Poison Ivy Appreciation 2018

[Old Man Ollie 1962]

It was Neil Gaiman's idea and first introduced in Black Orchid to the best of my knowledge. Alan Moore had previously established a connection between Woodrue and Holland in Swamp Thing but there were no references to them being acquaintances in the past.

Coke was right. Gaiman showed us a Pamela filled with such. . .pathos. . .how could you not be moved?

BlackOrchidTPB-0961a.jpg

[Confuzzled]

^Gaiman was also the one to introduce the concept of Ivy having supernatural Earth goddess powers in his origin story for her, Pavane. He also established in that story that she was mentally unbalanced and dangerous enough to be admitted to Arkham, which previous to that was just an asylum for the criminally insane dudebros if I remember correctly.

Regarding Black Orchid, Ivy's appearance in the book still remains seminal. I wish if she is ever introduced in the DC movie universe, then they first show her incarcerated in Arkham like that, using some of those very lines. Such a scene would be completely at home in say a Suicide Squad film. An actual Black Orchid film may never happen, even though I have heard that Rachel McAdams has been trying to get the project off the ground for years now.

[Green Ghost]

Full solicits for #2:

POISON IVY: CYCLE OF LIFE AND DEATH #2
Written by AMY CHU
Art and cover by CLAY MANN
On sale FEBRUARY 17 • 32 pg, FC, 2 of 6, $2.99 US • RATED T
Murder in the lab! As the police investigate the death of her mentor, Dr. Pamela Isley suspects poisoning! But by whom, and why? Before the cops suspect her alter ego, Poison Ivy, Pam needs to find the true murderer. Meanwhile, her DNA experiments are about to pay off!

I love that cover so much!


Also we'll see Ivy for the first time in the Dark Knight Returns Universe:

THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS: THE LAST CRUSADE #1
Written by FRANK MILLER and BRIAN AZZARELLO
Art by JOHN ROMITA, JR. and BILL SIENKIEWICZ
Cover by JOHN ROMITA, JR. and DANNY MIKI
1:10 Robin Variant cover by LEE BERMEJO
1:25 Variant cover by BILL SIENKIEWICZ
1:100 Variant cover by FRANK MILLER
1:500 Variant cover by JIM LEE
One-shot • Prestige Format • On sale FEBRUARY 17 • 64 pg, FC, $7.99 US
Retailers: This issue will ship with five covers. Please see the order form for more information.
Before the Dark Knight returned…
The Joker. Poison Ivy. Selina Kyle. And the last Robin.

I am a little scared for this, because how Selina was treated in TDKR...

[Confuzzled]

Uh oh. Knowing Frank Miller, Pamela will probably be a hooker the Joker employs to seduce and lure Jason into a trap before he brutally murders both of them.

[Confuzzled]

Clay Mann is really bringing it! Didn't notice the lower cop's hand bleeding from the thorns of the rose. There is so much subtext going on in that single image. The solicits sound exciting too. January can't come soon enough for this series.

[Green Ghost]

Clay Mann is really bringing it! Didn't notice the lower cop's hand bleeding from the thorns of the rose. There is so much subtext going on in that single image. The solicits sound exciting too. January can't come soon enough for this series.

Newsarama has an interview with Amy Chu and even two preview pages, here's one:


They also had an interview with Clay Mann last week with some costume sketches!

Nice to see that the book is getting coverage!

[Starchild]

Well, I'm glad she remembers that Ivy is a very intelligent individual. Writers usually tend to focus on the sex appeal aspect of the character too much. My 2nd favorite Bat villain finally getting her due.


*crossesfingersforkillercroc*

[Confuzzled]

Newsarama has an interview with Amy Chu and even two preview pages, here's one:


They also had an interview with Clay Mann last week with some costume sketches!

Nice to see that the book is getting coverage!

Wowee, how gorgeous is this book going to be? The Chu interview was fun and reassuring. The Mann interview was interesting, especially when he cites the Timm/Dini/Pershing animated Ivy to be such a huge influence for his work. Also loved the preview page with the different proposed "flower/plant" costumes and the suggestion that Ivy would have more high fashion skewing tastes than her buds Harley and Selina.

[t hedge coke]

Well, I'm glad she remembers that Ivy is a very intelligent individual. Writers usually tend to focus on the sex appeal aspect of the character too much.

This is something that Dini falls into a lot, that gets on my nerves. Women are who referenced as intelligent, as educated, but spend the story being stupid and cheesecake. Not that I'm opposed to Ivy cheesecake, but I'd like her to be mildly intelligent and, y'know, a threat.

[MentalManipulator]

This is something that Dini falls into a lot, that gets on my nerves. Women are who referenced as intelligent, as educated, but spend the story being stupid and cheesecake. Not that I'm opposed to Ivy cheesecake, but I'd like her to be mildly intelligent and, y'know, a threat.

So excited for this…the art looks gorgeous and I'm super glad they're going to address her intellect and her enormous power potential :-)

[retical]

Newsarama has an interview with Amy Chu and even two preview pages, here's one:


They also had an interview with Clay Mann last week with some costume sketches!

