Tag Archives: Poison Ivy

Comics

Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy Make Big Decisions

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We can all agree that “Heroes in Crisis” was hot trash. But unfortunately, we are forced to deal with the consequences of that story. One of those being the death & resurrection of Poison Ivy. This 6 issue mini-series follows her and Harley Quinn recovering from the events of that event and trying to find a way to move forward. But they find themselves wrapped up in a conflict, the results of resolving it will have major influence on the characters long afterwards.

One curious thing to note is that even though it stars both of them, Harley is the character with the most significant character journey. IN the beginning it is stated that she feels like being bad just isn’t worth it anymore. Sure, she hasn’t actually been a regular villain for some time. But she really only plays hero when she finds herself framed for a crime. The fact that a hero was behind the carnage in “Heroes in Crisis” was seen by her as a sign that the world is already broken and there is no joy in that. She genuinely wants to become a true hero. Ivy is still recovering from coming back in a body that seems mostly plant based now, a special gift from Lex Luthor seemingly helping her body stabilize. While she is herself unsure of what she wants moving forward, they are forced to play hero when the Floronic Man shows up.

The main conflict of the story is kicked off by Floro wanting to consume Ivy and take her power for his own. The two women do flee and find themselves on the run. But Jason Woodrue seemingly sends parts of himself to follow them wherever they go. Eventually, the two of them decide to go on the offensive until they finally make it to New York City to finish this. But it turns out, Woodrue isn’t the one that’s been tracking them. It was another copy of Poison Ivy! The special gift that Luthor gave Ivy ended up creating multiple versions of Ivy that were growing in the house they were originally hiding out in. But most of them burned in the fire during Woodrue’s confrontation. This was the only other version of Ivy that survived. And while the Ivy that was with Harley was supporting her in her efforts to be a hero, this Ivy is angry that she was abandoned and taunts Harley with this being another item on her list of failures and claiming that Harley doesn’t truly care about her. She just wants to fix her and turn her into the version Harley wants.

And it’s in this last issue where the majority of the character based developments occur. Harley has been focused on wanting to be a real hero. Of course she makes the occasional joke about it like hoping it comes with a good insurance plan or if she gets a business card. But it is fueled by a genuine desire to want to change and improve herself. The problem is that when Harley is passionate about doing something, she doesn’t always take into consideration the thoughts of the people that end being involved. Despite Ivy being pushed as an anti-hero in recent years – something that I personally actually encourage – Ivy still prioritizes her mission over everything else. She has stated this along similar lines in past comics to Harley. So her pulling Ivy into a cause like this right after Ivy has been resurrected and still recovering does feel like she is molding Ivy into something she hasn’t fully consented to.

But it isn’t intentional and it wasn’t with bad intentions. Harley still loves and cares for Ivy no matter what. That is what the Ivy that has been traveling with Harley throughout this story recognizes and protects during this final confrontation. This Ivy even suspects that the real reason this angry Ivy is attacking is because she is jealous of the moments and time that protagonist-Ivy had with Harley. Showing that no matter which Ivy we are dealing with, she also still loves Harley. The story ends with Harley crying as she drives off into the distance while the two Ivy’s merge and she figures out what she wants to do next.

Well…there is one more thing to talk about within the actual story. The two share a kiss in the finals pages of the comic. But it is Ivy kissing the forehead of Harley. On a splash page showing just those two. Meaning, it was presented like the two of them were supposed to kiss each other but it was changed for some reason. This got some backlash, questioning why the comic didn’t have the two properly kiss. And it’s not like they haven’t kissed in-universe before in past issues. The best reason I could pick up from it is that maybe Ivy couldn’t handle actually kissing Harley because she might end up not going through with merging with the other Ivy. But if that is close to the truth, then it was presented wrong. Don’t make it a splash page and have a bit more dialogue to set the mood as more somber.

