Review: Poison Ivy #3

There have now been two murders at the Gotham Botanical Gardens and more suspicion is being cast at Dr. Pamela Isley.  Her co-workers do not know that she is really Poison Ivy, nor do they know what experiments she has been up to.  At her home, Ivy has grown two plant-human hybrid children.  As the danger strikes closer and closer to her, Ivy needs to call in an old friend to help her investigate.

The Positive

As the story progresses and the danger increases we begin to see more of the old Ivy come to the surface.  It seems Pamela Isley can only fight her natural instincts for so long.  She is not completely cold hearted though.  She doesn’t seem to want to hurt or kill anyone in cold blood or just for fun, well maybe not completely.  It’s only when the danger is getting closer to her and her new babies does she react so strongly.  I’m glad to see that they are not trying to paint her as just a psychopath, but as a relatable person who just happens to have a very strong reaction.

It does seem that someone knows who she is.  As the police begin to question and investigate her connection to the murders, a mysterious call has the police completely backing off of her.  This raises more questions though.  Is she begin watched by Batman or the GCPD?  Was this part of a special deal for letting her go straight?  Do her “friends in high places” know she’s innocent?  Hopefully, we will get answers to these as the story progresses.

In the final pages, Ivy reaches out to Catwoman for help.  I liked how they used Harley Quinn earlier in the book and while Catwoman only shows up in the final panels, I’m excited to see the two of them in action in the next issue.

The Negative

One of Ivy’s more creepy coworkers finds out where she lives and he definitely wants to be more than friends or coworkers.  It’s not completely clear if he was intending to blackmail her or if he just was going to use what little information he had as leverage to get her into bed, but she responds by killing him.  He’s pretty much the worst kind of creep but it seems weird that as she’s trying to avoid extra attention in the investigation of two murders that she would kill him.  It stands in complete contrast to earlier in the issue when she wants to kill the two police detectives and stops herself, saying that she has turned over a new leaf.

The Verdict

Poison Ivy’s mystery continues to deepen.  The writers have set up some great questions and problems to keep us guessing until the next issue.  Ivy’s murder of Winston stands out as an odd plot point in an otherwise great book.  The creators continue to really flesh out Poison Ivy and make her more than a one-dimensional villain.