Poison Ivy #18: What To Expect When You’re Expecting the Unexpected

For some people, pregnancy is a blessing. For others, it’s a nightmare. From Poison Ivy #18’s front cover, depicting a monstrous hand and slobbering tongue possessively surrounding Ivy and her veiny belly, it’s immediately clear which way this comic leans. Over its last seventeen issues, Poison Ivy has unflinchingly confronted a wide range of socially relevant subjects like environmental exploitation and the coronavirus pandemic through metaphor. Now, the comic’s creators have set their sights on the cataclysmic overturn of Roe v Wade and what it means to become pregnant in a world that denies your bodily autonomy. In an arc that began in the previous issue, Ivy finds her career (creating an antidote to save humanity from her own ecoterrorism) interrupted by the painful progression of an unwanted – and unexpected – pregnancy. While unevenly paced, the comic’s nauseating overarching narrative leaves a strong impression. What, exactly, Ivy is pregnant with remains ambiguous until the final page, but calls to mind not only Alien and Rosemary’s Baby but real-world traumas like medical complications and abuse. 

Returning from Poison Ivy #17 is artist Luana Vecchio, perhaps best known for her work on the adult erotic horror comic Lovesick. Contrasted with Lovesick, Vecchio’s work on Poison Ivy (which has a lower 13+ rating) feels softer and more restrained (and when it comes to Janet, even a tad cute). Her linework on Poison Ivy is economic, paired with a bold color palette by regular series colorist Arif Prianto. Prianto deftly balances his previous work over the series with Vecchio’s coloring on Poison Ivy #17. While Vecchio’s frequent recycling of her own artwork is distracting, her more detailed backgrounds in this issue help make up for it. Crucially, Vecchio is at her best in the moments that matter most. Ivy’s monstrous childbirth feels visceral and horrific, but never objectifying or exploitative.