Review: Poison Ivy Vol. 2: Unethical Consumption hardcover/paperback (DC Comics)

G. Willow Wilson’s Poison Ivy is assuredly a model for the sometimes-struggling genre of DC villain-focused series, if not a premier example of just comics in general. Poison Ivy Vol. 2: Unethical Consumption is less specifically horror-driven than the first volume, veering more into topical parody, and in that sense I enjoyed it less than the first volume, but no question that Wilson’s got something special here.

[Review contains spoilers]

There’s a panel in Unethical Consumption’s 11th chapter where letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, who’s been using green narration boxes up until this point, has to stick the narration on the back of a sihouetted person’s head, for needs of the panelling and the swiftly spinning camera. It’s a clever and visually interesting choice, likely the collaboration of Otsmane-Elhaou, colorist Arif Prianto, and artist Marcio Takara, all set in motion by Wilson.

This, in an issue that contains no traditional superhero fight scene, and ranges in its pages from erotic thriller to a bit of ecoterrorism, supernatural sci-fi and ultimately body horror. It’s a Poison Ivy comic, when Poison Ivy comics have been historically troubled, and it’s bonkers the confluence of creators here at the top of their game.

[See the latest DC trade solicitations.]

Admittedly, Unethical Consumption is tackling a lot, perhaps too much, but I came around to the idea not that Wilson’s volume is unfocused, but that there’s so much relevant in the zeitgeist to tackle. Ivy starts out railing against fracking and greenwashing, but a pervading theme becomes female empowerment versus the oft-corporatized and usurped image of the “girlboss.” Within, there are knocks at how the American health care system can make people dependent on their employers, the wellness industry and how it capitalizes on self-image for profit, even a dip into vaccination anxiety and misinformation.

Arguably the two main stories in Consumption are too similar, each involving a female CEO who hides corrupt behavior behind a can-do image. But, each of these build on the “root” (sorry) of Wilson’s Ivy, a grad student taken advantage of by her research professor. Having defeated Woodrue (maybe), Ivy now seems to fight at the particular intersection where bodily control clashes with employer/employee relations, not just the sexually abusive male supervisor from Poison Ivy Vol. 1: The Virtuous Cycle, but women who abuse their power as well. In love, Poison Ivy’s characters' lives are uncomplicated — Ivy’s open relationship with Harley Quinn knows no judgment — but in work, sidekick Janet-from-HR’s boss is “super feminist until it’s time to give employees maternity leave,” yet Janet can’t quit because she needs the health benefits.

There’s a connective point between the two stories that I hope Wilson explores. FutureGas CEO Beatrice Crawley, disciple of Woodrue, chides Ivy for trying to stop her plan to let nature-monsters run unchecked; later, at a wellness retreat, Ivy herself thinks at how Janet wants “to be able to save the planet by drinking smoothies and recycling … Because the disruption required to create real change is too frightening.” According to Crawley, Ivy is guilty of exactly what Ivy herself sees in Janet, the hesitancy to destroy or radically alter humanity to save the planet.

To wit, Ivy tries to blockade an oil refinery but finds the drivers are verily willing to run her right over; after last volume’s encounter with Woodrue, it seems Ivy wants to try to protect the Green in a gentler way, but we get evidence that’s not working. I’m curious for Wilson to build on that; in some respects Ivy has turned over a new “leaf” (really sorry), but the reality being presented in the book is that renouncing the excesses of her super-villain-ness won’t get Ivy to her goals.

This is surely why Unethical Consumption is less scary than the previous volume, Virtuous Cycle. In the earlier book, Ivy cut a swath of destruction across the country, infecting people with the lamia spores and letting the reader watch the body horror as mushrooms sprouted from their skin. Here, as Ivy’s murderousness is more specific (fewer crowds of innocents, more individual CEOs), equally the horrific body count of the book is less. Not none — those mushrooms still take out a couple — but fewer.

I don’t mind seeing Ivy wrestle with moral decisions — to murder or not, to continue on her quest or go home to Harley — and perhaps the fact that Wilson can focus so ardently on a non-murderous Ivy demonstrates the efficacy of the character. That said, having been accustomed to Poison Ivy as an almost nonstop horror book in the previous volume, Unethical Consumption didn’t delight in the “ooh, gross!” way that the first one did.

Equally, thin parody is often not my forte, either because I don’t have a detailed enough understanding of what’s being parodied (see Prez and most of what I read by Mark Russell), or because the object of parody is dated or the jokes too easy. Poison Ivy going after the anagrammatic “Gwendolyn Caltrope” and her company “Glop” is not Poison Ivy Vol. 2: Unethical Consumption’s proudest moment, though G. Willow Wilson makes something great of the premise by the end. With Ivy returning to Gotham next time around, my expectation is we’ll see stories less broadly topical, more germane to Ivy herself (and maybe some people sprouting mushrooms!).

[Includes original and variant covers, cover sketches]

Rating 2.5