Poison Ivy #44 // Review
It’s an immortal avatar for all plant life on Earth. And it has a therapist. That therapist had been telling it that it’s conflict-avoidant. So why is it showing-up in a park in Gotham City? The answer to that question is going to be something that the new mayor is going to have to get to the bottom of in Poison Ivy #44. Writer G. Willow Wilson once again delivers a sharply-constructed, cleverly-crafted chapter in the life of Pamela Isley that is brought to page and panel by artist Jaime Infante. Color comes to the page courtesty of Arif Prianto.
It’s a conflict. The Parliament of Trees is a bit split on what they want to do with Poison Ivy. Some of them want to split her apart cell by cell in order to get all of the bits of Bog Venus out of her. The rest of them just want to kill her the “regular” way. So clearly Pamela has upset one of the most powerful forces on the planet, but that’s only a portion of her problems as she deals with the fact that the people who elected her aren’t exactly happe with her either. What’s she going to do? Well, the plant entity with the therapist suggests that she apologize to them and do a little begging. (They like begging.)
Then Mayor Isley tells the talking hill that she’s not going to talk to the trees. And then she promises to deal with a simple municipal layoff at her favorite Gotham City park. Wilson deftly balances between surreal, absurdist fantasy and very Earthbound contemporary societal drama. Wilson’s writing is just so...dreamy on so many levels. The humor. The passion. The emotional connection. Wilson has found a brilliantly clever end of the DC universe and she’s made it her home. It’s just brilliant.
There’s a lot of heavy inking as Pamela’s fortunes get darker. There color that Prianto is bringing to the page casts shadows and texture over the space between the ink with a clever eye towards immersing the reader in a richly-detailed visual world that matches the mood that Isley finds herself in. There’s a sharp sense of execution throughout as the lightly contoured theatrical political drama continues to move its way thoughtfully across the page. Above it all, Isley comes across as one of the strongest, most nuanced characters on the comics rack today.
Things have developed in a way that suggest an interesting trajectory for Pamela. She’s clearly not going to be in power for much longer, but it’s going to be interesting to see where it is that she goes from here. It’s so cool that Wilson’s been with her for so long. There’s a strong sense of progression from where she was at the beginning of the series to where it is that she is now. Where does she go from being mayor of the single highest profile city in the whole of the DC Universe? It’ll be interesting to see.
