“Poison Ivy” – Chapter Five
Artist: Marcio Takara, Brian Level and Stefano Gaudiano
Color Artist: Arif Prianto
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Review by Fay Clark
My girl is back, with more Poison than ever. I love being able to catch up with Ivy on a regular basis. After the last issue, I was super excited to see what Pamela had in store for us next. Enter Poison Ivy #5.
Bad Men Get Got
G. Willow Wilson has, from the first page of the issue, grabbed every ounce of my interest. Ivy seems to be struggling to handle the Poison coursing through her. There are several times when I had to pause and re-read the last couple of panels. Wilson’s such a talented writer, there’s so much going on within the plot, yet nothing takes away from Pamela’s main goal.
Everything’s been leading up to something, and Wilson knows how to keep that intrigue going. So many parts of the dialogue felt so right coming from Ivy. She has such a distinctive voice and the way she’s written you can really tell when something weird’s happening.
The second half of the issue really gathered momentum. You can tell that we’ve been building up to something, but Wilson isn’t ready to reveal all quite yet. This is a writer that seems to be getting more and more confident and comfortable writing for Ivy.
Although we get some answers in this issue, I can feel something else brewing on the horizon.
Group Project – Green
Much like in Poison Ivy #5, there’s nothing wrong with getting a few extra hands in to help out. Pamela had some extra people around to cheer her on, and we have a bigger artistic team to talk about. You can feel a difference between the pages that Marcio Takara worked on, compared to those by Brian Level and Steanfo Gaudiano. Both are very good in their own ways but were used to get different parts of the story across. Seeing this group of artists, so distinct in their styles, melding together really well due to the story beats was wonderful.
The portrayal of Ivy in the first half of the issue was what we have been seeing throughout. The second half featured the new team of Level and Gaudiano. Everything worked so well and was rounded out by the color artistry of Arif Prianto. The pallet of the first half was amazing, as I loved the use of shadows and highlights specifically with certain characters. It really brought them to life.
Conclusion
This has been an amazing series so far, and if Wilson keeps this standard going, then it will become one of my favorite Ivy stories ever. I’m holding back my definite answer until we get more answers though. The art and writing have been so awesome lately that I can’t imagine this series ending. I don’t want it to.
Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment