Poison Ivy (2022-) #48

by G. Willow Wilson, Marcio Takara (Artist)

With Gotham City firmly in Poison Ivy’s grasp, the verdant villainess’s powers are at an all-time high. Now that Batman’s forces and Ivy’s traitorous former allies are all ground down to a pulp beneath her, is there anyone left to stand in Ivy’s way? Absolutely not. It’s time to get in line or die.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Superheroes

22 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 30, 2026

About the author

Hugo, World Fantasy and American Book Award-winning author of novels and comics, including THE BIRD KING, INVISIBLE KINGDOM, and ALIF THE UNSEEN. Co-creator of Ms Marvel. Honorary doctor of letters, Rutgers University. I accidentally started a dutch baby baking cult during quarantine. Not very active on here right now, but often found on Twitter.

Reviews

[Simeon Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pam finally faces the full rejection of the last few beings she thought were her allies and the ultimate insult of being passed over by one of the lamest Bat family members before realizing there's only one thing that ever actually mattered to her, great writing from Wilson.

[Colin Post · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ll read this for as long as Takara draws eerie, vibrating plant monsters, but I do wonder how many more times we can watch Pamela waffle back and forth between humanity and monstrosity with Harley hanging in the balance…

[Cristhian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art is really pretty.

[Annemarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than expected after several mediocre to bad issues.
The final half gives me hope for the series, because Ivy felt more like herself in it.

Things have been so rushed (probably because of the event) and Ivy has been rather frustrating (as a character). She felt stupider, moving in ways the plot needed her to, rather than in ways that seemed to work for her character as she had been portrayed throughout this series. Hopefully this is the start of a return to form.

[Cybernex007 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the exact moment I’ve been waiting for when it comes to Ivy, when she finally starts to see clearly and realize who her allies truly are and just how isolated she has become. She was so confident she was settling the score with the parliament by handing over Gotham and rolling the clock back on humanity, without ever getting it in writing. The set in this issue is gorgeous and I’m glad to see we are finally following whatever Ivy is doing in the chaos she has created…including that encounter after our hero no doubt caught a flight from the bayou, lol. Jumping into this issue we find Ivy is asking around the city as she justifies her actions, the world was slowing returning us to this primordial state anyway she is just speeding it up to a point of being optimized for plants instead of people. It’s inevitable after all, right? Ivy thought she could balance humans and plant life, only to realize she had to choose and she chose the green. There is only one member of the parliament who will actually talk to her, so she makes her way to Robinson park where the hill still sits. She arrives just as they are about to leave, Ivy is shocked by this as why wouldn’t the hill stay to enjoy what they have accomplished…but the hill scoffs at Ivy believing she shares this power, the parliament would never share power with a human and that is what Ivy is even if she doesn’t admit it herself. Ivy finds herself in disbelief, she had a deal of giving them Gotham for forgiveness in killing Bog Venus. Everyone against Ivy will die in the process and everyone wins, right? The grind cracks open as a horrific wood elemental crawls from the ground, the hill explains the parliament has sent them to oversee the transformation. Before regressing into the ground the hill reminds her of an old saying about being wary of wooden gifts, Ivy realizes he was talking about the Trojan horse which is a terrifying comparison but he has to leave before the parliament realizes they were talking and gets mad.

Ivy isn’t sure what to believe after the hill leaves, more wood elementals pop up as a few members of the parliament approach Ivy. One of them mentions to Ivy that she should have listened to the hill and run, but the front most member knows she will not run as Ivy is ready to pay for the price of her transgression. But Ivy has been lead to believe she already paid the price when she delivered Gotham. The parliament certainly thanks her for it, but there never was going to be negation with the parliament of trees they demand a lift for a life. Ivy tells them they are making a mistake, that she had no choice but to kill Bog after they turned her friends against her. But the parliament claims the mistake was Ivy’s arrogance in believing they needed her, they need no human and could turn this city green the mess if they chose to. Ivy is happy to see Tuuru pop up, she looks to them for aid to back up her claims. But even Tuuru points out that Ivy has only acted on what she wanted to do, she has the choice between the green and one human life and she chose the human. Ivy grows angry at this confrontation, they claim they can take the city themselves then she would like to see them try. She does experience a bout of arrogance as she fails to use the green against the parliament, some kind of shield going up when she tries to send vines into them.

