Poison Ivy #25 – G. Willow Wilson, Joanne Starer, Grace Ellis, Gretchen Felker-Martin, Dan Watters, Writers; Marcio Takara, Haining, Brian Level, Atugan Ilhan, Dani, Artists; Arif Prianto, Ivan Plascencia, Deborah Villahoz, Brad Simpson, Colorists
Ray – 9/10
Ray: No title has outpunched its expectations like this one, going from a miniseries to entering its third year – and to celebrate, DC has brought in a platoon of Ivy fans to tell five stories of the DCU’s most iconic eco-warrior. This includes the main creative team, so how does this anthology play out?
“Rewilding” by Wilson and Takara picks up after Ivy’s near-death experience, as she gathers her friends – Harley, Killer Croc, Janet from HR – to help her clean out the swamp. This is part one of two in this issue, with some interesting hints of the strange things that have erupted from the zombie attack on the swamp. The idea of this strange supernatural plantscape in the middle of the swamp has a lot of potential, but this segment is only four pages.
“Beneath the Surface” by Starer and Haining catches us up with a character who rarely gets the spotlight – Batman. It’s not clear where this story takes place, but it takes us into a surreal landscape as Batman visits a greenhouse with his parents’ grave in it and is immediately assaulted by visions that reflect Ivy at her most monstrous. This is an interesting look into how Batman views one of his most mysterious villains.
“Mushroom Hunters” by Grace Ellis and Brian Level takes us into the realm of horror, as two cousins – a mercurial scientist with a bad reputation, and his junkie relative – get pulled into a mystery involving the mysterious mushrooms that Ivy is cooking up earlier in the run. One is obsessed with the scientific discovery, while the other is obsessed with getting that high back, and both are set on a path that ends predictably horribly for them. Good creepy visuals.
“Boots and Handbags” by Felker-Martin and Ilhan is a Killer Croc story that doesn’t actually seem to have much story – a pair of idiot hunters decide to track Killer Croc and try to turn him into…well, you saw the title! Naturally, this is going to end badly for them, but the story pulls it back into the main story when Croc sees the mysterious new town that generated in the middle of the swamp and immediately decides to dip out of there. Relatable, buddy.
“The Pyrophyte” by Watters and Dani is an intriguing and very different tale, focusing on a mad bomber who used to be a counter-terrorism agent investigating eco-terrorism. Now a true believer in Ivy’s cause, he’s aiming to summon her via a unique tree that requires fire to reproduce. He’ll provide the fire. Ivy only appears briefly in this, but this is a great example of how Ivy’s message is spreading and having an impact – for good and bad.
Finally, Wilson and Takara bring us home with the second chapter of “Rewilding”, which sees Ivy exploring the strange new ecosystem that’s blooming in the swamp while the book ties all the various plots from this volume together. It’s a bit scattered, as all anthologies are, but this made me very excited for the next chapter of this series.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
