Talent
Writer: Amy Chu
Art by: Clay Mann
Cover: Clay Mann
Variant Cover: Rachel Dodson, Terry Dodson
Life. Death. Poison Ivy has power over both. But can she keep her friends and hold down a regular job at the same time? As Dr. Pamela Isley, she joins the prestigious plant sciences department at Gotham Botanical Gardens, but things quickly get complicated when a fellow scientist is murdered and it looks like the work of Ivy. Don’t miss the start of this new 6-issue miniseries!
Review
Cat’s TidBits: As Dr. Pamela Isley starts working at the Gotham Botanical Gardens, she soon encounters that she needs to learn how to balance from her ‘plant’ side and ‘human’ side in order to fit in. But now that there’s been a murder in the laboratory, will she be able to hold back?
We start this new Poison Ivy mini-series with Dr. Pamela Isley working at the Gotham Botanical Gardens alongside her coworker Dr. Luisa Cruz; Dr. Cruz was able to hire her through the main boss, Dr. Albertus Grimley thinking that she was a male. (Already suspicious of this guy here.) I want to start off with the artwork in this issue; I am loving the colors and the detailed-work that was put into this comic book, looking forward to any fight scenes we may be having in the near future. Amy Chu’s writing was specifically geared toward building the personality that we already know from Poison Ivy, but she’s also having to deal with her ‘human’ side and socialize with a few of her best friends. Harley!
The flow of this issue is perfect. I wouldn’t want it changed in any other way. You have the introductory panels, where Poison Ivy shows up by inspecting her love, plants; Then we also have the side stories (Harley Quinn being one of them and the mystery of who murdered a specific person –spoiler below– with Poison Ivy’s style?) It’s hard to remember that Poison Ivy is more of a plant-type than a human-type. She doesn’t really need socialization in her life, but she deals with it, because it’s what connects her to society and Earth (in this comic book, Gotham.)
So there’s a mystery that we need to solve and basically, Poison Ivy didn’t do it. I don’t want to point out any fingers yet, but could it be Grimley? He apparently has issues with females being part of the workforce at Gotham Botanical Gardens, but who knows. I’m just assuming here. I wonder where Chu is going to take it, but I am content to where it’s at right now. You have Poison Ivy who’s really trying to be ‘good’ and have some sort of normalcy in her life by taking on a job and not be the same as Harley Quinn, who’s the opposite.
The Good: We get to see Poison Ivy in a new light; which has been done before, but I honestly believe that Chu wrote this really well. The colors, I’m loving!
The Bad: I want more character building; Right now, we’re obviously only getting Poison Ivy’s personality and even Harley in the mix, but I want to know more of our other characters. But I’m holding up, this is the first issue, ha.
Recommended If:
- Poison Ivy is your favorite character.
- You love Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn together.
- You like solving mysteries.
Overall: I really recommend anyone to read this book! I know some individuals were skeptical, because we have yet another villain who’s trying to be ‘good’, but I like Poison Ivy as a character. She’s a little bit like Catwoman (good and evil).
Score: 8.5/10