The iconic DC antihero Poison Ivy is one of the most well-known comic characters of all time, and like most beloved comic creations, she has multiple origin stories that have been retconned and revisited over the decades since her debut in 1966. The current award-winning run of Poison Ivy – from acclaimed writer G. Willow Wilson and artist Marcio Takara – is once again detailing the origins of Dr. Pamela Isley’s transformation into the beloved villain Poison Ivy. G. Willow Wilson provides an exciting and much-needed lens on the lore of the beloved antihero who has in the past been painted as a feminist icon, portrait of misandry, and psychotic terrorist (among many other things).
Poison Ivy #19 hauntingly depicts Isley falling under the sway of sociopathic but brilliant botanist Jason Woodrue, who will eventually evolve into the Floronic Man, one of Ivy’s greatest enemies if not her absolute worst. Much of the beginning of Wilson and Takara’s run saw Dr. Isley fighting against Woodrue, and eventually seeming to defeat him, ingesting the villain bite by bite to gain his healing factors and also to prevent his return…
DC Comics
Hindsight is 20/20 as they say, and Poison Ivy #18 proved that Ivy ingesting Woodrue was a major mistake, with the Floronic Man somehow having grown back to full strength within Pam’s body, and bursting through her stomach like a horrific C-section gone wrong. Now, Poison Ivy #19 – in Part 1 of the three-part story “Origin of Species” – goes back in time to show just how monstrous, callous, and manipulative Woodrue was, and how the young Pamela Isley was able to fall under his spell.
Poison Ivy’s first origin was a classic Bronze Age tale, with “Lillian Rose” convinced by Marc LeGrand to help him steal an ancient Egyptian artifact containing mysterious herbs, which he attempted to poison her with, instead giving her immunity to toxins. Later, Neil Gaiman retconned Ivy’s origins after Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1988’s Secret Origins #36, saying that the LeGrand story was all a lie she told and that she really gained her pheromone-based powers due to experimentation by her professor Jason Woodrue.
DC Comics
The New 52 once again retconned Pamela’s story, completely taking Woodrue out of her origins, until James Tynion IV’s excellent 2021 one-shot Batman Secret Files: The Gardener #1, where Ivy’s ex-lover Bella Garten told Batman her true origins, providing more details to Gaiman’s 1988 tale. Poison Ivy #19 expands on Garten’s retelling of Poison Ivy’s origins, but interestingly, it seems like Wilson has decided to leave Garten out of her retelling unless Garten will join in Part 2 in Poison Ivy #20.
Unsurprisingly, Wilson continues to capture Dr. Pamela Isley, and Poison Ivy’s, inner voice and monologue exceptionally well, with the perfect amount of reflection and growth shown in the narration of her own naïve and innocent origins. Jason Woodrue is, simply put, a creep with no ethical boundaries, obsessed with gaining power at the cost of anyone and anything around him. Wilson’s story leans into Isley’s innocence, and her true passion for environmentalism, hoping to help both the Earth and humanity through her work. This lens works particularly well with the current antiheroic iteration of Poison Ivy, who wants to do good, but is mired under years of trauma and oppression at the hands of men and broken systems.
Wilson’s revamped telling of Isley’s early childhood – with an attentive and loving Mother, juxtaposing past stories of her having emotionally distant parents – and her seduction at the hands of the brilliant and imposing Woodrue elevates all of her past origins while helping to provide a clearer path forward for the antihero. Poison Ivy is all about change, and growth, and clearly, she is going to need to try a different tactic to defeat the reborn Floronic Man than just consuming him once again. Perhaps, with all the time Ivy has spent reflecting and evolving from her past mistakes and traumas, she will find a way to transform Woodrue into something less harmful, instead of completely destroying him.
As always, Marcio Takara’s art is gorgeous, effectively portraying complex emotions, movement, and enchantingly disturbing plant life. Poison Ivy #19 is the perfect issue for Takara to return to, as he has been the main artist for the series, and it just feels right that he would illustrate his and Wilson’s Poison Ivy origins. Arif Prianto’s coloring is vibrant and impactful, with his shading working particularly well in this issue, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou’s lettering is as impeccable as always, easily differentiating between different voices, narratives, and emotions.
DC Comics
While Poison Ivy #19 is a tragic and well-told Part 1 to Dr. Pamela Isley’s origins as Poison Ivy, it does lack some of the excitement, flair, and energy of past issues. Readers who truly love Poison Ivy as a character, and want to know the intimate details of her prior life and what led her to her present will surely love and appreciate the issue, but critiques of its lack of excitement and action are also valid. Plus, the retelling as of this issue has not added or changed anything too major to Ivy’s lore. Yet, Woodrue’s return is going to lead to a truly brutal and engaging battle – especially with the continued hordes of fungi zombies – so this pause to allow Ivy and the reader to reflect on her path seems to fit well within the narrative structure of the greater tale.
The existential nature of Poison Ivy #19’s character study beautifully bookends the issue, with Pamela dying from Woodrue’s violent exit from her body and reflecting on not only the general gift that life is, but also how she chose to embrace the gift of life, and wrench power back under her control. Wilson asserts that Poison Ivy was not born from Woodrue’s experimentations, or engaging with Batman in Gotham City, but from her first act of real rebellion. While Woodrue may still cause Isley to gain powers, Ivy choosing to steal from the school lab – even though it was at Woodrue’s direction – gives the antihero more agency over her creation and the future she decides for herself.
Join the AIPT Patreon
Want to take our relationship to the next level? Become a patron today to gain access to exclusive perks, such as:
- ❌ Remove all ads on the website
- 💬 Join our Discord community, where we chat about the latest news and releases from everything we cover on AIPT
- 📗 Access to our monthly book club
- 📦 Get a physical trade paperback shipped to you every month
- 💥 And more!
You must be logged in to post a comment.