Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death #1 Review and thoughts.

Written by Amy Chu. Pencils by Clay Mann

Inks by Seth Mann Colors by Ulises Arreola Letters by Janice Chiang

Cover by Clay Mann and Laura Martin

Variant cover by Terry Dodson and Rachel Dodson

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” Rumi

I’ll try to avoid giving away major plot elements and spoilers and rather analyze the themes of the book. It’s better to read this book without knowing anything beforehand. This is Poison Ivy’s first mini series since her creation, 50 years ago. Throughout her history she never had the chance of getting the spotlight, being the protagonist in her own story and was mostly used as a sidekick, a gun for hire or a romantic interest.

Not always of course. In my personal opinion, some of my favorite writers, Ann Nocenti, Gail Simone, Christy Marx, Greg Rucka, John Layman, Jeff Parker, Duane Swierczynski and of course Neil Gaiman wrote Poison Ivy stories that broke taboos and offered a well rounded approach to the character. There is a common ingredient in all these stories: Poison Ivy is the hero. Perhaps not a hero in the traditional sense but she is the hero of her own story. But it always bothered me that nobody gave her a chance for a solo ongoing or a mini. Until now of course. The book is split into three acts. The first arc introduces us to Pamela Isley and her work. Starting in Africa we get introduced to Pamela and her search for the rare welwitschia mirabilis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welwitschia). Things don’t go exactly as planned, she gets attacked and Poison Ivy and her powers take control. The first act expands into her work at Gotham’s Botanical Gardens and her research. Here we get introduced to her mentor, Dr Luisa Cruz which is the person who gave her a second chance and helped her rebuild her career.

In order to avoid spoilers I’ll provide very sparse information about the second and third act.

The second act starts with the “invasion” of Harley Quinn in her lab and leads to a big conversation about who Pamela Isley is now. Amy Chu adds some clever and subtle innuendos in this dialogue that’s gonna resonate with a lot of readers. The central theme is alienation. Alienation can happen in many ways. Because of a different way of thinking, because of gender, identity… there are echoes, points in the dialogue that try to explain that feeling. And succeed in a very intimate and honest way. The third act is an inner monologue of Pamela Isley. It is the first time that we get a big inner monologue from her. Yup, in 50 years of history we rarely got a glimpse of what’s going inside her mind. We get glimpses, fractures of what’s going on inside her head. It feels like a puzzle and we get to see how these pieces fit. The duality of her existence. Human and plant, science and magic, hero and avenger. Then…tragedy hits. Clay Mann’s work is incredible. Detailed and realistic and with a very personal and distinct style. I’m very happy that he is the artist of this mini. His work is impressive and cinematic with angles, shadows and panels used effectively and “organically” (see third act) to the story. While some artists focus on putting Pamela in sexy and provocative poses, Mann chooses to focus on facial expressions and character emotions. This doesn’t mean that Ivy is not sexy or beautiful. Her beauty comes naturally without being forced to the reader. We see her nude but her nudity is something that simply exists. It’s not forced, shes not objectified. She is naked to connect with her plant side. She is naked FOR the plants and not for the reader’s eyes. Arreola gives the book a distinct and recognizable color palette. Strong contrasts in subtly pastel backgrounds reminiscent of (another Mann, ha!) Michael Mann’s work. Like Fco Plascencia’s work in Batman, it’s really important to have a distinct color palette for a book. I also should mention that the letterer is the legendary Janice Chiang (just check her bio at http://comicbookdb.com/creator.php?ID=417).

I really enjoyed this issue. It was really touching to see the contrast between how Luisa Cruz

interacts with Pamela, giving her a second chance, trying to understand her and help her and how Harley fails to see that some people are happy with different things. This resonated with me in a very weird way. Amy Chu hit a spot there. I mean she really hit a personal spot there. Some people are not “happy” the same way other people are and forcing them to change is not good. Harley doesn’t understand Ivy’s passion for research. How this passion is part of who she is. How this can help her come in terms with who she really is. Almost every single writer pushes Harley and Ivy together because a writer told so two decades ago. But I simply can’t see it. Instead I see Ivy the way Chu writes her. And perhaps I will be hated for writing this but Luisa Cruz is a much better match for Ivy than Harley. At least for me. If you want to understand my points about Ivy and Harley’s relationship carefully read the second and third act of this issue. Of course this is a very personal opinion. Feel free to disagree if you want but please be polite.