Nice to see that the book is getting coverage!

The art is stunning! And acknowledging her intelligence is important. Very excited to see that Chu sees her as more than a sexy sidekick. I hope Harley stays far away from this book and Ivy shinning a bit on her own.

[PwrdOn]

This is something that Dini falls into a lot, that gets on my nerves. Women are who referenced as intelligent, as educated, but spend the story being stupid and cheesecake. Not that I'm opposed to Ivy cheesecake, but I'd like her to be mildly intelligent and, y'know, a threat.

I don't necessarily think sex appeal is holding Ivy back, it's just that in comics villains typically don't seem very intimidating if they aren't a physical threat, and while Ivy has a lot of dangerous qualities she can't punch her way out of a wet paper bag so it's always going to be an uphill climb to establish that villainous presence. Also when it comes to evil genius type characters, they're inherently limited by the fact that they can only ever be as smart as their writer is, and they have difficulty living up to their purported intellect.

[Confuzzled]

I don't necessarily think sex appeal is holding Ivy back, it's just that in comics villains typically don't seem very intimidating if they aren't a physical threat, and while Ivy has a lot of dangerous qualities she can't punch her way out of a wet paper bag so it's always going to be an uphill climb to establish that villainous presence. Also when it comes to evil genius type characters, they're inherently limited by the fact that they can only ever be as smart as their writer is, and they have difficulty living up to their purported intellect.

She's not THAT frail lol. And many depictions show her as being a pretty competent physical threat. Not Bane level obviously but the same as some other male Bat rogues like Two-Face and Scarecrow. Of course there will be double standards in how her physical capability is viewed because she is a woman who is not a bruiser type.

And yes, while her sexiness does not hold her back, the society we live in pushes beliefs like "Beauty does not usually come along with brains", bimbo stereotypes etc. etc. You don't even have to look beyond the opening of the Newsarama interview for Clay Mann to see an example of this:

Debuting in January, the six-issue Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death series explores the sexy but smart villainess' power...

Umm... what's that "but" doing there lol. It's like they think sexiness is the opposite of smarts. Unfortunately, a lot of fanboys and creators hold the same opinion, which ends up influencing their interpretation of Poison Ivy. Hence the need to focus heavily on her intellect and other qualities.

[LoneNecromancer]

This is something that Dini falls into a lot, that gets on my nerves. Women are who referenced as intelligent, as educated, but spend the story being stupid and cheesecake. Not that I'm opposed to Ivy cheesecake, but I'd like her to be mildly intelligent and, y'know, a threat.

Yeah, agreed. This is actually why I dislike the Harley/Ivy pairing, it tends to reduce her to that a lot.

I don't necessarily think sex appeal is holding Ivy back, it's just that in comics villains typically don't seem very intimidating if they aren't a physical threat, and while Ivy has a lot of dangerous qualities she can't punch her way out of a wet paper bag so it's always going to be an uphill climb to establish that villainous presence. Also when it comes to evil genius type characters, they're inherently limited by the fact that they can only ever be as smart as their writer is, and they have difficulty living up to their purported intellect.

Ivy's pretty much Batman's most powerful villain. Like maybe Freeze and Clayface are up there too but Batman has more counters for them and her ability to control minds without even needing to go make a chemical or something I'd say gives her the edge.

I think that she gets the anti-hero treatment too much as well as being lumped in with Catwoman and Harley a lot for no real reason other than that they're the female Batman rogues that all holds her back from being a serious villain. And sometimes even when she is a villain sometimes she's just treated as not necessarily unhinged but just kinda dumb.

[Confuzzled]

The weird thing is Dini used to write the heck out of Ivy in the animated series and the older comics set in the DCAU. It was when he started getting high on his Harley obsession (and when she really started to break out) was when he stopped bothering to develop Ivy in a way that served her own character and instead began to write her in a way that served Harley's character. You can still see the after-effects of this in the way Pam is treated in Harley's ongoing.

But there is a plus side. The army of Harley fanatics are pretty fond of Ivy. Hopefully they check out her mini and really help boost its sales.

Ivy's pretty much Batman's most powerful villain. Like maybe Freeze and Clayface are up there too but Batman has more counters for them and her ability to control minds without even needing to go make a chemical or something I'd say gives her the edge.

I think that she gets the anti-hero treatment too much as well as being lumped in with Catwoman and Harley a lot for no real reason other than that they're the female Batman rogues that all holds her back from being a serious villain. And sometimes even when she is a villain sometimes she's just treated as not necessarily unhinged but just kinda dumb.

Among the Rogues, she is definitely the most powerful in terms of powers. Which is why I always find it dumb that she gets dispatched so easily when up against members of the Bat-Family. Meh, I think she is too appealing and rich a character to be reduced to just being a villain who sporadically appears in Bat-books anyway. She is Magneto-level in terms of complexities so I definitely feel she can carry her own solo just like him, provided she gets the right creative team (thankfully by the looks of it, Chu and Mann seem to fit the bill so far).