Posted in: Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: dc comics, harley quinn, poison ivy

Is DC Comics Leaving Money on The Table With Poison Ivy?

Published Thu, 24 Oct 2019 16:30:41 -0500

DC Comics' second best-selling title of September was the launch of Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy #1, a new mini-series featuring the two characters in a Thelma And Louise fashion. Aside from Doomsday Clock #11, it outsold every other DC Comics title, including the Batman ongoing series and the launch of a new Harley Quinn solo series, Harleen, from superstar creator Stjepan Sejic.

Poison Ivy has been killed off and revived in Heroes In Crisis, and featured on the headers for DC's Year of The Villain, but aside from this mini-series with Harley, doesn't have a comic book series to call her own. Going to comic conventions and checking out the cosplay, Poison Ivy is everywhere, as popular as Deadpool and Harley Quinn. She's also a continually popular license for toys, statues and the like. It's also notable that her biggest role in recent years was in the DC Super Hero Girls aimed at a different market.

And I am told she remains a very popular Hallowe'en costume choice, and we are to expect to see plenty of Poison Ivy next weekend. I am also told that Google searches for 'Poison Ivy' also get a big boost around this time of year – oh and look, I'm writing an article about Poison Ivy right now. And you know what? They usually do really well for Bleeding Cool. I understand that I will not be the only person taking advantage of this.

It feels that DC Comics may be leaving money on the table here. We are getting more villain books that ever before, and Poison Ivy has generally been on the eco-terrorist line, fighting for a cause that is becoming more and more understandable, defendable and supportable.

Here are five ideas. DC Comics, you can have these for free.

THE IVY LEAGUE – Given a major environmental threat, the Justice League (even Batman) make Poison Ivy their (temporary) leader to prevent a real loss of life and habitat. They'll only go so far p- they succeed but sours Ivy on the prospect of doing it again. It is quite the redemptive arc, however. In response, she creates an Extinction Rebellion-style team to protest in very public disruptions that also happen to be illegal. Will Superman and the rest of the Justice League stop her?
IVY FOR VENDETTA – Poison Ivy seeks to take down the entire government, one by one, while in the process turning the public away from their populist policies to her own strain of propaganda. She manipulated people on a very p[ersonal level, and shows how one domino can topple many more, if pushed in the right direction.
HOUSE OF IV – She grows plants that do all the stuff those Krakoan plants do. Teleport, extend life, cure dementia all that. What then? I don't know, sorry I haven't thought this one through properly.
PARLIAMENT OF IVY – Poison Ivy, as a new avatar of the Green, plays a role on a Game Of Thrones-style power play amongst the plants in a storyline that will last for centuries, for millennia.
TEEN IVY – Just in time for 5G, Poison Ivy gets a touch of the weedkiller, but a sapling that was taken from her has been growing unknown in a Louisiana swamp. Will she be able to live up to the legend? And really, should this John Constantine character be hanging out so much around her? It's creepy, especially with him smoking all the time and her made of plant matter…