Knight Terrors: Poison Ivy #1: Stepford Ives

Since its introduction in Ira Levin’s novel The Stepford Wives in 1972 (and subsequent film adaptations), the trope of women trapped in an idyllic 1950s or sitcom-esque suburbia has become inescapable. Like WandaVision, Don’t Worry Darling, and all of the Stepford Wiveses, Knight Terrors: Poison Ivy #1 plants its protagonist in a similar setting. And like the heroines before her, this version of the American Dream is Ivy’s white-picket-fenced American Nightmare. Writer G. Willow Wilson makes a couple of deviations from the standard story: having Ivy in a relationship with another woman (her girlfriend Harley Quinn, of course) and the pair having no children. However, the comic currently isn’t doing enough to make this plot its own. 

Visually speaking, artist Atagun Ilhan has no trouble capturing the narrative’s building horror. However, the moments of visual humor (like Nightwing washing his car in an objectifying pose and Batman in khaki shorts) save the story. When it comes to color, it’s perhaps worth noting that Wilson’s one textual mention of color is to describe Harley and Ivy’s house as pastel. While Ivy’s suburban nightmare grows more and more visually disturbing as the issue progresses, Arif Prianto colors every page with the same oversaturated modern colors. Rather than add to the story, they clash with the setting and flatten the building sense of horror.

It probably says something that the most memorable parts of this comic, for me, are its covers. Along with the disturbing dinner party on the main cover, the variant covers depart from the standard sexy-but-samey pinups, offering everything from a monochromatic fungal face to sculpture.