Who better to help Poison Ivy solve the mystery murders behind Botanical Gardens Lab, other than Catwoman? We left off our last issue with Darshan finding out Dr. Pamela Isley’s real identity and now encountering Catwoman as one of her best friends. By this point, we still have no idea who has been murdering Luisa and even Grimley, but we do know that it’s closely related to Poison Ivy, as their killing mark is shown to be similar as Poison Ivy’s work. One of the traits that I love about Poison Ivy in this comic book, is that she can be flexible when it comes to bringing her evil side. This is something that is shown throughout her appearances in DC Comic books; Poison Ivy becomes one with plants and speaks to these plants, because she is a part of them. With that being said though, she is still connected to that human side and we get to see that in this issue.
In this particular frame, you can see the motherly vibe she is giving off to these sporelings that she has tried really hard to take care of, but more with her human side as priority. She’s not helping these sporelings in how to develop their ‘plant-powers’, but how to manage living in this world. Funny how we’re not the only ones thinking that it’s completely crazy that she’s doing this, because Catwoman does not hold back when it comes to putting her two cents into the issue.
As our story continues, we start understanding the entity that is murdering these individuals, is really trying to protect itself, whatever it is. With Poison Ivy’s ability to speak to plants, she is conversing with the individual murdering these ‘innocent’ people, soon to discover, that this individual has been tortured for quite a while now. We have to go back to the beginning of the issue to comprehend that Poison Ivy perfected her research – which is the reason why it was stolen. DUH.
Darshan and Catwoman prove that their not useless, by being able to offer Poison Ivy help in finding ways into the building and making sure the alarm doesn’t sound. Something particular about Ivy’s personality, is that when she’s upset. We all get mad right? But our conscious (hopefully) tells us to not overreact irrationally. I’m mentioning this, because Poison Ivy is a person that is really calm, for the most part, but that plant-side just can’t handle it. She goes insane with it, which is awesome, because she can really do some damage. And apparently, the new sporeling has those same characteristics as well.
Sporeling’s damage.
Ivy’s damage.
Meet our new buddy. She looks so innocent, even though she’s murdered a whole bunch of people by now.
The Good: Can we agree that the artwork is pretty amazing. That entire panel where Poison Ivy is going crazy, because of the torture that they did to this sporeling. The fact that now there’s someone else involved is also going to be a pretty interesting piece, but really. What is she going to do with all these sporelings?
The Bad: Even though Catwoman was here to help, she didn’t do much! She has many abilities that she could’ve used in this situation – perhaps her charming ways? I just wanted more of her, if she was going to be featured in this issue. I expect to see more of her in the next.
Recommended If:
- You enjoy a twist in the plot.
- You like to question yourself if humans are just as bad as these villains.
Overall: My rating for this issue wasn’t too bad, but because we saw a different side of humanity. When do we question where experimenting is ‘okay’? Technically this sporeling is part-human; Which is understanding on Poison Ivy’s part on why she would be overreacting (mainly, because this is a part of her too). Now that we’ve found out who the murderer is, what do we have to look forward to though?
Score: 7/10
