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Poison Ivy Fans, Betrayed By DC Comics? #PoisonIvyLeague

Published Mon, 29 Aug 2016 14:30:22 -0500

Last updated Thu, 01 Sep 2016 04:51:31 -0500

On a blog post on December 15th 2015 by Tim Beedle, calling on DC fans to take action, DC Comics acknowledged the power of fan campaigns, stating DC was actually listening to fans.

According to the article "that's one of the reasons Poison Ivy will be getting her own comic next year". Digging a bit deeper I also discovered that DC Comics even has a specific tag for #poisonivyleague on their website.

I was incredibly happy. I am a member of #PoisonIvyLeague and I felt part of something bigger. Finally someone was listening. Someone was answering. We were getting a book with our favorite character. The book came out. DC Comics publisher Dan DiDio even sent a couple of encouraging tweets and thanked #PoisonIvyLeague. Writer Amy Chu's Poison Ivy mini-series was one of the more successful books of the DCYou series of titles. With almost no advertising or official promotion and despite having different artists that the one solicited, it managed to sell equally to Batgirl and even surpass in sales movie tie-ins like Suicide Squad Most Wanted. The book ended on a cliffhanger.

And then nothing.

#PoisonIvyLeague started asking about the things DC promised:

Why wasn't an ongoing announced? Why despite all the promises that Poison Ivy would be explored as an independent character and expand her cast, in Rebirth she seems even more tied to the Harley Quinn franchise than before?

Why isn't the character allowed to continue HER storyline? Why isn't Poison Ivy allowed to exist in books other than Harley Quinn?

Why were Amy Chu's character development and plot points immediately dismissed from continuity and Poison Ivy's cast of characters are not mentioned anymore?

Why do books with significantly fewer sales got renewed for Rebirth and Poison Ivy not only didn't but DC requested to "prove our loyalty" by buying the trade?

When DC asked to send questions for SDCC, #PoisonIvyLeague send the most questions. Why they were never answered?

If DC advertised on their own site that they listen to #PoisonIvyLeague and that our opinions matter, then why do we never get a single answer?

Amy Chu started the #moredcpoisonivy tag for fans to ask DC for a continuation of the book. We posted hundreds, thousands of tweets. Still nothing. The same people who a couple of months before were proud and congratulated us now pretend that we don't exist.

Let's speak with numbers. According to Diamond's data Poison Ivy, despite the constant and abrupt artist changes not only remained in the top 100 best selling books every month but also sold more than books that did get renewed in Rebirth.

Let's take as an example ComicChron's sales estimates for February 2016. Poison Ivy sold 23.452 copies. In comparison Batgirl sold 25.625, Suicide Squad (which received huge advertisement because of the movie) 23.687, Teen Titans 23.566, Aquaman 23.546. Also Red Hood, Green Arrow, DCBombshells, Gotham Academy, Black Canary, Legend of Wonder Woman, Injustice and more sold significantly less than Poison Ivy and most of them got renewed for Rebirth.

Which is good, by the way. It's good to have diversity and I, as well the majority of #PoisonIvyLeague, support and promotes these books. Also these are books about characters that had multiple series in the past and they have a built audience. This was Poison Ivy's first solo series ever and Amy Chu is a relatively new writer.

Also, bear in mind that this is a mini series, not an ongoing, so a lot of readers preferred to wait for the trade paperback. Of course digital sales matter too, but judging from the few digital data as well as top selling lists, Poison Ivy did great there too.

There is a final argument that books that books that sold less than Poison Ivy were renewed for Rebirth because characters appearing in them are tied to the TV and Movie universe. Well, so is Poison Ivy. Starting with Season 3 of Gotham she gets an expanded role of greater importance, as well as a new actress.

Despite all this, as fans we still hope that something will change. I think that the "If you like Poison Ivy then buy Harley Quinn and stop asking" suggestion is not a good one. Poison Ivy sold as well as Batgirl, what if DC told Batgirl fans: "If you like Batgirl then buy Nightwing and Batman and stop asking"?

As #PoisonIvyLeague we believe that there is huge potential in Poison Ivy, that she not just a side character/girlfriend/BFF to Harley Quinn. Not every Poison Ivy appearance should be about clown makeup. In the New52 we got glimpses of what she can be and how she can evolve as a character. This gave the character popularity, new fans and, after 50 years, a mini-series. I think it's worth trying a bit more. I think it's worth pushing Amy Chu's Poison Ivy trade just in case someone at DC Comics decides to do something big with the character. Or at least give Amy Chu the chance to finish the story she started.

Poison Ivy fans are vocal, loud, sometimes obsessive but we are also loyal and dedicated. This small article is probably gonna cause more trouble than give answers but these are some thoughts that needed to get out.

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