Writer Tom King is over 40 issues deep into his Batman saga, and there are still numerous Batman villains that have yet to take the spotlight. Batman #41 ticks another item off the checklist by focusing on Poison Ivy's latest plot to overthrow the destructive world of men. But while this issue serves as a promising start to King and artist Mikel Janin's latest collaboration, it also highlights a particular problem with Poison Ivy. She may well be the most inconsistently written character in DC's Batman comics lately.
Ivy is unique among Batman's enemies in that she's motivated not by greed or bloodlust, but a desire to save the world. It just so happens that her idea of saving the world involves toppling civilization and ending mankind's destructive treatment of the environment. Sure, she may be guilty of poisoning and/or mind-controlling a few hapless Gotham City residents now and then, but she does it all for what she sees as the greater good.
Like Catwoman or her best friend/sometimes lover Harley Quinn, Ivy is a far more morally ambiguous character than the likes of Joker or Penguin. At times she even plays ally to the Batman family rather than enemy. And that seems to fuel a lot of the inconsistency when it comes to her portrayal in the comics. With each new Ivy-centric project, creators seem to have their own ideas of what Ivy is trying to accomplish and whether she should be an overt antagonist or reluctant ally to Batman.
This trend really started with DC's New 52 relaunch. First, Ivy was written as a reformed villain in Birds of Prey, until she betrayed the team and attempted to force them into attacking her corporate enemies. Then, she resurfaced in Detective Comics as a free agent. If not necessarily evil there, she still used her powers to manipulate Clayface into marrying her as part of her larger feud with Penguin. Then, she starred in a solo miniseries where she made an ill-fated attempt to restart a normal life as a botanical researcher. Then, she appeared as a recluse in All-Star Batman, where she aided Batman in his battle against Ra's al Ghul. But despite Batman promising to help Ivy clear her name, and despite Ivy playing a supporting role as Barbara Gordon's employee in Batgirl and the Birds of Prey, now she's seemingly returned to her villainous roots in King's Batman series, more powerful and ambitious than ever. That's to say nothing of her recurring guest role in Harley Quinn, a comic where both Harley and Ivy are generally portrayed as rule-bending do-gooders.
It's not that any one of these takes is inherently right or wrong. Ivy is a complicated character, and one that can never be easily pinned down as hero or villain. That's part of her appeal. Nor should we expect each new creative team to follow the exact same approach as the last. There has to be room for personal interpretation. But at some point, the lack of consistency begins to take its toll. There's no telling what Ivy's motivations or status quo may be from one moment to the next, which effectively prevents her from experiencing any sort of focused, long-term character arc.
This is a problem that's hindered other Batman villains in the past. For years, creators couldn't seem to agree whether Bane should be portrayed as a criminal mastermind or a hulking brute of a villain. It's only recently that DC's editors and creators seem to have reached a consensus on who and what Bane should be. The hope is that, with a little work and planning, they can now do the same for Poison Ivy.
Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.
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