Issues aside, this is still a fun read. And it has the two main characters make some decisions that will have some longterm consequences down the road. What happened to Harley? She would find herself back in Gotham City to help Batman during several conflicts, becoming an honorary member of the Bat Family. She got another solo title that explores her helping the regular citizens recover from trauma while being a crime fighter. As for Poison Ivy, that’s a bit more complicated. Despite merging at the end of this series, the times she would show up again for some reason reversed that action. Two versions of Poison Ivy cameoed in “The Swamp Thing”. The version that is more concerned with plant life above human life with seemingly no humanity left within her is referred to as Queen Ivy. Then in the pages of “Catwoman”, the softer and kinder Ivy shows up as she is rescued by Selina from custody. The two Ivy’s were reunited and merged together at the end of the Batman story “Fear State”. Where she and Harley had their proper kiss. If your a Harley and Ivy fan, this is still worth the read and I’m sure you’ll have fun while doing so.

Comics

A Look at Poison Ivy’s First Comic Series

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A big criticism of the modern comic book industry is that nothing seems to really change. Or when they tease change, it never truly sticks. But there have been a number of times where companies and creatives have really tried to do something new. Most of the time, these changes occur with the lesser known characters from their roster. One curious and interesting case of a comic book company trying to change the perception of a character is Poison Ivy. While originally created and presented as a supervillain for Batman, DC has recently been trying to push her as an anti-hero. Personally, I think that’s the right idea and is something worth pursuing. One of the biggest results of this push is the character’s own mini-series named “Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death” released in 2016.

Published towards the very end of the New 52/ right at the beginning of Rebirth, this story was meant to have the character reconnect with her human side. The character is often portrayed as an ecoterrorist that values plant life over humans, gaining her powers after years of abuse and as the result of scientific experimentation. But there have been times where she finds herself at odds with what she feels she must do for the natural world vs what she wants for herself. This 6 issue story does explore that to a certain extent. She relocates to Gotham with a new identity and at a research facility. But her main goal while there is to experiment and create plant-human offsprings as surrogate children.

While she is successful at that, there isn’t conflict. The head of the research facility is murdered and she is in danger of being discovered by authorities. But the person believed to be dead turns out evil and now wants to use the cells used to create Ivy’s offspring to unlock immortality. Also, Ivy herself does struggle trying to determine the best way to provide and raise her surrogate daughters. The story ends with the bad guy being defeated with her offspring leaving Gotham to try being on their own. Even Swamp Thing – my favorite character of all time – shows up to try and give Ivy direction for what she should do now. And yes, I have a lot of idea of what DC should do with a Swamp Thing & Poison Ivy collaboration, but that’s a discussion for another day.

Overall, this is a solid story. Nothing truly memorable. But a fine read if you are a bit curious about it. I think the biggest problem with this story is that it tries to be something of a superhero story. Mainly when it comes to utilizing some of the story tropes of the genre to tell Ivy’s story. Like mentioned earlier, I love the idea of exploring her as an anti-hero. Someone with a more complex ethical code that’s connected to two very different worlds. DC hasn’t always shown the full strength of what she can do. But when they do, she is truly a formidable force. She could very well take over the world and wipe out humanity if she truly cuts off herself from her human side. But because she chooses to remain connected – mainly through her romantic relationship with Harley Quinn – that does set-up the potential for a lot of interesting character exploration. But telling it using superhero tropes isn’t really the best way to do that.

I like the idea of Ivy creating offspring that also share the same duality as hers. But since this is only a 6 issue story, they don’t have the chance to fully delve into anything meaningful. The offspring themselves are flat as a result. And when they leave Gotham to be on their own…I have no choice but to assume they are dead since they haven’t shown up since. Which based on what had been established about their biology, is the most likely scenario for them. If this series ran for a little longer, maybe they could have really tapped into something. But instead, it just sort of simmers. And underwhelming conclusion with a vague tease that will never be paid off.

At the end of the day, I don’t regret reading this. I feel like in the long run this might actually help convince DC to do more stories focused on her. Hell, maybe even an ongoing series. Because this story does start off on the right track and does present a couple of interesting ideas. But the stories will have to ditch the superhero clothing so to speak. That’s not to say there can’t be fights and villains, but it will need to be more experimental and creative with how the story is told. But I still stand by the fact that Poison Ivy has a lot of potential to truly be a powerhouse if given the chance.