I admire G. Willow Wilson’s ability to make multiple genres feel at home in Poison Ivy, even as I enjoy some more than others. That genre-switching is on display in Poison Ivy Vol. 7: Amuse-bouche, what starts among the four regular issues from perhaps the book’s most horrific and then moves to metaphysics reminiscent of Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, and then finally what seems to me the setup for some more pointed social commentary, à la Poison Ivy Vol. 2: Unethical Consumption.
That comparison is worrisome, as Unethical Consumption was among my least favorite Poison Ivy volumes so far. As Ivy heads into its first-ever in-series crossover event, I’d like to see this title on an upswing. But Wilson’s Poison Ivy still remains psychologically complex, among the smartest books DC currently produces and the nearest site of Vertigo within the mainstream DCU. Even if every chapter doesn’t hit me with the same power, I’m always impressed after reading.
