Pamela Kramer (Earth-616)

Pam Kramer
Name	Pamela Kramer
Current Alias	Pam Kramer
Affiliation and Relationships
Relatives	Parents: Michael Kramer (father)
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Female
Eyes	Irises: Brown
Hair	Black
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Mutant
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Personal Information
Identity	No Dual
Citizenship	American
Occupation	Law student
Education	Currently in first year of Law, [[University of California, Berkeley ]]
Base of Operations	University of California, Berkeley
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Chris Claremont, Steve Leialoha
First	Spider-Woman #42 (October, 1981)
First	Spider-Woman #42 (October, 1981)

History

Pamela "Pam" Kramer was the daughter of Michael Kramer, a former pilot of an all-black American air force fighter squadron in World War II who, in 1944, had been captured in Germany and subjected to genetic alterations to make him host of, while immune to, a genocidal biological weapon called the Judas Plague. Michael, codenamed the Judas Man, was rescued and the laboratory was destroyed. As the Judas Plague required a catalyst to activate it, which was believed destroyed in the lab, Michael felt he could have a normal life and hid his past. When Michael had a daughter, the genetic changes were inherited and her body came to have the antidote to the Judas plague, even though they were unaware of it.

Living on the West Coast, Pamela grew up loving her father and, when she was old enough, she enrolled in law school at the University of California, Berkeley, with one of her professors being Adam Ishima. During Pamela's first year of college, Michael began to be harassed by thugs sent by the nihilistic villain Viper, who wanted to get Michael to spread the plague through the United States of America. Viper had obtained the catalyst that would allow him to activate the plague, and had also discovered that Pamela had the cure for the plague, so he decided to kidnap Pamela as well. After months of chasing, Michael became frightened, and Pamela saw his behavior and attitude change; despite this, Michael did not tell Pamela the reason why he was being persecuted. Eventually, Michael abandoned Pamela to try to escape the country by boat.

Pamela called the SFPD for help, but they paid no attention to her, at least not to her satisfaction. Wanting to hire a private investigator, Pamela listened to the recommendation of her professor Adam Ishima and decided to present her case to researcher Jessica Drew, who had helped Ishima's brother shortly before with good results for a reasonable price, something that Pamela appreciated because she didn't have too much money.

When Pamela went to Drew's office in the Hunter-Dulin Building in San Francisco after class, she was openly accosted by three Viper agents (Deke, Freddie and Gino) in an aircar and armed with high-tech weapons, who attempted to abduct her on the spot; Viper, eager to capture Pamela, would have gone in person but did not want it to be known that she was still alive. Although Pamela was outnumbered and forced into the aircar, she resisted long enough to attract the attention of the superheroine Spider-Woman (secretly Jessica Drew), who came to the rescue, leaving Gino behind in the building. When the other two thugs hinted that they were also interested in Pamela's father, she got a second wind, determined to confront the people who had threatened him even if it put her own life in danger, and damaged the delicate mechanisms of the aircar, causing the vehicle to crash into the ground on California Street. With two of the thugs stunned, Spider-Woman helped Pamela recover, claiming to be an associate of Drew's. SFPD Detective Sabrina Morrel showed up to arrest Deke and Freddie and take witness statements, Viper and her second Silver Samurai flew by in a second aircar to activate an explosive grafted to their hitmen and kill them (but Gino, being too far away, was unaffected). Spider-Woman pursued Viper and the Samurai, but failed to apprehend them.

Morrel then took Pamela's statement at the Hall of Justice, and when she was done, Pamela talked to Drew about officially hiring her. Pamela was unhappy with the police, who had so far done nothing about her case, and even then she felt that her father was being treated like a criminal. Drew accepted Pamela's case, but seeing that Pamela was in danger of being attacked by Viper again, Drew decided to send her to Drew's personal residence at 1 Yarbro Court, to better protect her with the help of Drew's roommate, actress Lindsay McCabe - who was sleeping when they arrived. McCabe agreed to stay home with Pamela, asking Pamela to help her rehearse, and they set up a prearranged signal for phone calls and contacts (Pamela, not being used to such situations, mistakenly picked up the phone on one occasion, but McCabe promptly hung up on her).

