Poison Ivy #21 – G. Willow Wilson, Writer; Marcio Takara, Artist; Arif Prianto, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: The conclusion of Poison Ivy’s origin story sheds some fascinating light on not just Ivy’s earliest days, but on her complex relationship with Batman and Gotham. We pick up with her having just been injected with Woodrue’s serum, sending her into a coma. When she awakes in the hospital, it’s clear she’s been changed, with the Green speaking to her very loudly. She escapes the hospital, making her way to the voices calling to her—and finds them in Gotham, the most industrialized city in the world. It feels like an open wound to her, and she quickly sets out discovering the new extent of her powers. But while she has pheromones, she doesn’t have certain skills—and it doesn’t take long for Batman and the police to figure out how to beat her. She’s soon captured, trapped, and finds herself in the place that truly becomes the start of darkness for so many of Gotham’s rogues—Arkham Asylum.
This is one of the few portrayals of Arkham that I’ve seen that position it not as a supervillain holding pen but as a cruel, exploitative institution that creates as many villains as it houses, and it’s not long before the isolation starts breaking Pamela down. She finds unlikely help from a fellow inmate—whose inmate might be revealed later, or maybe not—and is able to talk her way out of there as a first offender. But of course, she’s not going to stay that way. There’s a great segment with Batman that reminds us of just how close these two could have come to being allies, but both their stubbornness keeps them on opposite sides of the law. And of course, this entire compelling segment is just Ivy’s fever dream as she battles with the strange creature inhabiting her, as it’s released into the world—and sets up the next arc with a horrific last-page visual that sets the stakes high for the next arc.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
