Dangerous First Impressions: Reviewing ‘Poison Ivy’ #21

Pamela Isley’s trip down memory lane only had one place it could and would come to an end: Gotham City. A festering city built on crime, toxic masculinity, and corporate greed that is choking the planet.

Willow Wilson, Marcio Takara, Arif Prianto, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou deliver the final batty guest star having chapter of the villain’s long-awaited origin story in Poison Ivy #21.

Generally, the best villains are the ones that have some shreds of relatability to them. Something that the audience can latch onto and sympathize with them, even if at this point they are very much in the wrong. Poison Ivy has long been a character filled with those vibes who has teetered on the edge of the line that separates understandable and irredeemable.

While fellow Gotham villains such as Joker gleefully topple over that line edge, she remains firmly balanced there, only slightly dipping to either side. This is one of the things which has been delightfully tapped into this entire run. No more so than this heartbreaking, relatable, sad, and predictably tragic storyline.

Willow threads the needle each and every time, keeping Ivy in that space where she’s relatable yet still a villain by most definitions of the word. Getting to see what having these abilities is like for Pamela, how she was changed, was very interesting. Similarly, I really liked the beats with Batman and the look at what it’s like to be in Arkham.

First off, with the vigilante we almost always see interactions between the caped crusader and his rogues from his point of view. Pamela of course has a very different view of the vigilante, and their interaction even came with a twinge of humor. What wasn’t funny, of course, was the internal point of view about being in Arkham. We the audience inherently know that it’s a flawed space that is more prison than actual hospital. We see that firmly as Ivy speaks about what it does to you and how there is no real actual help there for those placed behind its walls.

Speaking of balancing, the work that Takara and Prianto pull off time and time again beautifully blends the tangible realistic vibes and those of the more eco-horror the book is known for. Emotions are blasting off the page, clear and concise upon the character’s faces and through their body language. Panel choices allow us to be right in the thick of things, while simultaneously taking those big creative swings. Panels over panels, characters bursting out of panels, and so many other visually dynamic choices.

Very little action happens in this story, which can offer some challenges at times within a medium known for action in many cases. Really great artists are able to take the quieter, character or more dialogue heavy beats and make magic with them. If you haven’t guessed by now, either from previous reviews or reading the book yourself, Takara can and does make that magic.

A lot of it comes down to those aforementioned panel choices, which allow things to have a greater energy and sense of movement.

A sense of tangible reality is born from the chosen color palate style. Prianto brings a generally muted or neutral tone to most of the work on the page. Letting the world around these characters reach a familiarity for the audience. Allowing the more fantastical elements, from the heroes/villains to the powers and the like, to be what pops and feels outlandish. But in a way that still feels like it could be something we see outside the window, even though we know we definitely won’t. It’s this middle ground that works best for many superhero and superhero-adjacent comics.

Sprinkled among all that are the heavier shadowy tones which help keep and emphasize the darker feelings of the story. Giving a sharper, almost harsher, edge to specific moments so that they feel more menacing or dangerous than they already do. Befitting the previously mentioned eco-horror thread that runs through this entire run.

Another avenue to making sure that emotions hit and that talky issues flow well comes down to the lettering choices. Lettering with tons of energy, visual pop, and creative uniqueness is what Otsmane-Elhaou does every time. Making sure things flow naturally across those shifting panels, switching up styles of pieces (bubbles, fonts, caption boxes, etc.) for emphasis, and leaving room for character to shine. Every tonal and volume change is clear, and it all leaves us feeling the voices of these characters deep in our minds.

Truly I’m still a huge fan of how often the caption boxes will just melt away, allowing Ivy’s captions to shift and be framed within shadows. Those shadows can be natural ones created by the environment, silhouettes of characters, and more. It’s so deliciously creative and ominous wrapped up together.

Poison Ivy #21 is now available from DC Comics.