Wonder Woman Villains - Doctor Poison

[batcookies.insanejournal.com]

Before the Great Disaster, I had a few posts covering some of the lesser known Wonder Woman villains. May as well try again.

Doctor Poison was Wonder Woman's arguably Wonder Woman's first costumed/recurring villain (some argue that Ares or Hercules fit that bill).






You can check out Michael May's Adventureblog for a more in-depth analysis of Dr. Poison's first appearance. I have shamelessly "borrowed" some of his images (I have the tpb, and while I'm not a real fan of it, I'm not about to bend my copy if I can help it!).

Suffice to say, Doctor Poison is an evil Japanese mad scientist.





There's some bondage (of course! It's Golden Age Wonder Woman!)



A shocking discovery



And it ends with spanking (of course! It's Golden Age Wonder Woman!)



(I really have to go with Alan Moore in saying Marston wrote with one hand in his pocket)


We had Crisis on Infinite Earths, and then in Wonder Woman 151 Eric Luke and Matthew Clark gave us a new Dr. Poison.











Dr. Poison's "virus" has magical properties. In fact, it's derived from the blood of a demigod. Poison's an arcanobiologist, specializing in studying the biology of things far from mainstream science, like gods, techno-organic viruses, myths...





Pity about that reference to Hippolyta's tenure as Wonder Woman. Dengit, Byrne...

She most recently showed up in the crowd of Wonder Woman villains that we saw back in Heinberg's run, but it wasn't important, wasn't in character, and the less said about it the better.

Comments

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

I like the idea of the DCU actually having scientists who have devoted their careers to impossible sciences which are real there; arcanobiologist is a new one on me though!

[hyperactivator.insanejournal.com]

Now that is one classic mad scientist. Okay so Wonder Woman's Rouges Gallery consists of a cheetah woman,a mind control midget,any evil god or mythical creature or figure,a bird woman,a giant genius redhead, and a the only villain I've ever seen combine science and Magic other than Doctor Doom.

Impressive.

[dustbunny105.insanejournal.com]

I would boggle over the "delicate hands" bit but I'm too distracted by Dr. Poison's green upper arm.

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

Best part of Luke's run by far was the art. I love Poison's trenchcoat like burning. (Though the perma-grin I could most assuredly do without - Joker's got a well-established monopoly on that look and anybody else trying it now just comes across like a lame copycat. A black surgical mask she never takes off or something would be much better IMO.)

[killermoth1.insanejournal.com]

That's actually quite cool, I love how he studies poisons beyond regular science, a nice twist there. I only wish he had a better face mask, the smile and design just don't work for me, I'd rather have something that fitted in with the rest of his costume.

[perletwo.insanejournal.com]

Who is that in silhouette speaking with Dr. Poison Jr. in the last scan?

[retro_nouveau.insanejournal.com]

Bleh. I don't like this Dr. P any more than the other. I'm thinking Diana's rogues, except for Giganta and Cheetah, are pretty lame. I hope Achilles is going to be worthy.

Shouldn't she sound like Arnold Wesker if she can't move her lips?

[puregibberish.insanejournal.com]

Dr Poison has what it takes to be that rarity in comic: a genuinely scary villain. First of all her dedication to the experiment above all has some nasty callbacks to some genuine real-life cases, such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Young

Secondly, the fixed grin and wide-open eyes could potentially be even more disturbing than the Joker's. When the Joker smiles it's largely voluntary (this can vary, but for the most part), but with Dr Poison, she's going to have the same expression no matter what. If you play up the drooling a little it emphasises the sheer inhumanity of the character.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

I like the bit about Reverso's effect.

[psychop_rex.insanejournal.com]

Creeeeeeeeeeeepy. Say what you will about Dr. Poison, but in either the past or present versions, she is one disturbing mammajamma. The fixed rictus snarl/grin... the staring, unblinking eyes from beneath a mask... As the current version points out, such an expression is thoroughly inhuman, and expresses nothing, and anyone who is capable of achieving such an expression is not someone you'd care to hang around with. If you woke up on an operating table with THAT face staring down at you, you'd know you were in deep, deep trouble.
Also, it's mildly disturbing just how many cross-dressing villains Wonder Woman used to have. I've seen a panel from one Marston story where 'Evil, Inc.', an all-female team of villains, is summoned to combat Wonder Woman, and over half of them are in drag, including Dr. Poison here. (Also 'The Blue Snowman', who is not only in drag, but in drag as a SNOWMAN! Someone has just gotta post something involving 'The Blue Snowman', 'cause I'll go CRAZY if I don't find out what her deal was!)