| Character Name: | Isis |
| Real Name: | Jessica Eisen |
| Publisher: | Image Comics Bluewater Productions Devil's Due Digital Alias Enterprises |
| Debut: | Image Introduces: The Legend of Isis #1 (Feb. 2002) |
| Creators: | Darren G. Davis |
| Alliances: | The Odyssey |
| Powers: | Enhanced strength, Flight and Energy manipulation, all derived from the Staff of Luxor; Trained combat warrior. |
Isis is an American comic book character based on the goddess of the same name from Ancient Egyptian religion. Originally published by Image Comics, she has since been moved to her creator Darren G. Davis's publication of Bluewater Productions.
Originally published in February 2002 in a one-shot issue by Image Comics, Isis later appeared in The 10th Muse #10 and The Odyssey #1 - both by Tidal Wave Studios and Avatar Press. In 2005 Isis would return in her own ongoing, monthly series, The Legend of Isis at Alias Enterprises by creator Darren G. Davis and writer Ryan Scott Ottney, before the last move to Bluewater.
Although some artistic depictions of the character, such as that shown in the comic illustration at right, make her resemble the DC Comics superhero and TV character of the same name, the Image/Bluewater version has no connection.
Once a powerful warrior in Ancient Egypt, Isis fought in honorable battle with her sister, Nephtys. The victor of the battle would be wed to Osiris and welcomed into the Egyptian Pantheon as its Queen Goddess. Isis defeated her sister, but spared her life. Nephtys and her brother Set, the advisor to the throne, devised an evil spell that cast Isis 5,000 years into the future and erased her from everyone's thoughts and minds.[1]
Isis arrives in modern day Los Angeles, California and quickly draws the attention of the local police. Officer Scott Dean, feeling sorry for her, takes her into his care. Isis realizes that she has been erased from history, and Nephtys now sits next to Osiris in Egyptian Mythology. She finds the Staff of Luxor at a local museum, and says that it was pulling her to it. Once Isis is near this staff, she is empowered with great abilities by the spirit of Osiris, who now channels his power through the staff and into her hands. The staff also enables her with complete fluency in English. But touching the Staff also awakens the spirit of Set, who is now an evil demi-god. Set has come back to destroy Isis so that he may complete his agreement with the Goddess Nephtys and be granted the full power of the God of Chaos and rule the world.[1]
Scott, with the help of Crystal Van Howe (Scott's girlfriend), create a new identity for Isis to live in the modern world, and name her Jessica Eisen. "Jessica" takes on a job at a museum of Egyptian artifacts.[2]
Osiris was very much in love with the warrior Isis in his time, but an evil spell cast upon him by his advisor, Set, caused him and everyone else to forget that Isis ever existed as they cast her far into the future. Without remembering Isis, Osiris wed her sister, Nephtys, instead. Years later Nepytys and Set would devise a plot to kill Osiris, giving all power of Egypt to Nephtys. As Set carried out their plan, he told Osiris what they had done to Isis. In this moment, the spell over Osiris was lifted and he remembered everything. He used his last, dying breath to enchant the Staff of Luxor with the power of his spirit.
With his power contained within, the staff would seek out Isis wherever she may be, so that the two could be together someday and use this power to destroy the evil that tore them apart.
Jessica Eisen is the name chosen by Scott Dean for the Egyptian Goddess Isis to adopt while living in our time - named after Scott's mother (See: The Legend of Isis #1, 2005). Jessica lives a quiet life in Los Angeles, California, where she works in a museum tending to many ancient artifacts from around the globe. Her specialty is, of course, Egyptian culture.
In 2004 The Legend of Isis was optioned for a major motion picture by Paramount Studios and Grammnet Productions, with screenwriter Ali Russell.[3] No progress of the adaptation was made and the rights lapsed.