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A review by jugglingpup
Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death by Seth Mann, Dexter Vines, Sandu Florea, Amy Chu, Art Thibert, Clay Mann, Scott Hanna, Ulises Arreola, Jonathan Glapion, Al Barrionuevo, Julio Ferreir, Robson Rocha, Jay Leisten, Steven Segovia
4.0
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I am not a fan of superheros or anything they really have going for them. I find it boring. I generally only read Batman, but even then I am pretty selective about which ones I continue with because some fall into some really boring territory for me.
I picked this one up because I have had a fascination with Ivy, mostly because my best friend ships Harley/Ivy. So I thought I would give the series a chance so I could brag I read it before my best friend did. There is no Batman in this one and no Joker, the main two characters I like in the DC universe. So already I am sensing trouble.
There were parts I loved. Ivy gave up crime and focused more on studying plants, sort of in a “what am I?” sort of way. She was having an identity crisis partially because she was the only person like her left and because she wanted kids that were more closely related to her than her plant babies. I was a bit worried the plot would be sexist and awful, but I kept going because I saw the author was female, so I had hope. The author had Harley as single, but still not stable. She was more stable than she was when she was with Joker, that was impressive to me. There was a sense of real development outside of the men in their lives (YES!) that doesn’t always shine through in the other comics. The female villains were only really there as eye candy (this book is guilty of that a bit too) or in their relation to men (Harley-Joker, Catwoman-Batman). There were few plot points of character development points that irked me, overall I really liked this book.
My main issue with this series is there is so much skin and fan service. As a scientist in a very prestigious research facility, Ivy would not be showing off her midriff at work. There were so many issues I had with the outfits (Harley in short shorts riding a motorcycle, can you say ow?) that go beyond just this book, but pervade through pretty much every DC (and Marvel) comic with women. It was disheartening to see it happening in this story because the plot allowed for emotional development, but it was watered down by sexy poses and bad outfits. The art was gorgeous, don’t get me wrong. It was just not exactly fitting or appropriate.
I am not a fan of superheros or anything they really have going for them. I find it boring. I generally only read Batman, but even then I am pretty selective about which ones I continue with because some fall into some really boring territory for me.
I picked this one up because I have had a fascination with Ivy, mostly because my best friend ships Harley/Ivy. So I thought I would give the series a chance so I could brag I read it before my best friend did. There is no Batman in this one and no Joker, the main two characters I like in the DC universe. So already I am sensing trouble.
There were parts I loved. Ivy gave up crime and focused more on studying plants, sort of in a “what am I?” sort of way. She was having an identity crisis partially because she was the only person like her left and because she wanted kids that were more closely related to her than her plant babies. I was a bit worried the plot would be sexist and awful, but I kept going because I saw the author was female, so I had hope. The author had Harley as single, but still not stable. She was more stable than she was when she was with Joker, that was impressive to me. There was a sense of real development outside of the men in their lives (YES!) that doesn’t always shine through in the other comics. The female villains were only really there as eye candy (this book is guilty of that a bit too) or in their relation to men (Harley-Joker, Catwoman-Batman). There were few plot points of character development points that irked me, overall I really liked this book.
My main issue with this series is there is so much skin and fan service. As a scientist in a very prestigious research facility, Ivy would not be showing off her midriff at work. There were so many issues I had with the outfits (Harley in short shorts riding a motorcycle, can you say ow?) that go beyond just this book, but pervade through pretty much every DC (and Marvel) comic with women. It was disheartening to see it happening in this story because the plot allowed for emotional development, but it was watered down by sexy poses and bad outfits. The art was gorgeous, don’t get me wrong. It was just not exactly fitting or appropriate.