After being elected the new Mayor of Gotham City, Pamela Isley holds power like she has never had before. As her villainous alter ego, Poison Ivy, Pamela sought to invoke change in pursuit of her radical environmentalist agenda through violent acts of ecoterrorism, but now she has the means to implement systemic solutions that can lead to real lasting changes with positive outcomes for the Earth. As the Mayor of Gotham City, Ivy can do some real good for the planet she has sworn to protect. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Ivy, and one that she cannot afford to squander or jeopardize in any way.
SPOILERS AHEAD for Poison Ivy #43!
Ivy’s desperation to hold on to her political power and newfound authority is where we find her when Poison Ivy #43 opens. At the end of Poison Ivy #42, we see Ivy tearfully confess to Janet that being Mayor cost Ivy her relationship with her long-term romantic partner, Harley Quinn. In the opening of Poison Ivy #43, we see the conversation that transpired, which culminated in Ivy and Harley’s falling out. Ultimately, the breakdown of their relationship comes to Ivy admitting to Harley that she can’t publicly associate herself with someone who “acts like a clown” out of fear that Ivy being seen with Harley could jeopardize Ivy’s position as Mayor, and lead to Ivy losing the post entirely.
The Harley and Ivy breakup is a devastating scene, and one that is as heartbreaking to read as it is for the characters experiencing the painful moment on the page. Ivy clearly has a lot of love for Harley, but is placing her position as Mayor of higher importance, someone who not only reciprocates Ivy’s love for Harley, but also has stood beside Ivy and supported her, not only as a lover and romantic partner, but as a friend and a confidante as well. Ivy wholeheartedly believes she is making the right decision here, believing that there is too much at stake to allow a threat to Ivy’s standing as Mayor. However, in prioritizing her position as Mayor over her partnership with Harley, she is throwing away a relationship with the one person who completely accepts her and loves her unconditionally. With Ivy’s future with Harley so uncertain, and the possibility of salvaging the relationship unclear, Ivy is left to wonder if being Mayor is worth the cost of losing Harley.
Harley and Ivy end their beloved fan favorite romance (Credit: DC Comics)
From there, it’s business as usual with another day in the life for Mayor Pamela Isley as she meets with a Mr. Grasp, a wealthy industrialist whose family has provided water mains and drainage sewer systems to Gotham City for hundreds of years. Ivy tells Grasp that she wants to inspect his family’s handiwork, and the two venture off underground. It is there in the sewers that our cover star, Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman, makes her grand and highly anticipated appearance. Selina and Pamela go way back and have a long history as two of Gotham’s most formidable morally gray female characters. The pair has also been frequently aligned with one another as part of the Gotham City Sirens, a trio rounded out by Harley Quinn. Currently, fans of these characters can read Poison Ivy and Catwoman in a new DC Black Label series, Sirens: Love Hurts, from writer Tini Howard and artist Babs Tarr, a book which includes Harley Quinn, in addition to Dinah Lance, aka Black Canary.
Selina questions Pamela’s motives and intentions as Mayor, with Ivy telling Catwoman that becoming Mayor was done out of necessity to protect Ivy from her enemies. Selina fires back, asking Ivy if that is what Harley wants and whether what Ivy is doing is best for her. This line of questioning suggests that Selina has already heard the news that Harley and Ivy are no longer seeing each other, and came to confront Ivy over her treatment of their mutual friend and associate. Before she leaves the sewers, Selina tells Ivy to keep Grasp away from the “big stuff”, which is the same warning that we hear from Great White Shark before Ivy leaves for the sewers with Grasp. What is the “big stuff” that Ivy is hiding underground, and how does Selina know about it?
The Catwoman and Ivy scene shows how close Selina is with both Harley and Ivy, and also serves as an indication of how swept up Ivy is getting into her role as Mayor, where she is so focused on accomplishing her goals as Mayor that she has forgotten to nurture her personal relationships as well. Just like a houseplant, if Ivy does not nurture and care for her human relationships, those relationships will wither and die. Throughout this series, Ivy has exhibited a pattern of being so driven by her own ambitions that she treats her friends and allies as secondary to her mission. She often disregards the well being of those she cares for, or acts recklessly with seemingly no concern with how the consequences of her actions will negatively affect or even potentially endanger those she is close with. We’ve seen this time and time again with Janet, and now we are seeing it again with Harley. Ivy is so accustomed to working on her own that she is not used to having to put someone else’s needs and wellbeing in front of her own. She has also never had to compromise her own agenda for someone else’s welfare and happiness.
While in the sewers, Ivy sees a passage from Richard II spray-painted on a wall, which reads: “Within the hollow crown that rounds the mortal temples of a king keeps death his court”. Could this message be a threat or a warning of some kind? Later, Ivy asks Peter Undine what she knows of the hollow crown speech. Undine says, “It’s a warning about the emptiness of power and the inevitability of death”. The message is deeply foreboding, and the themes of power and death could be signaling that Ivy might soon be finding herself in a precarious and potentially dangerous situation in the near future.
Poison Ivy #43 culminates in Ivy taking her righteous vengeance out on Grasp, despite her allies having reservations about taking such a drastic action. Ivy also receives some bad news that is sure to bring more trouble to her doorstep eventually. The solicitation for Poison Ivy #44 teases that Ivy will struggle to maintain support from the people of Gotham after some unsettling truths about her are brought to light. Will Ivy be able to hold on to the support of the people of Gotham, or will everything she has worked for come crashing down around her?
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