Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy: A 6 Issue Mini By Jody Houser and Adriana Melo

[failo.legendkiller]

I don't care at all about another Harley Quinn book.

[Frontier]

I've no idea why DC is so reluctant to make Harley/Ivy a thing. Lesbians are better sellers then gay men (usually due to the male gaze, but still), its a fan favourite pairing, it helps Harley grow away from the joker as a story about an abused women finding real love.

I think it basically is a thing at this point as far as DC editorial/writers are concerned.

[Celgress]

I'm so going to buy this.

[lucius121]

definitely going to buy this, one of the few couples I actually like.

[Dylan Davison]

I'm going to get this cause of Ivy, but I hope it doesn't turn into another series with Ivy as a sidekick for Harley. I don't mind the relationship at all, I enjoy it. But Ivy can stand on her own. But I am looking forward to this.

[Confuzzled]

Bit unfortunate Adriana Melo can't draw classic Ivy as boy can she draw classic Ivy.

[Celgress]

Bit unfortunate Adriana Melo can't draw classic Ivy as boy can she draw classic Ivy.

Boy oh boy can she ever.

[Confuzzled]

Boy oh boy can she ever.

She's been killing it on Female Furies too. Really excited for this.

[Celgress]

She's been killing it on Female Furies too. Really excited for this.

Agreed, her run there has been top notch.

[kjn]

Bleeding Cool posted their "preview" of Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy #1 (I guess the official one will be up Monday). It shows Houser leaning on the fourth wall with the best of them:

kid-reacts-new-ivy.jpg

I think Houser can get Poison Ivy to a decent place, but I really wish she and other good writers didn't have to start their runs by cleaning up earlier bad decisions.

[RachelGrey]

Bleeding Cool posted their "preview" of Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy #1 (I guess the official one will be up Monday). It shows Houser leaning on the fourth wall with the best of them:

kid-reacts-new-ivy.jpg

I think Houser can get Poison Ivy to a decent place, but I really wish she and other good writers didn't have to start their runs by cleaning up earlier bad decisions.

I wonder if Ivy will have skin again by the end of the 1st or 2nd issue. I think she is going to realize that she has the power to fix her appearance and look just a bit more like a human, or at least like a beautiful dryad that has actual skin.

[Frontier]

Bleeding Cool posted their "preview" of Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy #1 (I guess the official one will be up Monday). It shows Houser leaning on the fourth wall with the best of them:

kid-reacts-new-ivy.jpg

I think Houser can get Poison Ivy to a decent place, but I really wish she and other good writers didn't have to start their runs by cleaning up earlier bad decisions.

"On-purpose bad times" - when they were committing crimes? So the good ol' days?

From the back the New 52 Ivy look appears like a dress. Oh well, at least it's finally gone...

I'm surprised they made that naked joke now and not with her circa-naked Post-Crisis look. Ivy looks like she's wearing a muscle suit now.

They're probably not going to pay for this "shopping spree," I would imagine...

[kjn]

Some thoughts after having read the first issue, non-spoilers mostly:

First of all, lets address the elephant in the room: the way the hands of the creative team were tied by the decisions of earlier storylines, not all of them well-received. Houser and Melo were handed a very rough deal for Ivy with Heroes in Crisis, the storyline ties into YotV which appears everywhere, and there are also some connections with JLD.

For those not following along with JLD:

spoilers:

The Parliament of Trees was killed during The Witching Hour, and in its place The Parliament of Flowers was either rose or was created, leaving Swamp Thing even more melancholic and bereft of purpose. In the recent JLD Annual this was dug into, with the Floronic Man trying to make himself into the new avatar of the Green.

end of spoilers

Houser does her best to make lemonade out of the lemons, and largely succeeds. It is told from Harley's point of view, but her attention is very much centered on Ivy. In a way, it's about Harley reacting to Ivy quite literally not being herself, but they are still very much shown as caring for each other. However, at the same time it feels like the comic glosses over a lot of the problematic ways that HiC handled Ivy, partly by making jokes about it, partly by having Harley ramble on about her reactions to the events. I think we will need Ivy's point of view to really address those issues of misogynistic violence.

Sadly, the art didn't really work for me. It felt too flat, and with some great exceptions it felt too emotionless. The flower imagery and the way Ivy's body changed was really cool, but it also carried a bit of a sour aftertaste over the way she is treated. To add to all her other issues, now Ivy has a severe case of body dysphoria too.

But overall I liked it. Houser clearly has a good concept for the relation between Harley and Ivy, and she plays up the sad clown aspect of Harley in exactly the right ways.

[kjn]

Preview for #2.

[Frontier]

Preview for #2.

Feels like it's been a while since I've seen an Ivy design in the comics that I really like...