In this review of Poison Ivy #38, Poison Ivy grapples with the fact that her close ally Janet-from-HR betrayed her to Bog Venus.
Poison Ivy #38 main cover by Jessica Fong (DC Comics)
POISON IVY #38
Written by G. WILLOW WILSON
Art by MARCIO TAKARA
Main Cover: JESSICA FONG
Variant Covers: KYUYONG EOM, NOOBOVICH, ZEEN CHIN
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: 11/5/25
This comic book review contains spoilers
The secret is out: Janet betrayed Ivy to Bog Venus. Ivy is livid and determined to bring Janet deep into the Green to kill her. Janet passes out before they reach Venus and Venus psychically shows Ivy the history of her rivalry with the Grey over the millennia. The two have been entangled in an intergalactic battle for supremacy since their inception and Venus appeals to Ivy to support her mission to destroy the Grey once and for all. Ivy agrees to step back as ambassador between the two forces if Venus agrees to hide Marashview from public view once again. Ivy brings Janet back home and forgives her with a kiss. They then team up to hack Bog Venus apart with a labia laced kitchen knife before collapsing together in the pose of Michelangelo’s Pietà.
Analysis
This was a good issue. G. Willow Wilson channels some of her better impulses with the exploration of the nature of betrayal as well as the cosmic battle between the Green and the Grey over the millennia. Ivy’s inner struggle is really forefronted here, as she’s forced to grapple with her flaws as well as the distrust she must feel from every corner of her life. Wilson’s narration is especially on point this issue with Ivy constantly doubting herself and re-evaluating all her assumptions about people, friendship, loyalty and betrayal. It’s not all perfect though.
There seems to be a weird false-parallel being drawn by Janet and by extension G. Willow Wilson that somehow Ivy’s vaguely neglectful attitude towards Janet justifies her being betrayed. At no point in this run did I ever feel like Ivy wronged Janet in such a way that it justified this alliance with Bog Venus. The story even wraps up with Ivy realizing her own actions were the root cause of all the drama that followed. While this might be true in some small part, Ivy’s actions pale in comparison to Janet’s cowardly defection. Her defense of this is that Ivy “wears people out” which is presented as a reasonable justification for her actions.
Marcio Takara remains the number one selling point for this comic in my book. Right from the opening full page splash of Ivy dragging an unwilling Janet deep into the woods, you know you’re in for a visual feast. Just look at the way he draws her fiery red hair as a plume of smoke rising up above her. Logically it doesn’t make sense but emotionally it is perfect and nobody else would think to do that. You can read the emotions on the character’s faces, the subtleties that greatly enhance Wilson’s interpersonal drama into something real and tangible. It’s so great.
Every page has a panel layout that is different from the one previous, but it somehow still feels congruous and right for the story. Even the cosmic visage that Bog Venus presents Ivy with stands apart from past psychedelic imagery presented in this run. Arif Prianto’s colors are perfect and Hassan Otsamne-Elhaou’s letting elevate the dialogue, especially for Bog Venus whose bizarre dialogue is impossible to read without an unworldly distortion due to the way it looks on the page. Great stuff. The entire team is doing anything and everything to elevate the comic medium by implying sound and vocalizations in ways that most comic teams wouldn’t even bother to explore.
Final Thoughts
All and all a very strong issue of Poison Ivy with Poison Ivy #38. The wonky character motivation still plagues some of the writing but there’s some really complex ideas being expressed here and the art is absolutely second to none.