It’s very positive to finally see Pamela Isley as a scientist, speaking as a scientist, being human. Having a purpose in life. There is a question I always make to writers who write Ivy: Why would she do that? Why rob a bank when she’s so deeply connected to the Green? Why murder someone and have all the Bat family attack her when she is smart enough to I.e make a pheromone spray? It’s exciting to see that the team behind the book GETS IT. There is a TON of empowering moments about feminism, work harassment, sexism, objectification, law, ethics. There is actual science here. You can search about the scientific jargon used and you suddenly realize that there is an extra depth to this book (as well as some spoilers for future issues if you really dig into the ideas presented here). You know what? Yes, this is a book for the thinking reader, for the nitpicker who’s gonna search about everything in it and will appreciate the depth and dedication the creative team put into this. And I love it.

As you know we are group of friends, recognized in social media under the tag #poisonivyleague and we did a campaign for Ivy to get her own solo ongoing. I don’t know if we really helped. I’m not sure and I’m not confident enough to “brag” about this. I hope we helped. But what matters is that I (and I’m sure the rest friends will agree on this) will support the book as much as I can. DC promised many times that if it sells well, it will turn into an ongoing. I hope it does.

We want strong, confident, realistic female characters that readers can resonate with. Well here you go. This is it. I won’t give the book a rating, I don’t think that a 10/10 is enough. I’m only gonna say that if you can, please buy it. And dig deeply into into. Trust me on this one.

Ivy is finally in her own series! Check out my friends review of the first issue!

Korrasami Confirmed

Now that Korra and Asami’s final moment is out in the world, it seems like an appropriate time to express how I feel about it. I didn’t want to say anything right away so the audience could experience the finale for themselves.

The main themes of the Avatar universe have always revolved around equality, justice, acceptance, tolerance, and balancing differing worldviews. In subtle and maybe not so subtle ways, Avatar and Legend of Korra have dealt with difficult subjects such as genocide, child abuse, deaths of loved ones, and post traumatic stress. I took it as a complement when Joanna Robinson of Vanity Fair called the show subversive. There were times even I was surprised we were able to delve into the really tough stuff on a children’s TV network. While the episodes were never designed to “make a statement”, Bryan and I always strove to treat the more difficult subject matter with the respect and gravity it deserved.

And over the years we’ve heard from numerous fans, in person and online, how Avatar and Korra have influenced their lives for the better or helped them overcome a life struggle or setback. I am always humbled when people share their personal stories with us and I am grateful that my love for telling stories has been able to help people in some small way. So while Avatar and Korra were always meant to be entertaining and engaging tales, this universe and its characters also speak to the deeper humanity in all of us, regardless of age, gender, race, religion, culture, nationality, or sexual orientation.

Our intention with the last scene was to make it as clear as possible that yes, Korra and Asami have romantic feelings for each other. The moment where they enter the spirit portal symbolizes their evolution from being friends to being a couple. Many news outlets, bloggers, and fans picked up on this and didn’t find it ambiguous. For the most part, it seems like the point of the scene was understood and additional commentary wasn’t really needed from Bryan or me. But in case people were still questioning what happened in the last scene, I wanted to make a clear verbal statement to complement the show’s visual one. I get that not everyone will be happy with the way that the show ended. Rarely does a series finale of any show satisfy that show’s fans, so I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the positive articles and posts I’ve seen about Korra’s finale.

I’ve already read some heartwarming and incredible posts about how this moment means so much for the LGBT community. Once again, the incredible outpouring of support for the show humbles me. As Tenzin says, “Life is one big bumpy ride.” And if, by Korra and Asami being a couple, we are able to help smooth out that ride even a tiny bit for some people, I’m proud to do my part, however small it might be. Thanks for reading.