In this review of Poison Ivy #28, Poison Ivy comes across an ancient arboreal council, she flees from a cult carrying out attacks in her name, and Janet hooks up with Killer Croc.
Poison Ivy #28 main cover by Jessica Fong
Title: Poison Ivy #28
Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Artist: Marcio Takara
Colors: Arif Prianto
Main Cover: Jessica Fong
Variant Cover Artists: Jenny Frison, Pablo Villaloobos, Mostafa Moussa, Knight Zhang, and David Nakayama
Release Date: December 4, 2024
This comic book review contains spoilers
The Story
Poison Ivy #28 begins as The Order of the Green Knight tells Poison Ivy that they’ve traveled thousands of miles from Seattle to see her after their first disciple spoke to her in a dream. Ivy releases a toxin knocking them all out and heads to Marshview. There, she encounters two giant Swamp creatures named Xylon and the Bog Venus. Venus tells Ivy that by borrowing the power of the grey (the lamia spores) she has disrupted the balance between the green and the grey. Venus tells her that if she can stop this faction who now view her as a god, the balance may be restored.
Later, at the house they’re squatting in, Ivy walks in on Janet sleeping with Killer Croc. No, you didn’t read that wrong. Ivy leaves to chase the sewer monster from last issue but it gets away. She returns to tell Janet and Croc about the Grey/Green situation and that she has to return to Seattle to disband the Order of the Green Knight. She leaves to clear her head and through the mist of the marsh she sees the Seattle skyline.
Analysis
The tree council scene is everything. The rest you can throw out but the tree council scene is awesome. Takara! How? Xylon…Bog Venus… My god, eye-meltingly gorgeous. I can’t say enough about those eight pages. The fog, the grey starry sky, the mist, the atmosphere. Takara gives Bog Venus an added caribbeanic panache on top of his vacant glowing eyes and Xylon a crystalized rigidity. I don’t even care that the lofty dialogue about the grey and the green being out of balance essentially amounts to nonsense. Takara’s art makes it feel like end of the world stuff. This might be the best looking issue yet. Genuinely. I’m not entrenched in Swamp Thing lore but those eight pages made me want to go back and read all the past appearances of these guys. And at the end of the day, is there any greater gift a comic book can give you?
Narratively, the Order storyline kind of stalls and Ivy chasing the sewer monster was filler. Seriously, we needed four full pages for that? G. Willow Wilson’s ongoing narration is reliably well written even if the gist of this issue is pretty slight.
The Janet-Croc storyline is just a troll move, not even really worth discussing. Years from now Janet from HR will be looked at as an artifact of our current era in comics. Just a completely useless character puppeteered to toy with fans and to give a knowing wink to online communities. It’s not too dissimilar from the ‘Nothing Butt Nightwing’ webcomic DC put out recently. Janet’s role has been reduced to having sex with every major character prompting an artificial discourse within the fanbase bifurcated between fans who act scandalized by the obvious bait and fans who embrace Janet’s chaotic promiscuousness. The latter group is further humored by the adverse reaction of the fans who become riled up by the increased absurdity of the pointless character; Janet, who has become a fan favorite simply by being a vessel to evoke negative reaction from their side. It’s become a matter of whether you want to be in on the joke or not. She’s sleeping with a giant lizard. Are you mad about it? Then you’re the butt of the joke.
Does any of this end up serving the narrative? It does not.
Final Thoughts
Technically there’s a lot of dumb stuff here but I loved the tree council scene so much that I’m recommending the issue on its merits. Marcio Takara, you are a master.
