I want to start off this review with a minor complaint. Why does the cover of this issue have the tagline: “Bonnie and Croc!”? Ivy and Croc aren’t in a relationship in this issue, and that’s usually what that phrasing implies. Ugh. I just can’t stand these forced taglines!
Now, on to the actual review.
The Review
When I first signed up to review Poison Ivy, I thought I was going to be reviewing a 6-issue miniseries. Then, the series became so relatively popular that it became a 12-issue maxi-series, and then an ongoing series. With that, the series became a rollercoaster of quality as Wilson did her best to adjust to the extended length. All things considered, she deserves props for writing Ivy’s first ongoing series and making it last this long without either the sales or the writing taking a complete nose dive.
That said, my interest in this series is starting to wane. In the last issue, we got weird-out moments of Ivy’s two love interests, Janet and Harley, hooking up with each other, which has proven to be the worst part of the book. That plot line doesn’t come up in this comic beyond Ivy mentioning that she hopes those two are “getting along” in her absence. While it’s only a matter of time before that subplot rears its ugly head again, at least we don’t have to deal with it now.
The problem is that this comic doesn’t give us much in terms of story. Ivy discovers the “Undine” character that Wilson spent the last issue building up. He tells a cautionary tale of how he became warped into a plant and trapped, and tells Ivy that she will be trapped along with him, too. However, Killer Croc finds her and escapes, leaving Undine behind. With that, the entire story arc is over.
Is There Much Left to Do Here?
The artwork is still just as pretty to look at as ever. Wilson’s voice for the characters is still good, apart from a little wonky dialogue from Ivy. There’s a little character development in there with Ivy considering how Undine feels in his plant form and how lonely they both feel, but it’s all very brief and superficial. I did like seeing Ivy interact with Croc; however, that reminded me that, in general, I just miss when Ivy was a Batman rogue with different relationships and connections with each of the Batman characters.
I think we are running on empty with Ivy’s development in this series. The next story arc is about Ivy’s plant-zombie victims finally coming back to haunt her, but I feel like we’ve already covered the ground in which that arc is going to explore. It’s already been observed, several times in this series, that Ivy is a bad person with some redeemable qualities and goals that reveal themselves as she tries to do good for nature in her own extreme way, and which usually causes collateral damage for which she feels bad. Meanwhile, there’s a love triangle subplot that’s been bringing this series down whenever it comes up. The story is made up of either not good stuff, or it’s same old, same old. It’s starting to lose my attention.
Recommend if…
- You want some more amazing Takara/Prianto Poison Ivy art.
- Killer Croc and Ivy interacting sounds interesting to you.
Overall
I don’t hate this series, I’m just very “meh” about it. The positives that Wilson, Takara, and Prianto bring to the table in terms of their depiction of Ivy still stand. At the same time, there’s nothing about this particular issue that I think I’m gonna remember.
I understand why DC extended this book. This has been the only the female-led DC book to stay, consistently, in the top 100 in terms of sales. The problem is, I think this is going to be a series for an under-ultilizied character that started out interesting, but just ends up being run into the ground until G. Willow Wilson is completely burnt out of ideas and the readers have become burnt out on the series. It’s just a matter of time until that truly happens, but I can already see it coming.
Score: 6/10
Disclaimer: DC Comics provided Batman News a copy of this comic for the purposes of this review.
