poison ivy variant cover

Poison Ivy (2022-) #11 Recap and Review

The consequences of your own actions?! Something we deal with every day? Well, now Pamela Isley is going through it. After her showdown with Jason Woodrue aka Floronic Man in issue #6, Dr. Isley is on her own personal mission. She’s neither a traditional hero nor is she fully a villain (some climate change deniers may argue against this).

Let’s dive into this spoiler-riddled recap and review!

Seb McKinnon Card Stock Variant

Recap:

We’re coming off of the high (pun very much intended) of the last issue, where Ivy discovers her lamia spores have begun to spread independently of her. Most importantly into the conniving, capitalist hands of Gløp’s owner, Gwendolyn Caltrope. The retreat turns into a psychedelic rager, when Ivy realizes that the spores are still connected to her as they infect the other attendees, giving her the ability to control them.

So what does she do next? ORGANIZE A PROTEST, BABY! Ivy has mellowed into a “slow them down” vs “murder them all” mentality when she takes the ladies at the retreat to an oil refinery to block all entry from outside. She knows that slowing things down for capitalists makes it very, very expensive and that’s definitely worse to them than actual humans dying. Her old method wasn’t quite as effective, so she’s pivoting. That’s growth! (Pun always intended.)

The “climate freaks” take a stand. Art by Marcio Takara.

The situation ends up with Ivy very obviously revealing herself to the retreat ladies as well as Gwen, who [SPOILER] conveniently turns into a giant, lamia monster. 

Art by Marcio Takara.

Review: 

Anytime Ivy is punishing people ruining our environment on a grand scale, I’m beyond thrilled. I appreciate how much nuance we’re getting with the differences in views throughout this series. Ivy’s coming at us from a very, very different perspective than Janet from HR or Gwen are but we can understand them all equally to a certain degree nonetheless. Janet has simplified views but she pushes Ivy into making more humane decisions than we’re normally seeing from her.

Honestly, I do want to see Pammy go off and murder some oil tycoons but maybe there’s other ways to deal with them. This is growth for Ivy. She’s learning that Harley Quinn isn’t the only human she wants to coexist with. 

Art by Marcio Takara.

The lesson ends up being: we’re all connected… whether we want to be or not, a point this book keeps reiterating over and over again. Even though monsters keep erupting all over the place, metaphorical or not, we start to understand why they’re even there in the first place. All in all, I love when the writing focuses on Pammy’s internal turmoil and how she resolves it. This issue nails it.

Rating: 5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Chapter 11- It’s no secret that Ivy can be very convincing, but with her newfound powers, she now has people wrapped around her finger. Janet’s time at the spa goes south when Ivy uses her…persuasive powers…to blockade a petroleum processing plant. Things take a wild turn, though, when the employees become violent and Ivy must protect the women she initially set out to destroy. So much for a relaxing spa retreat!

Written by: G. Willow Wilson
Art by: Marcio Takara
Colors by: Arif Prianto
Letters by: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Cover by: Jessica Fong
Price: $3.99