As in typical Harley fashion: I’m unintentionally reading these works all out-of-order. Also, a reminder: I will never, ever shut up about Harley Fuckin’ Quinn, even if the work is mostly Poison Ivy-centric.
I certainly should have read this before I read G. Willow Wilson’s current POISON IVY run, as there’s a lot that dovetails and reflects on it.
There’s a lot of dissonance, a lot of loss, a lot of weird shit, and a lot of frustration and anger.
However, almost all of that is via Ives.
Harley is a reactionary, bolstering voice here. This is Ivy’s tale, and it’s a messy one and has her reckoning with her past and Harley trying to back her up, but …not exactly able to do so.
What makes Harley & Ivy’s relationship special and significant — especially in the world of mainstream ‘superhero’ comics — is that they fundamentally understand each other. Both have been victims, mentally and physically changed by their abuser. Those changes exacerbated their features and, at times? Harles and Ives are like oil and water, and that is the case here.
Ivy is hellbent on revenge, not just on Floronic Man/Jason Woodrue — the monster who mutated her — but humanity in general. Harley is trying to repent for her prior ways and being a better person for humanity.
Like I said: oil and water.
Harley mostly rolls with Ivy’s plan because she’s ride-or-die, but the relationship is often discordant.
Jody Houser’s script is cutting and dodges when I thought it would weave — there’s one reveal later on in that made me question, well, everything — and the artwork, mostly via Adriana Melo (except when it isn’t) is strikingly focused on close-ups of everyone’s faces and reactions, giving an almost Ingmar Bergman type of intimacy.
As Ivy would like? This series is her world, and we’re just about to be torn asunder.