CSBG Archive
The Abandoned An’ Forsaked – Poison Ivy’s Name is Lillian Rose?!
All throughout December, we will be examining comic book stories and ideas that were not only abandoned, but also had the stories/plots specifically “overturned” by a later writer (as if they were a legal precedent). Click here for an archive of all the previous editions of The Abandoned An’ Forsaked.
Today we look at the original origin for Poison Ivy, as suggested by commenter Mr. Mxyzptlk 52!
Enjoy!
Poison Ivy has a familiar origin these days – Pamela Isley, worked with Jason Woodrue, the future Florenic Man, before she became, well, Poison Ivy.
However, that was not her original origin! Gerry Conway gave her her first origin in the pages of World’s Finest Comics #252 (in a Wonder Woman back-up story, of all places)…
That origin (including Lillian Rose for a name – which itself contradicted earlier stories that had Pamela Isley as her real name) stood for nearly a decade until Neil Gaiman came up with a better origin – one that tied her in with the Florenic Man (and eventually also Alec Holland).
So in Secret Origins #36, watch Gaiman eliminate the old origin…
And it is has been Woodrue in her origin ever since! Gaiman alluded to this new origin in Black Orchid before going into greater detail in the Secret Origins issue.
12 Comments
Bill Reed
December 9, 2011 at 6:00 pm
I had no idea Batman & Robin was this adherent to continuity.
Jacob T. Levy
December 9, 2011 at 6:55 pm
I think Gaiman made the link to Woodrue and Holland in the Black Orchid miniseries first, and then on that basis was asked to provide the Ivy story in Secret Origins.
Acer
December 9, 2011 at 10:52 pm
I find it funny how, since Poison Ivy was introduced in 1966, they didn’t include her on the old Batman show. She would’ve been a good fit.
ZZZ
December 10, 2011 at 12:32 am
I always assumed that she wasn’t on the ’66 show because she had actual super powers. It’s a weak explanation, but it is the biggest difference between Poison Ivy and the villains they did use on that show.
Omar Karindu
December 10, 2011 at 3:41 pm
Ivy didn’t have actual super powers in her 1960s appearances. Really, aside from the poison immunity thing, she didn’t have most of her now-numerous powers until the early 1990s.
Benn
December 10, 2011 at 4:07 pm
@ZZZ – Technically, don’t the Mad Hatter and Mr. Freeze also have “superpowers”?
Mr. M
December 12, 2011 at 7:00 pm
“I find it funny how, since Poison Ivy was introduced in 1966, they didn’t include her on the old Batman show. She would’ve been a good fit.”
Maybe they already had Louie the Lilac (Milton Berle), so they didn’t bother.
Goh Mifune
December 16, 2011 at 1:00 pm
“I had no idea Batman & Robin was this adherent to continuity.”
That movie gets so much unnecessary flack. Of all the live action movies, it seems that it is the most adherent to continuity, the only things that are different are Bane(wasn’t originally Bane) and Barbara Gordon(Gordon was never prominent in the movies). All the character origins are basically the same, and a secret Batgirl costume is something that Alfred would do.
Actually, Forever and Batman & Robin are the only Batman movies with the villain origins correct…
Geoff
December 17, 2011 at 8:48 am
The flack isn’t unnecessary. The movie was a terrible trainwreck and killed the Batman movie franchise for years.
Todd Hiett
December 17, 2011 at 11:31 pm
If Poison Ivy had been on the 66 show, she should have totally been played by Ann Margaret.
Paul1963
December 19, 2011 at 10:04 am
I’m reasonably certain Poison Ivy’s real name was established as “Pamela Isley” for quite some time before that “Lillian Rose” story saw print. I’d chalk it up to an editorial snafu–like the early-’70s Flash story that changed the Top’s last name from Dillon to Neyle for one–and only one–story. Whoever was editing “Wonder Woman” at the time may not have realized Poison Ivy already had a canonical real name.
Neil is a Nitwit
December 21, 2011 at 7:55 am
Poison Ivy’s powers are stupid and they should’ve stuck with the original concept and name.