Batman 41 immerses us into an unexpected world of potential chaos and this time the antagonist is the notorious poison ivy. She has proved a formidable enemy to the caped crusader on many previous occasions but has always been thwarted by quick and witty responses by our beloved Hero.
This time, Ivy has a new plan up her sleeve; one more innovative than we have ever witnessed before from this supervillain.
Intended as a three part series with Batman 41 being the first, “Everyone loves Ivy” is being penned by Tom King who has been pretty impressive in the past with his storytelling with an occasional mishit every now and then.
As we know, Poison Ivy exercises a remarkable amount of control over nature. By nature we are distinctively referring to plant life. This particular plot line appears to have given Ivy complete control over the minds and hearts of nearly all individuals in the world. How she managed to enchant the nearly eight billion people and forced them to do her bidding is something you’d have to read for yourself.
Tom King places a heavy emphasis on engagement with themes in order to tell story in Batman 41. We see ivy’s trademark green interspersed throughout the pages, dominating the landscapes and even the page borders clearly intended to create an immersive effect for the audience.
She is a character in harmony with the vegetation of the world; Her green dress and emerald eyes reflect this. However this time her powers have been amplified a thousand fold.
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There is an ethereal, dream-like quality to the whole sequence in Batman 41. From the moment Bruce wakes up in his bed, there is an aura of deadly forces at work just at the edges of his psyche. He comes into contact with people, who appear normal at first sight but who, as he soon finds out, are hell bent on doing him harm.
Why is Bruce Wayne able to break free of the trance that captivated the entire population of the world, you might ask. Well, the simple answer would be “Because he’s BATMAN !”.
Not good enough? Well, it is a well known fact that Bruce Wayne possesses one of the greatest minds in the DC universe. His will is close to unbreakable and that is why, on countless occasions, he has been the saviour of the Justice league; many of whom have often fallen into the whole mind-control trap.
Bruce Wayne always has a part of himself that is entirely his own; a part no villainous entity can grasp control of. Some might call it plot armor. We think all comic books are an amalgam of plot armor.
Mikel Janin was responsible for the illustrations. He focused giving a life-like appeal to the lush scenery and making it seem a lot more dominating in order to fully capture Poison ivy’s power in Batman 41.