“Reeling from his battle with the Pale Wanderer, Levi Kamei seeks the true nature of his transformations. And what better place to find his roots than the heart of the Green itself? There, he and Jennifer will encounter the realm’s many denizens, including one known as Holland and... Poison Ivy? Who will aid Levi and who will harm him? If he is to pull Jennifer and himself back to the real world, Levi will need all the help he can get to tame the Swamp Thing running wild within.”
Our brand new Champion of the Green, Levi, decides to visit it in search of answers about his new status. Mixing science and magic often has side effects though and Jennifer finds herself trapped in the psychedelic kingdom of plants.
Levi on the other hand has an interesting interaction with not one but two versions of Pamela Isley: Ivy and Queen Ivy as well as a not-so-surprising guest (?) star.
Mike Perkins and Mike Spicer use a rather intriguing style in the book. Let’s call it “journalistic” instead of the “cinematic” style of traditional superhero comics. It’s a more down to earth approach to the comic medium that I enjoy a lot. Think of his work with the Lois Lane book (or Michael Larks work in Lazarus and Gotham Central). A trip into the Green can be very disorienting so this works wonders for the book. It doesn’t mean that the art is dull or unimaginative of course. Depending on the book, Green is visualised as gigantic forests or abstract plant related patterns, psychedelic swamps or DMT trips. Here the Green is “alien”. Recognisable but twisted.
Without spoiling the story Ram V brings the reader up to date with Ivy’s current status: After getting murdered and revived in Heroes in Crisis she was reborn once more during the events of Houser and Melos “Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy” mini series in two versions: Ivy, a more human version of the classic Poison Ivy and Queen Ivy (renamed during the events of Joker War), an evil version of the character.
Ram references Alice In Wonderland during the encounter of Levi and Ivy(s). Is this real? Is it fantasy? In Swamp Thing it’s often a mix of both (Especially during the Moore era). Perhaps what we are watching unfold is not the objective reality but Levi’s mind trying to interpret the bizarre universe of the Green. I think this is the case because the two versions of Poison Ivy are too extreme, perhaps in a tongue in cheek way. Good Ivy is almost infantile and Evil Ivy is pretty much Carnage. Which is something that’s a bit concerning.
Ivy is not an amalgamation of a baby and “plant Carnage”. Even as Pamela Isley she is a brilliant scientist with hopes, goals and dreams. Perhaps there are more in play here. It’s no secret that a lot of fans want to see Poison Ivy grow into a more heroic character and were disappointed with the Queen Ivy development. Ram V also writes Catwoman and a version of Ivy is being held hostage in a tank, producing drugs. Meanwhile “Queen Ivy” is staying underground growing vines and planning to kill everyone in Gotham.
But DC needs to start addressing and explaining some of the mysteries surrounding Ivy like
What happened to her three daughters: Rose, Hazel and Thorn?
What happened to her quest on finding other plant based lifeforms, the major plot point of Trinity by Francis Manapul.
What happened to her work and projects with Batgirl (from Birds of Prey and Batgirl).
What happened to her memories (including the secret identity of Batman) from Everyone Loves Ivy?
Did she get therapy in Sanctuary?
A developing mystery is always good but fans need some answers and development and not constant reboots and resets.
Levi is an interesting development in the Swamp Thing mythos. He’s Ulysses and Mr Keuner. An everyman in the middle of cosmic horrors and powers beyond understanding, Ram V has mentioned his influences including (in my opinion one of the best science fiction writers) Stanislaw Lem, Ligotti, Vandermeer. Lem is famous for his humanistic approach to the genre, Ligotti for his nihilistic and pessimistic dark fantasy and Vandermeer for his modern approach on classic Weird Fiction themes combined with philosophical science fiction.
But despite their differences all three share a common theme: Normal, average people reacting to impossible to understand situations. And this (I think) is the central theme of his Swamp Thing run so far. So I’d easily recommend it to new readers who want a starting point in the series. Following Levi’s journey we slowly discover the history and mythos of the Green and it’s inhabitants.
Since this is a Poison Ivy centered blog/zine I want to finish this little article with the hope that at least some questions about Ivy will be answered and that this is a starting point for some positive character development that finally sticks. Both Harley and Catwoman had a lot of development that is now part of who they are. With Ivy she is constantly rebooted, killed, have her memory erased, revived, split into parts … it’s frustrating to be a reader and never get answers, just unanswered questions and resets.
Swamp Thing #3 is out now. Please support the creators and their work.
Reviewed by IvyGirl RosenRose
on
May 04, 2021
Rating: