“Poison Ivy” – Chapter Thirty
Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Artist: Marcio Takara
Color Artist: Arif Prianto
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Review by Fay Clark
Why is Ivy always in such a precarious place? Lady, take a break, sack it all in. It’s clearly not working for you. At this point almost every Ex that Poison Ivy has had, turned into a villain and has come back to haunt her. I’m hoping for a more chilled out issue, but I can guess that won’t be what we get in Poison Ivy #30.
Grey Giants and Bog Ladies Galore
After a harrowing experience with her ex, Ivy is once again back in the mists of bogland. G. Willow Wilson really seems to like an atmospheric place setting to further the plotline. The conversations between Ivy, and… herself are great. It isn’t really an inner monologue as she is speaking aloud to herself. Honestly, I do this too, it just helps you work things out when you can’t speak to someone else. Wilson seems to have an amazing handle on the character of Pamela Isley, and her counterpart Poison Ivy.
Poison Ivy #30 is once again setting us up for some major things to come in future issues. So much of this issue was lore dropping and world building. The way that G. Willow Wilson does it, doesn’t feel heavy handed though. We all know what is happening, and yet I do not feel like we just spent 20 pages getting talked at. We as the reader are taken along for the journey that Ivy is going through. That’s what I love about Wilson’s writing. You learn at the same time that the character does. Nothing is held back and you can join the dots at the same time as Ivy is understanding it all.
Just because he’s big, doesn’t mean he’s bad.
My, oh, my. Marcio Takara has just gone ham and created something way out of the norm. Almost every panel that has The Grey in is a literal work of art. There is so much mastery in such a small page. Poison Ivy #30 has clearly helped Takara stretch his artist muscles. We already knew that he was outstanding at creating slightly off-putting yet stunning images, but now even more so. Then when we get to add in the color work of Arif Prianto, once again you have something mystical and eerie to look at. You can open Poison Ivy #30 to any page and see some truly stunning art.
Conclusion
Do I have any idea what is happening? No. Do I love it anyway? HELL YES! G. Willow Wilson clearly has a lot going on in her brain to be able to continuously put out banger after banger. Ivy has some character flaws I feel she needs to work on, and fast if she wants to keep Janet from HR around, and I would be SO MAD if we lost her. Guess we will just have to keep reading to see what happens next!
Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment