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

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

Aw, c'mon, Retro. Arcanobiologist! She studies the very stuff of myth, and weaponizes it! People are always like "well why is this rogue particularly a Wondy rogue," and motivation is a huge, huge problem for most of them, and Poison is just completely ready-made on both those points. Why is she a Wondy rogue? Because Diana's the only one who knows what's going on when she does something! What's her motivation to come into contest with Diana? Diana is mythstuff, the very resource she uses and the very epitome of her field of study! I mean, Luke didn't do much of anything special with her, but think of the potential. The weird plagues she could create, the bizarre shit she could wake up and set loose on the world either deliberately or as a side-effect of her study, the potential to really explore the intersection of science and magic in the DCU in a way that no other character has ever touched.

Though the whole "Granddaughter of the original" is a major turn-off. If we could quietly excise that I'd like her much better.

[retro_nouveau.insanejournal.com]

Well, I hate these very rare occasions when I don't immediately think, "oh, of course, Blue's right as usual", but here's my perspective...

Diana is mythstuff, cool. But she's also a warrior who rarely has to fight any other warriors. She has sneaky mind-controllers, magicians, speedster cat people, whatever you call Angle Man, and here's a freeky Dr. Mengele. Step 1, close with villain; step 2, tap on the chin and villain is out like a light; step 3, clean up bizarre icky mess. Either that or she's got to go up against gods demi-gods, demons, etc. where she really should have Zatanna and Dr. Fate by her side -- but she gets by on her own, ok, cool again. But whether it's a stand-up, knockdown dragout, or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (your idea has a lot of merit. Of course!), I'd like Diana to think, "Oh, good! If I have to interrupt dinner and pull on my boots, I'm glad it's these people again. Another chance to flex the skills that Phillipus taught me," as she flies in to extend the chance to resolve peacefully. A tiny part of her hopes they'll decline, but that might just be Darkseid's contamination of a little bit of her soul, she easily dismisses it and begins to speak. One regularly-appearing, mega-powerful warrior is all I ask.

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

But she's also a warrior who rarely has to fight any other warriors.

Oh, for sure. My absolute fondest hope with Achilles is that he'll be a lasting martial enemy - BIRDS demonstrated that Gail has some knowledge of martial arts, so it seems not implausible to me that we might get an actual scripted fight here, a regular, powerful physical foe who will perpetuate the meme of Diana as a warrior rather than a brawler by routinely engaging her in weapons combat (improvised or formal) and showcasing blocks, throws, and actual skill. Diana getting to regularly beat the crap out of someone who's a challenge to her other than poor Clark would surely do her good.

I don't see that as a reason to dismiss Poison, though; sure she's still failing to fill that particular hole in Diana's gallery, but that doesn't mean she has nothing unique to offer of her own. So Diana has too many manipulators and not enough meatshields already - well, true. But what nobody in the entire DCU has is a particularly thorough exploration of the intersection of magic and technology, and given how key a concept that is to Diana's culture post-Jimenez, I think that too is a hole in the mythos. She could be the balance to Wacky Alkyone in the long, long-neglected exploration of Diana's culture - if Wacky Alky showcases the social aspects of Themyscira, Poison could reflect further the mechanics and environment those social aspects take place in.

[retro_nouveau.insanejournal.com]

Heh, we're definitely on the same page with Alky and Achilles. I'll give Dr. Poison a chance, as long as she's not torturing some third party to death for kicks research and development each time she shows up.

I'm totally in if I can get just one team-up with Dr. Pamela Isley, where Diana's challenges include first -- motivating Pam to give a flip about Diana's situation, and second -- keeping Pam from turning on her at a critical moment. Ok, Dr. Poison does have potential...