Comic Review: Poison Ivy #1

Writer: G. Willow Wilson

Artist: Marcio Takara

Colorist: Arif Prianto

Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Poison Ivy is a character that as an individual hasn’t had too many opportunities to shine. More recently she has been a fantastic example of representation with her relationship with Harley Quinn. Unfortunately, that relationship appears to be over, and Ivy has lost nearly everything that means something to her. All that’s left is to burn everything and end humanity. 

While readers likely know that what Ivy is doing is wrong, G. WIllow Wilson does well at making the character easy to empathize with. This issue is full of internal monologue as Ivy slowly justifies everything that she is doing throughout. Behind her is death and destruction as spores that quickly kill anything they make contact with are spread. Despite all of the horror, it’s hard to cheer against her since she is so well written here. 

Marcio Takara ensures that this path of destruction is as beautiful as it is deadly. Every panel in this book is well drawn. The landscapes and backgrounds are full of detail. The characters themselves are expressive and look natural. The panels flow in a way that makes this dialogue-heavy issue easy to follow. Everything comes together to ensure that this issue looks splendid.

A big part of why this issue is so gorgeous is colorist Arif Prianto. The spores that are otherwise horrifying are full of detail, with tons of colors that make them look beautiful somehow. Towards the end of this issue is a sequence where Ivy infects some people (Again). The shift in Takara’s art and Prianto’s colors make these pages some of the best looking illustrations of the month. Prianto also takes advantage of adding ominous colors to the backgrounds to enforce the threatening aura that the spores have. The juxtaposition between beautiful and borderline nauseating throughout this is nothing short of impressive. 

Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou’s letters are fantastic throughout. The monologues are told through boxes that resemble notebook paper. The handwriting is elegant, suiting the protagonist well. Flashbacks with characters yelling at each other have large, bold and messy letters that add emotion and weight to the panels. A trippy sequence with infected people has letters with a fisheye effect to them. Usually letters keep the aesthetics together in a comic book, but Otsmane-Elhaou’s enhance it in every way.

Poison Ivy #1 is a shining example of what can be done with this character when a creative team cares and has a good story to tell. The narrative is compelling and the art is both grotesque and beautiful. This is the story that Poison Ivy deserves, and anyone who is remotely interested in the character will want to give this a read.