Poison Ivy #3 – G. Willow Wilson, Writer; Marcio Takara, Artist; Arif Prianto, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: G. Willow Wilson continues to give us a much darker Poison Ivy story than we’re used to—and one that’s relentlessly compelling. Ivy is weaving a trail of carnage across the countryside, infecting everyone she comes across with a highly contagious and fatal fungi. But as the opening of the issue shows, it’s burrowing into her to and she’s fully human now—so she won’t be spared. This puts a ticking clock on everything she does, as she reflects on her lost love Harley and everything that’s come before. But like last issue, she can’t seem to fully turn off her humanity—and she keeps on encountering little pieces of humanity that make her wonder if her mission to wipe the species out is truly worth it. This issue’s done-in-one character is an older woman who runs a roadside motel. She greets Ivy when she wakes up, and manages to pull her into the one thing Ivy cares about—plants.
The two of them repairing a small backyard garden is a surprisingly wholesome subplot amid all this carnage and body horror. Wilson really seems to get Ivy’s love for plants in a way few writers do—it’s not just about hating humanity, it’s about rebirth and creating something new in place of something she believes has failed. It’s also painfully obvious just how guarded Ivy is and how she’s afraid to actually let anyone close to her after Harley. In some ways, it’s good to see her show some humanity—but we know it’s not going to last, and we know the best thing she can do for the people she encounters is get out of their way before it’s too late. I’m really not sure how Wilson plans to walk back any of this—Ivy’s path of carnage is so extreme that it’s hard to see her ever being an antihero again—which makes me wonder if there’s going to be some surprising out. One way or another, it’s an incredibly compelling read so far.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
