Poison Ivy beyond this storyline. Regardless, a certain supervillainess with a fixation for all things green appears to have had the last laugh.

Posted in: Comics,Origins