Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Art: Marcio Takara
Colors: Arif Prianto
Letters: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Cover: Jessica Fong
Variant Covers: Otto Schmidt and David Nakayama; Mike Deodato Jr & Marcelo Maiolo; Eliza Ivanova
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: 3.99
Release Date: November 7, 2023
If you’re interested in this comic, series, related trades, or any of the others mentioned, then simply click on the title/link to snag a copy through Amazon as you read the Poison Ivy #16 Review.
The Dispatch
Ivy stopped intentionally killing people, but that doesn’t mean she stopped leaving casualties in her wake. POISON IVY #16 sets up a story arc that might lead to Ivy reaping what she sowed. It’s an unconventional issue for the series, but successful.
Chuck is an ordinary man who had a chance encounter with Ivy in a grocery store. POISON IVY #16 follows him as he gets unintentionally infected by lamia spores and slowly deteriorates. Eventually Chuck is drawn into the same mycelial network Ivy is a part of. Ivy comes to realize that she was unintentionally exposing people to the spores as she traveled. But instead of dying, they become fully corrupted by the lamia and head toward Gotham.
POISON IVY won’t let its titular character outrun what she’s done. She continues to face unforeseen consequences from her actions early in the series. POISON IVY #16 lines up another story in that vein, and this one is the darkest yet. Chuck is an average person with an unremarkable job and a family. The issue doesn’t dive too deep into Chuck’s life. But it doesn’t need to. The character’s ordinariness is almost universal. And the indifferent way in which Chuck gets infected is somehow worse than when Ivy intentionally killed multiple people at once.
This issue isn’t necessarily casting Ivy as a villain. We are reminded that this series began with Ivy repeatedly committing murder. But the issue suggests there are larger circumstances at work behind these continued problems. Wilson effectively balances Ivy’s less virtuous, even villainous actions, with the need to keep her sympathetic enough to be the series’ protagonist.
The Art and Letters
Prianto’s coloring takes center stage in POISON IVY #16. The dream scene is another of the series’ great psychedelic sequences. The backgrounds are vivid while at the same time soft enough to not cause heavy contrasts. The panel where Chuck transitions from the real world to the dream world is eye-catching because Takara’s style is completely different in the two worlds. And it’s made even more so because of the major contrast between the two color palettes that are basically incompatible.
Takara’s depiction of Ivy in the dream sequence feels more in keeping with who she is (or at least has been recently) than her fairly benign appearance in the real world. In some respects, as the growths extend back from her head and torso, she resembles Woodrue as he was introduced in issue 4. She looks almost out of place in an otherwise gentle, however otherworldly, setting.
Using a color palette for Ivy in the dream sequence that matches Prianto’s choices connects the two nicely. It also creates an even greater contrast with Undine who’s speech bubbles are solid blue, matching his flowery head. It makes Undine stand out even more as an outsider in the dream sequence. The irregular shape of Ivy’s speech bubbles in the dream sequence likewise reinforces her connection to this world.
Final Thoughts
POISON IVY #16 is a novel issue. Real world Ivy narrates, but is otherwise out of the issue. Meanwhile Ivy from the dream sequence is particularly menacing. And all the while, the aftermath of Ivy’s actions are on display. Meanwhile, getting to know Chuck in advance of whatever is coming makes the reader sympathize. It’s a good start to a new story arc.