Old School Creepshow — Reviewing ‘Poison Ivy’ #31

Poison Ivy (and crew) have been through it. Ancient plant and fungus wars, eco-terrorists, love triangles, and so much more. Well, now it’s time to get some answers.

Specifically, answers about Marshview. You know, the forgotten swamp swallowed suburb of Gotham that Ivy unearthed months ago during her fight against spore zombies? That abandoned ghost town where some of her crew have had to lie low cause of the aforementioned eco-terrorist troubles?

Once more, G. Willow Wilson, Brian Level, Arif Prianto, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou bring out the big eco-horror vibes for the illuminating Poison Ivy #31.

There is a lot to love about this series.

From the characters, to the big bold swings, to the very simple humanity and world stuff it tackles, visuals that are always on point. Overall, this series hit the gas in the first issue and has never slowed down. It zoomed along, hitting new heights along the way and shows no indication of slowing down any time soon.

This allows issues like this, sans action, to really sit well with readers. Cape-related books are usually a balancing act, where there has to be at least some fight scenes, whether big or small. It didn’t always used to be that way. Smaller, talkative, or exploratory issues were much more common. Thankfully, many books have brought those back and do wonders with them.

Wilson makes sure that issues like this are not just a one-off or step away from things. They very much are part of the overall narrative and progression. This gives tons of information and solid character moments as we discover the secret history and fate of Marshview. Everything has impact because it ties back to themes and sad realities which have been key to the series all along.

In the beginning, it was Marcio Takara who set the tone artistically for this series. This set the tone for the series’ eco-horror tinged visual language. While Takara has not been on every issue, that tone is strong enough for others to pick up easily. That’s the case here with Level, who is not new to the series. A few early issues featured Level’s work as did the recent big 25th issue.

What happens in Marshview is some classic style horror. Level makes sure that is felt from start to finish as the panels are full of rough, detailed, and strong depictions. Panel choices allow the moments time to breathe and really hit home what is going on. Darkness is very inherently peppered into the scenes. Specific choices made during the flashback and memory sequence give the panels and pages the otherworldly quality they demand.

Colors come baked in with plenty of vibrant lush tones thanks to Prianto’s always stellar work. There is a sort washed toned down quality to many of the colors. This fits the abandoned and very mundane-seeming setting. They stack on more heavy darker tones to match what the artwork has already given, making sure that the moments have the weight that is necessary for the overall horror vibes.

Rounding things out, as usual, is the detailed and atmospherically enhancing lettering from Otsmane-Elhaou, who gives character voices such depth and power at all times. Character emotions come through loud and clear, making sure that beings who are outside of the ‘norm’ have voices that match visually. Colorful, jagged, sharp, mangled or just rough overall fonts and bubbles are particularly interesting.

It’s been a while since mentioning it, but I really do love the use of sentence case for this series. There is something about that case which makes all the aforementioned lettering work a lot better. It gives the voices that more authentic feel because it seems more baseline ‘actual’ world voice than all caps. This allows the bigger louder moments to feel that way instantly. Other cases still allow that with font manipulation (big bubbles and font) but this way just really works.

Poison Ivy #31 is now available from DC Comics.