Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death #6

I have completely enjoyed this miniseries, so am going to give it high marks. It only misses a top score because of the inconsistent art, but even so I strongly recommend these books. I only hope that, with the ending left open, that we see more of Ivy and her Sporelings soon. Read Full Review

Quite frankly, Ivy's supporting cast, as befitting of her as they may be, isn't nearly as good as Harley Quinn's. Should Ivy ever get an ongoing title, a complete retooling may be best. In fact, it's probably a certainty because it will likely be so far down the line that a new writer will want to create their own status quo. Read Full Review

I love Poison Ivy as a character and there's so much potential with her that this just feels like a misfire overall. It had some interesting ideas at the beginning but it's drawn out too much and it ended up feeling too by the numbers at the end here as everything is resolved neatly enough and likely never to be mentioned or referenced in the mainline books at all. Amy Chu set up some good ideas but just wasn't able to capitalize on them and the book suffered a good bit from the rotating cast of artists that really chipped away at a consistent look and tone, though they tried. Stories like this are ones that make me wish more for an Elseworlds style book or a Vertigo level book as a way to tell them so it can just get done in a stronger and more appealing way, but that's just not how it works. So, instead, we'll have a largely forgettable miniseries. Unfortunately. Read Full Review

An average book that wraps things up and has a nice flashback sequence to have it all make sense in the end. The series as a whole has been good due to the smaller horror scenes littered throughout, but unfortunately this issue loses that and ends up becoming a bad guy vs. good guy brawl. Read Full Review

My score is reflected on this comic book issue (the conclusion), but overall, I had fun reading this comic book. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys seeing Poison Ivy and want to see her tap into her human-side a bit more (even though she was focusing on her plant-side mainly, because her sporelings were created.) Read Full Review

I hope this miniseries will be quietly resigned to the back issue bins of our collective memory, only spoken of in hushed tones among confidantes. Read Full Review

TP

Jun 16, 2016

POISON IVY: CYCLE OF LIFE AND DEATH #6 Review and Thoughts Written by AMY CHU Art by AL BARRIONUEVO, CLIFF RICHARDS, SANDU FLOREA, and SCOTT HANNA Cover by CLAY MANN and ULISES ARREOLA "Life is a full circle, widening until it joins the circle motions of the infinite." Anais Nin I'm not a reviewer so this is more a freeform essay. Six months ago Amy Chu started Poison Ivy, Cycle of Life and Death. Poison Ivy's first series in 50 years. Yesterday the final issue hit the shelves. I can't say absolutely anything about the plot because everything is a potential spoiler. Instead I'll say that this issue (and the series) is incredibly important because it defines who Poison Ivy is and where she belongs in the DC Universe. If you have a character like Batman or Superman or Wonder Woman, you don't have to define their place in the DC Universe. With Poison Ivy and because she is a character that has suffered from horrifyingly bad writing throughout her history, you have to spend at least six (or more issues) to explain who she is, how she thinks, how she feels. This is what a lot of reviewers completely missed and ended up giving some aggravatingly bad reviews. They think they know Poison Ivy but they don't. What is her place in the science world, how smart is she, what is her connection to the Green, why is she violent sometimes and other times she is a frail benevolent force? Very few writers bothered to touch these issues: Gaiman, Rucka, Simone, Layman, Marx, Nocenti and now Amy Chu. And this issue is her identity. It clears out a lot of misconceptions about her. It reinvents the character by digging deep inside her and answers simple yet important questions. It defines her as an independent character which is something incredibly important. So far we haven't seen Poison Ivy. What we have seen is a straw character used as a sidekick, lover and punchbag to other characters. But there is more to her. Poison Ivy is more than that. Unfortunate more

JordanT4021

Aug 03, 2017

A basic and uninspired end to an uneventful and entirely forgettable series. Poison Ivy fans waited over 50 years for a solo series and this was not worth that wait. The ending has absolutely no consequences for Pamela, who ends in the same position she starts in. At least we have Harley Quinn's series to see a complex and powerful Ivy, right? Hmm, perhaps not.