A villain forgoes turning over a new leaf in “Poison Ivy” #1.
Written by G. Willow WilsonCover by Jessica Fong
Illustrated by Marcio Takara
Colored by Arif Prianto
Lettered by Hassan Otsmane-ElhaouPamela Isley has been a lot of things in her life. A living god, a super-villain, an activist, a scientist, and dead. In a new body that she didn’t ask for and with a renewed sense of purpose, Ivy leaves Gotham and sets out to complete her greatest work—a gift to the world that will heal the damage dealt to it… by ending humanity.
Spinning out of the pages of Batman, DC is proud to present the unbelievable next chapter in Poison Ivy’s life by the incredible creative team of G. Willow Wilson and Marcio Takara.
Featuring a stunning cast of variant cover artists, including Warren Louw, Frank Cho, Dan Mora, Nick Robles…and introducing main cover artist Jessica Fong!
Once upon a time, Dr. Pamela Isley, better known by her supervillain name “Poison Ivy,” was an eco-terrorist without actual superpowers who mainly survived through her wits and engineered plants, rather than focusing on having plant-related superpowers of her own. With “Poison Ivy” #1, G. Willow Wilson apparently brings the sometimes-vigilante back toward these proverbial roots, creating an intriguing tale in the process.
With this new ongoing series, Wilson brings Ivy out of Gotham City. In the wake of her restoration as a single individual in the ‘Fear State’ story arc, she gravitates not toward helping to rebuild, nor toward living as a scientist (as she did in the ‘Cycle of Life and Death’ miniseries in 2016), but instead has slid back into less benevolent goals, with more than a bit of depression and perhaps suicidal tendencies. She seems more or less “done” with civilization as a whole, and seeks the death of all humans (herself included) as her means of applying herself to the world at large, rather than concentrated within Gotham City or one of the other major locations of the DC Universe’s Earth.
Under some writers, this change would possibly seem forced. However, as written by Wilson, this shift feels tragic and filled with pathos, even as her body count grows. The somber internal dialogue enhances the horrific nature of the deaths she inflicts, and the horror complements her own depression that she sees as acts of love. Coupled with the artwork and more, the writing seems to showcase her not as inherently evil or good, but merely very, very depressed and having given up on the world at large. Yes, this attitude manifests through villainous actions, but Wilson keeps Ivy from seeming completely irredeemable by having her seeming to acknowledge that what she does is not altogether good.
As a note, there is one major oddity that seems to be a plot hole in the story: the means of execution seem to be fungal in nature, which would not be in Ivy’s abilities or expertise. She claims to be connected to the Green in “Poison Ivy” #1, but Wilson’s decision to have her use fungus, which would be from a completely different elemental force (the Grey) seems out-of-character. Even so, this choice seems to be the only real problem with the writing in general.
Marcio Takara’s artwork is perfect for this series. Both detailed and stylized in variable measures, this style gives a sense of nature retaking what has been altered by humanity. His choices of where to focus, be it a wider shot or concentrating in on different facial features, gives a kind of beauty to scenes without being overly sexualized either. Meanwhile, though the use of plant life can seem beautiful in some ways, Takara also makes for absolutely horrific imagery in the form of fungal takeover of bodies, be they human or otherwise. Further, the blur on certain action scenes resonates with the brutality and ferocity of Ivy’s actions, despite her professing that she believes her story to be one of love.
The artwork Takara draws around the eponymous protagonist herself is of particular note, using her mental state to tell a lot about the surroundings. When the murder of various people is held up against Ivy’s impassive gaze, it makes her characterization become at once tragic and intensely disturbing. Meanwhile, the pure rage and general anguish she displays in the flashback feels decidedly human, giving an extreme difference between her thoughts there and those in the present day of the story itself.
Continued belowArif Prianto’s varied color palette keeps the theme of nature’s rise at the forefront, even if the Green does not respond to Ivy as it once did. Bright, verdant greens give way to primal reds and static browns or grays, all working toward a cohesive story of sacrifice and the uglier sides of nature as much as its proposed defender believes otherwise. As much as the powers at work are allegedly an attempt to bring back a nature-based order of things, Prianto’s colors keep readers from fully forgetting how warped Ivy’s mental state has become in the wake of a loss of much of her power and a perceived betrayal.
The lettering, provided by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, further helps to characterize the world. Whispers are given the use of lowercase and uppercase letters (compared to normal tones being entirely the latter). More potently, Ivy, and only Ivy, has colored dialogue bubbles, a soft green compared to their white. While her powers are downplayed significantly in this take on the story (perhaps as a way to avoid the attention of the Batman family or the Swamp Thing), that choice of coloration helps to address that she is not a normal human being, no matter how she may appear, and is in fact a predator to her mostly-human prey.
Final Verdict: 7.5– Intriguing, depressing, and terrifying, this take on Poison Ivy will definitely grow on you.
