As an environmentalist, Pamela Isley aka Poison Ivy has always been dedicated and committed to her cause and willing to do whatever she deems necessary to protect the planet Earth. Last issue in Poison Ivy #35, Pamela crossed a line in order to take control of the Order of the Green Knight in a confrontation with Bella Garten, aka the Gardener, in which Pamela infected Bella with a biotoxin that makes her hands so poisonous that they will kill everything she touches. As Pamela walks away from a devastated Bella weeping on her knees, Pamela acknowledges that this act is “a thing for which there is no forgiveness”. By removing Bella as an opponent, Pamela is free to take full control of the Order of the Green Knight.
In Poison Ivy #36, we see Ivy settling into her new role as the new leader of the Order of the Green Knight while the guilt of what she did to Bella weighs on her conscience. While Ivy is enjoying the power and followers that she has amassed, her allies Janet and Peter Undine feel a little uneasy about these new circumstances. Janet tells Peter that Ivy having followers “brings out the worst in her”, and recalls how “scary” Ivy was when she had a thrall of women at a wellness retreat in California under her control (see Poison Ivy #10-12 for the full story).
Peter has a thought-provoking line in this issue where he says about Ivy: “Sometimes I’m afraid she likes power more than she thinks she does. That perhaps this ‘I’m not a leader, I’m not a savior’ act is just…the last vestige of her humanity trying to protect itself from the monster lurking inside”. This line speaks to a larger theme that G. Willow Wilson has been exploring with Poison Ivy, that is, Ivy as an antihero of sorts with her own moral compass that guides her decisions and motivates her at all times. It also speaks to Ivy’s internal conflict of trying to balance being a force for good and a force for destruction.
Janet shares her fears with Peter Undine concerning a fully empowered Poison Ivy. Credit: DC Comics
After Ivy declares to her followers that they will “feed our oppressors to the land,” Janet is convinced that she was correct to be concerned about Ivy as the leader of the Order of the Green Knight. She tells Peter that she is going to talk to someone who can help fix the situation, and then goes out to the woods to seek out the Bog Venus. With her condition increasingly worsening, Janet demands that the Bog Venus honor their agreement and heal her. Bog Venus refuses to heal Janet, claiming that Ivy is more powerful than ever before, and thus Janet failed to deliver on her end of the deal.
Meanwhile, Janet’s sneaking off to the woods does not go unnoticed, as one of Ivy’s followers, a woman named Wendy, observes Janet leaving the encampment in search of Bog Venus. Concerned Wendy brings this information to Ivy, who accuses Wendy of intentionally trying to drive a wedge between Ivy and her closest ally in order to maneuver herself into Ivy’s inner circle. This is ironic because Ivy still has no inclination that Janet had any involvement with the GCPD’s assault on Marshview, and does not suspect Janet’s involvement whatsoever.
After Peter reminds Ivy that they may have a traitor among them, Ivy starts to act on these suspicions and begins questioning the members of the Order of the Green Knight to find out what they know. Everyone denies being involved, and some suggest to Ivy that one of her allies may be responsible. Once again, this is ironic because Ivy has never once considered that Janet or Peter could have betrayed her. This demonstrates that either Ivy has so much trust in her allies that she would never believe them capable of deception of any kind, or she underestimates her allies to the point she overlooks the possibility that they might not be being entirely truthful with her. Ivy’s inquisition goes so far as to the point that Ivy demands to look through everyone’s phones to see what they are hiding. This feels like a complete violation of the trust that Ivy’s followers have placed in her, as well as showing that Ivy’s paranoia has clouded her better judgment. The issue comes to a close with a cliffhanger ending as Peter discovers an unresponsive Janet collapsed on the ground, leaving readers waiting until the next issue to find out Janet’s fate.
Poison Ivy #36 is an entertaining issue filled with increasing tension as Ivy struggles to feel at ease with her role as the new leader of the Order of the Green Knight, with her allies worried about what Ivy will do now that she has amassed an army of loyal followers. Meanwhile, Ivy searches for the identity of the traitor in the group, unaware that her best friend, Janet, is the traitor she is seeking. These plot points will be exciting to watch develop in Poison Ivy #37 and other issues to follow.
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