Ivy investigates a mysterious terroristic plot claiming her as leader in this issue. It’s a bit of a lull narratively that substitutes the generally exciting writing of G. Willow Wilson for a slightly tedious read.
In terms of plot progression, there’s a lot here. Ivy puts Janet-from-HR in that mysterious abandoned city to stay while she’s under pressure due to the Green Knight’s violence. There’s a clever, interesting way to weave these threads together, but instead readers can expect a cut-and-dry rendition of those beats without much else to cling onto.
Besides these relatively uninteresting progressions of plot, we also get a very unexpected episode with Croc and Janet. I won’t spoil what happens here, but I’m starting to feel like Wilson has no idea what she’s doing with Janet as a character. She seems to only have one narrative function, and it’s starting to tire out after 27 issues.
The trouble with the mysterious city that grew out of nowhere, and the uncertain identify of the Green Knight movement, is that these aren’t mysteries that emotionally involve Ivy. They basically amount to logistical problems.
Now that I’ve spent a few paragraphs complaining, here’s a few things I liked. First off, the art is great as always. Batman makes a cameo in this issue, and his encounter with Ivy looks awesome. I especially appreciate that artist Marcio Takara and colorist Arif Prianto have a way of making the Bat look physically imposing while still retaining the structure of his belt and gloves. Sometimes artists trying to make him look powerful or dangerous resort to cartoonish extremes, but not in this case.
The conversation between Bruce and Pamela is also a lot of fun, conveying a side of the Dark Knight that often goes overlooked in his mainline titles.
There’s also a bit of an interesting dynamic going on with Ivy’s new extremist followers. She seems to have unwittingly become the champion of a hateful group of people frustrated with the system. Given the current real-world climate, it will be interesting to see where Wilson goes with that.
Recommended if…
- You live for the Batman cameos.
- You’ve been consistently reading Wilson’s run.
- You are a Poison Ivy fan.
Overall…
I’m a little worried about the state of this comic. The Poison Ivy/Swamp Thing one-shot proved that there are interesting stories to tell with this new anti-hero version of Ivy that defeated Woodrue. But the current Green Knight arc feels like filler, and Ivy’s relationship with Harley and Janet is also starting to get stale. I love this series and still have high hopes for it, but I was put-off by this lackluster issue.
English (US) · 