In this review, Poison Ivy and Peter Undine uncover the secret history of Marshview.
Poison Ivy #31 main cover by Jessica Fong (DC Comics)
Poison Ivy #31
Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Artist: Brian Level
Colors: Arif Prianto
Main Cover: Jessica Fong
Variant Covers: Kyuyong Eom, Jenny Frison, Jorge Fornés, and Tula Lotay
Release Date: March 5, 2025
This comic book review contains spoilers
The Story
Poison Ivy #31 opens with Ivy in bed with Janet from HR. They have both formed contrasting alliances with the swamp creatures Bog Venus and Xylon but right now Janet is more worried about the creature that’s been following her around on rooftops.
Ivy then meets up with Peter Undine to find out the secrets of Mashview in Slaughter Swamp. Back during the construction of Gotham City, land developers tried to create a permanent settlement in the swamp. Despite constant flooding, they eventually created an underground piping system to flush out the water so they could build their town. Slowly the swamp started to fight back by releasing poisonous gases and invasive vines. Eventually the swamp was able to kill everyone living in the town except for one man named Ed Cooper. Now it turns out Ed Cooper has evolved into a horrific monster, the same one that’s been following Janet around on rooftops.
Analysis
Poison Ivy #31 is primarily told in flashback as we get an abbreviated history of Marshview and a backstory for the creature that’s been stalking Janet the last couple issues. The mainline story is essentially stagnant as we get a reminder about Ivy and Janet’s relationships with Bog Venus and Xylon, but no further development therein. Instead, Peter Undine returns to the story (cool design as always) and uses his plant powers which are vaguely described by writer G. Willow Wilson: “Undine’s strange abilities feel like cousins of my own. Related but not closely enough to be immediately familiar. He’s pulling us through the crude intersection of natural and man-made environments to see what they both remember.” The lengthy flashback is told through narration and imagery rather than as a standalone story so it reads more like a Wikipedia article to get you caught up on the history of this town than a compelling narrative in its own right. We’re told everything directly including who the creature that has been following Janet is without any character having to learn it through investigation. It’s the most lazy kind of exposition dumping you can do.
The extended flashback does nothing to emotionally hook the reader, and instead relies on summarizing the ongoing struggle between a people and the town they inhabit. Even the reveal that this swamp creature is Ed Cooper means nothing to us as he’s a character that was just introduced pages prior. There is no forward momentum in Janet and Ivy’s relationship nor Ivy and Undine’s, it’s just another issue of spinning the narrative wheels.
Brian Level takes over art duties from Marco Takara with mixed results. Ivy’s initial nightmare is visualized in a unique way that I don’t think Tarkara would’ve done, showing a disembodied head staring down at her from her bedroom ceiling. He experiments with page layout in the issues backhalf and Arif Prianto is a consummate professional in making sure every page is balanced and visually dynamic. Unfortunately there is just no way not to feel Takara’s absence in this book after he’s made such an indelible impact on it. Here Ivy and Janet are back to being sexualized (I’m not sure what’s going on with Ivy’s anatomy at the bottom of page 2), and we get some truly unflattering moments like Ivy’s face at the bottom of page 4 and odd perspectives like on page 20. On the whole it looks totally fine, but it’s clear to me that Marco Takara has consistently been this book’s x-factor.
Final Thoughts
Poison Ivy #31 comes back with a new artist and a backstory for Marshview in Slaughter Swamp. Unfortunately the backstory reads more like homework and the visuals suffer with the change-up.
