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Posted in: Batman, Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: absolute, Absolute Batman, Absolute Joker, Absolute Poison Ivy, Ark-M, eric canete, poison ivy, scott snyder, The Joker
Absolute Poison Ivy Origin Gets To The Heart Of The Matter (Spoilers)
Absolute Poison Ivy's origin gets to the heart of the matter, as she tries to turn Absolute Batman into a monster... does she succeed?
Article Summary
- Absolute Poison Ivy's origin in the Absolute Universe ties deeply into her tragic past and failed ambitions.
- Her mission in Gotham is to transform the city into monsters to stop the Absolute Joker, Jack Grimm.
- Batman resists Ivy's plan, leading to a battle of wills, tragedy, and questions about the cost of heroism.
- The outcome leaves Batman changed, with unexpected consequences for both.
Absolute Batman #18 by Scott Snyder and Eric Canete is published today, the second in a two-parter looking at Absolute Poison Ivy, as Batman is forced to take her down. In the last issue, Absolute Batman #17, we saw this Pamela Isley's journey in the Absolute Universe and what made her different to the standard model.
As a child coming to Gotham (Scott Snyder does like a tale from childhood to introduce a character, as well as a word like "heart"…)
A sick mother, a reference to what another Poison Ivy and why this one is different. And why the Absolute Universe, the pathology of Darkseid that infects it, drives this Pamela Isley, well, up the wall…
The scientist that steals her work from the people who are funding it without the vision she had… she's the vegetable version of Hardware.
Or is it Doctor Manhattan?
Clearly, her bosses had other ideas, concerns, and plans for her work. And handily, they got her in the bargain.
But did they? Burning with her cell-repairing, cell-creating work… we can see where this is going. And now? In today's Absolute Batman #18 by Scott Snyder and Eric Canete… remember all those mentions of the heart?
It is a fear of many that when they die, they will remain conscious, unable to communicate, to do anything, but be aware. And stay aware, even as they are burned or buried…. and all that is left is a heart.
Something from which she grows, as her mother dies, alone, unmourned and unloved. But also kept in Ark-M, by the Absolute Joker, along with all his other projects we saw mentioned…
Released by the Joker to deal with Batman. And it is the Absolute Joker, Jack Grimm, who this Poison Ivy wants to take down. Just as much as Batman does.
Whatever form she has to take to do so, whoever else she has to kill, transform, turn into a monster like her.
Batman could fight alongside her, their enemy is the same…
Hurting his mother, yeah, about that…
But with Poison Ivy, that means changing everyone in Gotham into a monster to take on the Joker. And there are no backsies. But Bruce Wayne gets her back story, and makes a… deduction.
Absolute Poison Ivy… defeated by nostalgia? What are you trying to say here, Scott?
Is this Pamela Isley that the Absolute Batman is talking to? Or the reader? Or Scott himself? What is it we cling to when reading these Absolute takes on classic characters, recreated for a new world but clinging on to so much of the past that created it?
And defeat us it does. We don't buy the new stories, we buy the recreated old ones. But of course, this is a power fantasy.
And it turns out that surrender is not enough. Absolute Batman wants to do something else to us.
Take the shot anyway. Collapse the longboxes and bookshelves that surround us, that we keep, that we surrender to, falling onto our body, crushing us (almost) to death… and leaving us with an Absolute Poison Ivy without a heart. She wanted to turn all of Gotham into monsters to take down a bigger one. She failed with Absolute Batman…
… or did she? Looks like she made him a different kind of monster… and it is possible that this will come with a price. As with Absolute Poison Ivy, that price may be very close to home. Absolute Batman #18 by Scott Snyder and Eric Canete is published today.
- ABSOLUTE BATMAN #18
(W) Scott Snyder (A) Eric Canete (CA) Nick Dragotta
ABSOLUTE IVY'S TENDRILS CONTINUE TO INFECT GOTHAM CITY! After the explosive reveal ending last issue, and Batman continues to fight Poison Ivy's mutated monsters and winds up uncovering an even more gruesome horror that has embedded itself in the city's very foundations. All while the Joker's machinations start to coalesce in a partnership with a new ally. $4.99 3/11/2026
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