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Today sees the publication of Batman #124, DC Pride 2o22 and Poison Ivy #1, kicking off DC’s Pride Month. With one of DC Comics’ most prominent queer characters, Poison Ivy. Now, Poison Ivy was at the centre of an editorial battle within DC Comics between a small-c conservative group of editors and executives who wanted her as a classic Batman villain, and possible romantic interest for him. And between a small-p progressive group who saw her as a redeemed villain, in a relationship with a similarly redeemed Harley Quinn, and a queer icon for the publisher. This exhibited itself as conflicting splits from different sides of the company, PR being rewritten on the fly, creators caught in the middle and James Tynion IV trying to square the circle by delivering both Poison Ivies simultaneously before finally merging them.
The Gotham Villains Anniversary Special saw G Willow Wilson first tackle DC Comics character Poison Ivy in a story with Emma Rios that set up her current series launching today for DC Pride.
With Poison Ivy using ancient fungus to attack mammalian life, especially humans.
Now Poison Ivy has her own series, launching for Pride month alongside DC Pride 2022. We pointed out how Poison Ivy’s big new launch was a focal point of press publicity for Pride, though the PR excised three words from the later solicitation when trumpeting their Pride qualifications. “In her new series, Ivy leaves Gotham City and sets out to complete her greatest work—a gift to the world that will heal the damage humanity has dealt to it by ending it!“
DC Pride 2022 brings us a story of strained love between two figures, as everyone tries to keep them apart. Which is, of course, what DC Editorial did.Batman #124 has Poison Ivy having to deal with who she is now, as well as one of her old girlfriends, The Gardner. And establishing that Poison Ivy is no longer one with The Green, the vegetable dimensional plane that Swamp Thing lives on.
And then Poison Ivy #1, she is continuing her mission with lamia fungal spored, killing cattle, and humans and turning them into repositories for more fungus and spores to spread.
Continuing the lamia parasitic mushroom plague, talking to them, encouraging them and spreading them to eliminate all human life – including her own.
Even Thanos only wanted to wipe out half of all life – initially. Poison Ivy wants to wipe out all of us. And not even Harley Quinn can stop her anymore.
The Sixth Extinction… the last one took out the dinosaurs – those that couldn’t fly, anyway.
But in her admission that she is no longer part of the Green – and that the Bat-Family are on their way, and that Swamp Thing will get there sooner – she may have revealed her downfall. Because she is not working with vegetation, but with fungus, the parasitic mushrooms of which she speaks. Which, in DC Comcis terms, she is not of The Green, nor of the Red, but the Grey. She is an agent of The Rot. And mushrooms are back to kill us all. Might that be the get out? That mushrooms have infected her brain, much as magic mushrooms or psilocybin, distort her perception of time, space, and self. Or how fungus can cause meningitis. Or how Ophiocordyceps Unilateralis, related to the Ophiocordyceps Lamia from this story (and for that matter, Cordyceps Jones in the current X-Men comics) infects ants, controlling their body and influencing their minds to climb grass stalks to the perfect temperature to grow them into a spore host, bursting through their skin, right above the home of its fellow ants, a prisoner in its own dying body.
Is this what is happening to Poison Ivy? Might this also, potentially, be her way back? Or is it Thanos Ivy all the way from now on?
DC PRIDE 2022 #1 (ONE SHOT) CVR A PHIL JIMENEZ
(W) Various (A) Various (CA) Phil Jimenez
Written by Devin Grayson, Stephanie Williams, Travis G. Moore, Alyssa Wong, and others Art by Nick Robles, Brittney Williams, Evan Cagle, W. Scott Forbes, and others DC’s 2022 celebration kicks off with more stories, more characters, and more pride than ever before! This anthology features 13 all-new stories spotlighting LGBTQIA+ fan-favorites new and old including Superman (Jon Kent), Nubia, Tim Drake, Kid Quick, Aquaman (Jackson Hyde), Green Lantern (Jo Mullein), Alysia Yeoh, the Ray, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Batwoman, and more! This special also includes: A Multiversity: Teen Justice kickoff story spotlighting Kid Quick and written by the miniseries team, Danny Lore and Ivan Cohen! An introduction by activist, actress, and real-life superhero Nicole Maines that will include a teaser for her upcoming Dreamer project! Pinups by P. Craig Russell, J.J. Kirby, and more!
Retail: $9.99 In-Store Date: 06/07/2022POISON IVY #1 CVR B WARREN LOUW CARD STOCK VAR
(W) G. Willow Wilson (A) Marcio Takara (CA) Warren Louw
Pamela Isley has been a lot of things in her life. A living god, a super-villain, an activist, a scientist, and dead. In a new body that she didn’t ask for and with a renewed sense of purpose, Ivy leaves Gotham and sets out to complete her greatest work—a gift to the world that will heal the damage dealt to it…by ending humanity. Spinning out of the pages of Batman, DC is proud to present the unbelievable next chapter in Poison Ivy’s life by the incredible creative team of G. Willow Wilson and Marcio Takara. Featuring a stunning cast of variant cover artists, including Warren Louw, Frank Cho, Dan Mora, Nick Robles…and introducing main cover artist Jessica Fong!
Retail: $4.99 In-Store Date: 06/07/2022BATMAN #124 CVR A JORGE MOLINA
(W) Joshua Williamson, G. Willow Wilson (A) Howard Porter, Dani (CA) Jorge Molina
In the aftermath of the Shadow War, Batman has returned to Gotham! But when he hears word of strange developments in Badhnisia, he’s forced to question…has Abyss returned? Or has a new hero been born in the dark? And in the backup, Poison Ivy uncovers the troubling ramifications of the Gardener and Harley Quinn’s actions during Fear State in this prologue to Poison Ivy drawn by Dani and written by Poison Ivy series writer G. Willow Wilson.
Retail: $4.99 In-Store Date: 06/07/2022
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