Poison Ivy #49 Comic Review

6

In this review of Poison Ivy #49, Pamela Isley faces a brutal reckoning for her increasingly dangerous behavior as mayor of Gotham City and her deliberate defiance of the Parliament of Trees.

Poison Ivy #49
Written by G. WILLOW WILSON
Art by ALEX LIN
Main cover: JESSICA FONG
Variant covers: NOOBOVICH, DAN MORA, MANNY VINCENT CARBONILLA, STJEPAN ŠEJIĆ
Number of pages: 32 pages
Release date: 10/28/26

This review contains spoilers.

Poison Ivy #49 begins with a flashback in which Mayor Ivy reflects on her relationship with Harley Quinn, considered problematic by her staff. Cut to the present as Ivy runs through a plant-infested Throatcutter Hill while searching for Harley, who appears almost immediately. Ivy realizes this is a ruse when Lady Jane, representative of the Parliament of Trees, reveals herself and grabs Ivy by the throat. Ivy is ready to check it out when Killer Croc (Waylon Jones) emerges from the shadows and knocks Lady Jane down.

Ivy recovers and tries to help Croc in the fight, but her powers are gone. That doesn’t stop Ivy from trying to kill Lady Jane, but Croc stops her. Lady Jane disappears, but not before telling them that Gotham belongs to The Green. A bewildered Croc and Ivy catch up, but Ivy insists that she needs to find Harley before dawn. Croc calls her but she ignores him, runs to Harley’s neighborhood and finds it completely destroyed.

Demoralized, Ivy vows to redeem herself at Harley’s, but is interrupted when Commissioner Vandal Savage approaches with a tactical team armed with a special herbicide. Savage’s crew unleashes the “Ivycide”, but a roar below signals the eruption of a manufactured winter storm, courtesy of Mister Freeze’s machine.

Poison Ivy #49 ends with Savage’s men shot down while Gotham is covered in ice and snow. Savage is outraged as Ivy, barely conscious, says Batman’s name.

Analysis

Poison Ivy #49 mirrors Harley Quinn #67 In various ways, with a strict focus on the main character and a personal struggle to overcome (or is it really any superhero comic?) Ivy, like Harley, is singularly focused on finding her lover while facing a vengeful opponent standing in her way. Writer G. Willow Wilson ramps up the tension and changes the status quo by having the Parliament of Trees steal power over The Green.

Killer Croc also has a heroic moment and a few pages of conversation with Ivy. Croc has been a recurring character in the Ivy series, so his appearance isn’t necessarily a deus ex machina and his words of wisdom about how Ivy treats people. Ivy eventually admits that something is wrong with her, but whether that leads to actual character growth remains to be seen. Vandal Savage seems to be everywhere during “Bad Seeds” and is ready to take down Ivy once and for all, despite the threat Ivycide poses to the citizens of Gotham.

Poison Ivy #49 presents an interesting parallel as Ivy admits that she is mostly insensitive to others, but at least that worries her, while Savage fully revels in his power and position, willing to sacrifice thousands of innocents to get revenge on his enemy. Additionally, the cathartic ending when Mister Freeze’s winter engine conjures up a plant-killing storm is the second time Ivy has nearly been eliminated in the same issue.

Alex Lins’ style continues the aesthetic pioneered by series artist Marcio Takara, with an energetic and remarkably expressive style. Lins adds scope, emotion and drama with extreme panel angles, close-ups and creative use of shadows and silhouettes.

Final thoughts

Poison Ivy #49 puts the antiheroine through an arduous, status quo-altering test with a couple of plot twists that prove cathartic and hint at what’s yet to come. For fans of poison ivy series or the “Bad Seeds” crossover, this issue is one not to be missed.