It had been months since the Reign of the Ripper in Gotham City, but some still felt the effects of
it. Dr. Pamela Isley was one such person. Jack the Ripper had left her lying in the streets
covered in slashes and stab wounds. She had been left for dead, saved only by the field medic
experience of the Bat-Man. Isley had survived until she was discovered by the authorities.
She was rushed to Gotham Hospital where she was left in the care of Professor Hugo Strange.
The Bat-Man had not brought her there because he had been chasing the Ripper.
Strange was the chief medical authority in Gotham, and he claimed he wished to take her into his care
because they were old friends. Before his journey to Gotham from Germany, Strange had studied under
Dr. Isley. He had been observing doctors in other fields to determine trial methods for the budding
field of psychology. Strange had then brought those notes to his mentor, Wilhelm Wundt. All of
these past events were what Strange constituted as making them “old friends.” In reality,
Isley had been annoyed that she was saddled with someone who had observed her every move. Now,
as she lay in Gotham Hospital, she was entirely unaware that Professor Strange was her physician.
Hugo Strange had very unorthodox methods.
What he considered treatment would be considered malpractice by others in his field. He used the
notes that Isley had compiled over the years. She had done extensive research on plant perception:
the theory that plants could sense and respond to speech, that they even understood it. Isley
had believed that it aided the growth and development of plants. Strange wanted to use
her research to make a name for himself; one even greater than his mentor Wilhelm Wundt.
He conducted numerous tests and experiments on Isley while she was kept sedated and restrained.
One such experiment was mithridatism, the exposure of a person to certain toxins in order to build
immunity to them. Isley had already purposely exposed herself to some of these to build
immunity, but Strange continued it on her, even taking it further than Isley had ever intended.
His intentions were truly despicable. He took his position of medical authority to the extreme and
grossly abused his power. If anyone questioned his methods of care for Isley, he had them fired
from the hospital. His reasons for conducting experiments on Isley were twofold: to see if her
notes and hypotheses had credibility, and to see if these could be implemented into a human being.
These experiments did have an effect on Isley; the stress Strange put her through caused the
pigmentation of her skin to change. Her skin became a pale—almost green—color, and her eyes
took on a reddish hue. It is still speculated what the cause of this was. Some argued that it
was an advanced form of pigmentation disorder, and others said it was due to an excess of
chlorophyll in her system. No one knows for sure. Whatever the case, the experiments that Strange
conducted on Isley had changed her, inside and out. But she would not be here for much longer.
Unbeknownst to Hugo Strange, his experiments with mithridatism had caused Isley to gradually become
immune to the sedative he had been using on her. Eventually, Isley awoke in Gotham Hospital, dazed,
confused, and in a state of great stress. The stress from the experiments gave her
immense strength and she broke free from her restraints. Hugo Strange was not currently at
Gotham Hospital. She knew that Strange had been conducting experiments on her;
she had heard him speaking and seen him in flashes as she had slowly regained consciousness. The fact
that he had experimented on her filled her with great rage. Isley waited until Strange unlocked
the door to her room and attacked him as he entered. She hit him over the head with a metal
bedpan and fled into the hallway of the hospital. Isley escaped and ran into the streets of Gotham.
She looked for any police officers she could and eventually found some on patrol.
She implored them to help her and told them that she had been experimented on. The police merely
laughed at her. Given her pale appearance, they assumed she was either homeless or a drug addict.
The police paid her no heed and left. It was then that Isley realized she would get no help from
the police. With nowhere else to turn, Isley went to her old friend Selina Kyle. Selina now led the
women’s suffrage movement in Gotham, headquartered at the old orphanage; St. Cauldwell’s. Behind the
scenes, the women in Selina’s employ were the Gotham City Sirens. They were a growing network,
but Selina gladly welcomed Isley into their fold while she recovered. During her time there,
Isley claimed to Selina that she could almost feel the plants around her. Isley stated that it was as
if she could sense them. No one paid it much heed, but scientists decades later would speculate that
something in Isley’s physiology had changed. It is theorized that she was picking up on the
chemicals plants emit when they are in danger. It was also theorized that she was possibly
detecting the electrical impulses that plants send through their systems. None of this is confirmed,
merely speculation. In any case, during her time with the Sirens, Isley’s rage continued to grow.
She wanted vengeance against Hugo Strange for his heinous actions. Isley began to plot her revenge;
something that Selina did not approve of. Selina wanted Isley to begin a new life with the Sirens.
Isley did not listen to her. She could not forgive, and she would not forget.
Isley left the Sirens behind and returned to her old lab in the city. It had been
months since she’d set foot in it. Here she gathered the resources she needed.
She used her lab to concoct a deadly toxin derived from cicuta maculata or water hemlock, common to
North America. The effects would be felt swiftly and effectively; Hugo Strange would receive a
slow, excruciating death upon being exposed to the toxin. Isley wanted this; it reflected the
pain that Hugo Strange had caused her. Isley had been to Strange’s residence before. The professor
hosted a series of functions for Gotham’s scientific community. Using this knowledge,
she armed herself with a syringe bearing the toxin she had devised. Isley went to Strange’s home and
broke in. Strange was shocked to see her there; an intruder was one thing, but having Dr. Isley—one
of his test subjects—in his home filled him with terror. Hugo, seeing the syringe in her hand,
tried to reason with her. He failed miserably; his narcissistic nature prevented him from reaching
her. His attempts to calm her down only enraged her all the more. Isley rushed at Strange and the
two struggled. Eventually, Isley managed to plunge the syringe into Strange’s arm, injecting him.
Strange stopped struggling, his movements becoming impaired by the poison.
He collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain, as Isley ran out into the night.
One of Strange’s servants found him in the main foyer and called the police.
By the time the authorities arrived, they discovered Strange’s body, still and lifeless.
After the death of Hugo Strange, Pamela Isley fled the city. The police uncovered
numerous notes and journals belonging to Strange; they were included as evidence.
Within the journals and notes they discovered the horrendous actions of the professor:
his experiments, his ideologies, and his callousness. It brought into question much
of his work at Arkham Asylum. Within these notes they found references to the experiments he had
conducted on Dr. Pamela Isley. Because of the fact that Strange’s body showed signs of a struggle,
the police assumed it had been a murder. Based on physical descriptions of Pamela Isley and
red hairs found at the scene of the crime, the police considered her the prime suspect.
The police raided her lab in the city and found numerous incriminating pieces of evidence.
They discovered remnants of water hemlock, scientific notes, the daily routine of Hugo
Strange on paper, and a number of journals kept by Isley. One journal in particular held
detailed plans for her attack on Strange. One of the final entries stated: “Like poison ivy,
I will make him suffer. He will want to crawl out of his own skin by the time I’m through with him.
Strange will pay for what he has done to me.” Even after extensive searching, the police were
unable to locate Isley. The newspapers—having learned about her journal entry—began to refer
to her as Poison Ivy. Authorities assumed she had fled Gotham, maybe even the state. In spite
of her seeming disappearance, this would not be the last that Gotham would see of Poison Ivy.