But this gave Ivy the moment she needed to run. She looks around to the Gotham she has created, the city that made her what she is was supposed to be a fortress where no one could betray her…instead it is an empty shell. As Ivy walks down the streets an arrow suddenly goes into her heel. Blood splatters against the ground as Ivy rips it out, only to look up to see Huntress claiming that was just a warning shot. Huntress glides down as Ivy tells her to go ahead and get it over with, there are a half dozen plant demigods chasing her and now that she can’t run she is basically dead. For a moment huntress contemplates doing it, weighing the cost of killing Ivy vs her moral code…huntress decides to leave Ivy for her friends to finish her off. Ivy is left in her own blood as she looks up to the air, the changes have even started to hit her as the plants rebalance the atmosphere. She truly has to get out of here as she is still human and vulnerable to her own weapons. Almost passing out has finally allowed her to think clearly, she sought power in a corrupt system while being too arrogant to see that it could corrupt her as well. She’s falling the same way as every other tyrant in history, foiled by her own plans and utterly alone. Ivy falls to the ground from the weight of the air, only for Tuuru to once again come to her. This time without the parliament around them Tuuru tells her she has a choice, to live with the mistakes or run from them. Ivy isn’t sure what to do, she was meant to protect the earth and maybe if she lives she will remember who poison Ivy truly is but she doesn’t understand why Tuuru cares. It tells her that if she had truly committed herself to the green then one day she would have stood among the parliament, but she betrayed the green just like she had betrayed humanity. Only ever loyal to herself. As Tuuru left Ivy was left stunned with absolutely nothing. Left at rock bottom she stands up and remembers what is really important…she needs to go and get Harley. The only person in Gotham that matters to Ivy, and if she doesn’t go then Harley will be dead by daylight. That’s what I’m talking about, at the core of this book that is the exact relationship I’ve been hoping will be explored.

[Neil Pearson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a key issue and it certainly is in terms of having a better idea of what is the driving force behind this event. The problem for me remains that I'm still not convinced why Ivy took this course of action. Nothing from her becoming Mayor fully justified her going full villain and her attempts at trying to justify her actions here actually make her come off as a bit pathetic as it does even appear to have helped her out regarding her problem with the Green/parliament of trees. It makes her seem immature and reckless. On the one hand it's refreshing to see such a flawed character but on the other it makes her very hard to like. I think this arc needs to reveal something that justifies Ivy's actions beyond "she needs Harley". That or I need to have been reading the book for a lot longer than the start of the Mayor arc to appreciate what's happening.

The art is good especially when depicting the various "trees" and showing reactions from Ivy. It still has the weird blank faces thing at times though which are still can't get used to despite it being a very stylistic and deliberate choice.
The colouring is fantastic especially when it comes to depicting the various plant avatars - it really helps them stand out.

So far, it's only the initial launcher one-shot and "Batman" that's had me enjoy this crossover event. I think I'm just not a fan of them.

Overall impression = 3/5
Writing = 3/5
Art = 4/5

Will I read the next issue? maybe

Wait for the trade collection? probably although it will be messy as part of a crossover event.

Did I need to read previous issues/series? yes

Will I read previous issues already have but may need to go further back still.

[Wm · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of those chapters in which our hero (or in this case, our reluctant anti-villain/hero villain) is compelled into reassessment/introspection. She's mentored by Hill, an on-the-sly Parliament of Trees renegade, who, in the spirit of maybe-not-quite-friendship, reminds Ivy that she's human.

[rafaela (taylor's version) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4, 5

[Rafaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know what’s going on this week with the DC comics, but after the brilliant Wonder Woman panel about Matriarchy vs Patriarchy, now Poison Ivy had an opening page just as good.

[Jordie Novack]

Met G. Willow Wilson today at my LCS, and she signed my copy, so that was neat!

[Abbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok.

[Craig Schorling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pamela learns that this bargain wasn't all that good and now things are looking bad. This was a treat to read. The pacing was great and the artwork is vivid.

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars. This issue felt like one of the earlier ones from this series. Like, we've already done this same plot point with Pamela but whatever. Three stars for the Huntress pop up. Love her.