Poison Ivy

HARLEY QUINN & POISON IVY (2021)

April 15, 2024

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.

POISON IVY – Unethical Consumption (2023)

January 22, 2024

I already wrote about G. Willow Wilson’s first bout on POISON IVY and while I loved it, Unethical Consumption takes matters further in a way that has turned me into a ride-or-die fan.

What Wilson gets about IVY is that she is so fucking pissed at the world — rightfully so, as well, we keep mindlessly exploiting all of its resources — but she still has an inexplicable empathetic core for humanity, and others can see the good in her, but she’s also so singularly focused on herself.

However! She’s still willing to murder anyone who gets in her way, and also wants to commit global genocide.

Yes, she is the actual villain in her own story. A complex villain, for sure, but still? Yeah.

While so much is that comes from her trauma, of trusting someone who then abused them and literally tore their humanity away from them — a facet of her character that Wilson doubles-down on and I very much appreciate — she is not what one would call a ‘good person’.

Obviously, this is why she and Harley Fuckin’ Quinn fit so well together. Harley? She’s an anti-villain. Ivy? Anti-hero. They both realize their own faults and they keep each other in-check, and Wilson leans heavily on that here as Harley manages to seek out Ivy on her road trip, then leaves Ivy to do what she needs to do. Harley is Ivy’s anchor, but they’re still independent people.

I especially love this bit of reflection from Ivy on Harley:

“More than anyone I know, you see the world without judgement, without expectations, without fear.

“Things that would drive other people mad, you just … take in your stride.

“Delirium doesn’t scare you.

“You can see the world behind the world.

“And you were right.

“I didn’t need to be so afraid.”

Now that is true appreciation and respect from a devoted partner, and I love to see it.

And then of course Ivy fucks her odd roommate Janet — who I’m sure is far more than the basic person presented — stating:

“Harley would understand.”

It’s clear that this isn’t just a hookup for Ivy; it’s a mistake.

(I’m still not sure whether Harley being poly is canon? I’ve just assumed she was. Is Ivy? I have no fucking idea, but I’m going along with whatever Wilson is sellin’!)

JANET: “Be a monster. Embrace the monster. But be a monster who gets between innocent people and the even bigger monsters.”

I can’t help but think of Carmen Maria Machado’s remarks regarding JENNIFER’S BODY:

“Kiss someone, fuck someone, think about fucking someone while kissing someone else. Let sex be unknowable, warm, thrilling, funny, erotic, terrifying; let sexuality be all strange currents and eddies and unknown vistas and treasures and teeth.”

Carmen Maria Machado

As with the previous volume The Virtuous Cycle, this is an absolutely fucking gorgeous work. Marcio Takara’s intricate pencils and inks are mesmerizing, even if half of it features Ivy puking. (I say that as someone who would like to go one week without reading/watching/playing something that didn’t feature vomit.)

IVY: “I’m pretty good at recognizing things I know I will regret later.

“I’m much less good at stopping myself from doing them.”

Arif Prianto’s colors are so goddamn vibrant and command attention! And Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou? Holy shit, their lettering is so inspired, especially during the drug trip that Ivy and Janet undertake which leads to one hell of an unbridled orgy. (Yes. That is a thing that happens and I do not apologize for spoiling it.)

IVY: “I can’t violate her like that. I know what it feels like, and I can’t.”

JANET: “So we all have to live with the consequences of her bad decision?!”

IVY: “NO. We all have to live with mine.”

This series is an embarrassment of riches, a complex and thorny work, and I am absolutely here for it and I can’t wait for what’s to come.

You can buy POISON IVY – Unethical Consumption via Bookshop!

POISON IVY: THE VIRTUOUS CYCLE (2022)

September 27, 2023

For once I am shutting up about Harley Fuckin’ Quinn because I thought I’d take a break and see how her paramour Poison Ivy was doing via the first volume of POISON IVY: THE VIRTUOUS CYCLE. (CYCLE from here on out.)

So, how is she doing? Not great!

For all intents and purposes, CYCLE is a solo road trip that folds SWAMP THING into PREACHER. It consists of Poison Ivy being 1) pissed at the folks that robbed her of her godlike command over the Earth and 2) pissed at humanity for ruining what could have been Eden 3) pissed at herself for fucking things up and 4) hating almost everyone she encounters while driving through the U.S. and 5) pining for Harley but still driven to eradicate humanity and restore what she believes should be the natural state of the world.

CYCLE is deliciously and angrily penned by G. Willow Wilson (MS. MARVEL, AIR). Ivy’s simmering rage — occasionally tempered by well-meaning folks who get in way of her personal mission — is nothing but relatable by anyone who feels that the world’s gone to Hell and there’s no redemption. The artwork — mostly helmed by Marcio Takara (CAPTAIN MARVEL) but also Emma Ríos (PRETTY DEADLY) is so vibrant and expressive, and the exceptionally evocative layouts and panel work do what brilliant panel work does best: bolstering the narrative and tension while also dazzling you.

Given that this is Poison Fuckin’ Ivy, you’d expect some brilliant color work and goddamn, Arif Prianto, Jordie Bellaire, and Trish Mulvihill do not disappoint, although all know how to reign it back when Ivy’s actually interacting with normals.

I can’t forget to mention that Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou’s lettering is pitch-perfect, and literally folds the words into the interwoven world of roots and greenery that is Ivy’s mind.

I previously mentioned that it feels like SWAMP THING merged with PREACHER and I want to underscore that this is one of the few works I’ve read in some time that captures the outsider thrill of a Vertigo work — DC’s now-defunct mature reader imprint that they gutted for parts — and I love it for that alone. After all, Wilson penned one of the later original Vertigo series, AIR, which is brilliant and I’ll post about another time. CIRCLE is all moral grey areas and, while it leans on the powers of the protagonist, it’s more about a personal worldview and societal dissonance. It’s a severely substantial work that makes the most of Ivy, and I can’t wait to read the next volume.

Lastly, I’ll note that if you buy the collected edition, you also receive a bonus interview with all involved — yes, even the letterers — which is amazingly enlightening and entertaining, and I wish more collections made the space to do the same.

You can purchase POISON IVY: THE VIRTUOUS CYCLE via Bookshop!