History:   (Batman II #25) - Pamela Isley worked alongside Dell Paji as speculative botanists for Wayne enterprises. Paji was previously on a research team attempting to create a chemical that could harden bone upon trauma, potentially keeping soldiers safe in the field. The project was a failure, and team member Karl Helfern went mad after experimenting on himself. As Doctor death he sought to murder the rest of the research team, injecting Paji with the experimental serum, causing his bones to grow out of control and rip apart his soft tissue, killing him. Isley was horrified by both Paji�s murder and the destruction of her plant samples.

(Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death #1, 2) - Doctor Luisa Cruz knew Isley's past, and helped her get a second chance, setting her up with a job at Gotham Botanical Gardens, and a posh apartment in Canal Point. Isley was uniquely qualified to work on the Gardens genetic experimentation with plants and animals, and Albertus Grimley, the head of the Gardens, recently received a large grant to continue their work on genetics. Isley traveled to Africa for a specimen of Welwitschia miraiblis, and disposed of some thugs from a diamond mine that tried to interfere with her. Despite not being fond of children she gave a tour of her work to students from the Gotham Academy. Harley Quinn, in her civilian identity, disrupted the lesson, and convinced Isley come to a biker bar with her. Harley wasn't happy that Isley wasn't returning her calls, and was offended when Isley said she like the Gardens because she got to converse with intellectual equals. They blew off some steam beating up bikers that were harassing a waitress, but Harley decided their friendship was over when Isley said she was wasting her life over a psycho ex. Isley wasn't broken up, because she cared less and less for humanity as time went by.When she went back to work the next day she found Luisa dead, and their genetic research stolen. The police arrived, and Grimley and Victor Lee, the administrator, didn't like the attention. They insisted her poisoning death must have been an accident caused from her experiments with yew. Isley checked in on the animal / plant hybrids she'd made with Luisa and stored in her apartment, and a week later her co-worker Darshan Bapna suggested the Gardens dedicate an urban renewal space to Luisa. While clearing the lot they were attacked by two pit bulls that had clearly been abused, and Isley placated them before finding the owner and killing her for her disrespect of nature. Victor Lee told Isley to stop pushing Luisa's death as murder, and threatened to tell the police about her history as Poison Ivy. Isley's plans finally bore fruit, human plant hybrids that she thought of as her babies.

(Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death #3, 4) - She named the sporelings Rose and Hazel, and they already exhibited some of the powers she possessed. Darshan told Pam that Grimley had been murdered, and Isley suspected whoever stole her research. The police wanted to interview her, and she impatiently wished to animate the plants of the gardens and have them kill the officers, but resisted temptation. She returned home to find ehr apartment wrecked, and set up some Venus flytraps as security. Winston, who'd been harassing her at work, came over and tried to blackmail her, threatening to implicate her in the murders if she didn't sleep with him, so Pam killed him, and fed him to her plants. She had lunch with Darshan, who had blueprints of the Gardens, and showed her there was an unused wing which still possessed security, and she thought her stolen work might be there. Pam contacted Catwoman, asking for her help disabling the security, but Darshan, who'd come to return Pam's glasses, discovered the former villainesses talking. Pam let Darsham down, and he agreed to be their point man, convincing him they weren't stealing, only taking back what was hers. The abandoned wing was filled with guards, so Darshan directed them to the old steam tunnels to get in. Pam heard a voice from the Green calling for help as security fled the building. The voice said the men used her as a test subject, so she killed them, turning them to wood. Deeper in the facility they found Ivy's stolen research and Lee, who'd nearly died hiding in a freezer from the subject. The subject turned out to be a small child with green skin, and Pam promised to protect her. She was enraged to see dead and malformed sporelings Lee had created with her stolen notes, so she strangled him with vines, and prepared to destroy the building with vines before Catwoman and Bapna reminded they needed to get out of the building first and protect the wayward test subject.

Comments: Created by Robert Kanigher & Sheldon Moldoff.

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