Somehow, however, Viper's forces discovered that Pamela had hired Drew and was hiding out at Drew's home. By this time, sorceress Morgan Le Fay had manipulated Viper into believing that she, Viper, was Jessica Drew's long-lost mother, but despite her emotional dismay, Viper went ahead with the plan and attempted to capture Pamela while sending Silver Samurai to get her. Michael; the plan was that the Samurai tailed Drew so that Drew would find Michael for them.

As Spider-Woman, Drew convinced Morrel to reinforce Pamela's defense at Yarbro Court; Morrel went there to help (although, since no one had warned them, McCabe was suspicious and demanded proof). At the house, Pamela chatted with McCabe and Morrel, rudely concluding that Morrel was probably jealous of Drew because Drew was better at her job than Morrel at hers.

McCabe developed a clear plan in case of attack: Pamela was to go downstairs, quickly but discreetly, to the ground flat of David Ishima (Drew's boyfriend and Adam Ishima's brother) who had left the door unlocked, and from there Pamela would phone the police. Meanwhile, McCabe herself would go upstairs to the roof, making noise to attract the attention of the attackers (It is unclear what role Morrel would play in the plan). This plan was put into action when Viper opened the door and entered the house; while McCabe rehearsed with Pamela in another room, Viper easily defeated Morrel, but gave away her presence. McCabe and Pamela followed the plan, and sure enough Viper took the bait and found only McCabe on the roof. Viper beat McCabe, demanding in vain that she tell her where Pamela was. In an attempt to escape, McCabe jumped off the roof dragging Viper with her, but McCabe got the worst of it, being badly injured while Viper's injuries were minor. However, by then Pamela had called the police and they were arriving; Viper was forced to flee. Morrel and Pamela had McCabe taken to Franklin Hospital and accompanied her there to the wake.

Meanwhile, Drew rescued Michael and discovered that the plague Viper had been craving had been completely nullified, meaning that Viper had no reason to bother any of the Kramers anymore. When Drew returned home and discovered what had happened, he went to the hospital, witnessing the emotional reunion between Michael and Pamela. Drew was very, very angry that her friend McCabe had been seriously harmed when Morrel should have been protecting her; Morrel explained that she had been no match for Viper.

Attributes

Powers

Judas Plague Cure: As her father Michael Kramer had been an immune carrier of the deadly Judas Plague, Viper had discovered that Pam's organism held the antidote to the Judas Plague. Since the Judas Plague had been naturally nullified by then, this cure was useless.

Abilities

Pamela was a first-year law student, and was shown to have some ability to read other people's emotions, especially people she knew intimately (for example, she noticed that her father was retired). Pamela was able to fight off Viper's thugs reasonably effectively. Although she was not used to life-threatening situations and sometimes made mistakes (such as when she picked up the phone even though she was told not to), she was quick to learn to follow instructions.

Weaknesses

Pamela didn't have much money.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Pam had a photograph of his father from one year before his disappearance.

Notes

• In Wolverine (Vol. 2) #5, Jessica Drew and Lindsay McCabe are tasked with protecting Tyger Tiger in Madripoor. McCabe reminds Drew about "the last time we 'baby-sat' someone... when I almost got killed." While unsourced, this refers to McCabe trying to protect Pamela Kramer from Viper and her agents in San Francisco in Spider-Woman #44, which ended up in McCabe being hospitalized.

Trivia

• Jessica Drew mentioned how Pam Kramer had "limited funds" available for the expenses of her P.I. job to find Michael. However, Michael claimed to have provided for her and given her everything she may have needed.
• When Jessica Drew found Michael, who was trying to escape the country, Drew appealed to Michael's paternal instincts by saying that Viper had already tried to kidnap his daughter Pamela and would no doubt do so again, so Michael's options were to confront Viper or give up, but he couldn't just run away and leave his daughter behind.

See Also

• 2 appearance(s) of Pamela Kramer (Earth-616)
• 2 image(s) of Pamela Kramer (Earth-616)

Links and References

• http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/judasman.htm#pamela