Poison Ivy vol. 6: A Death in Marshview

The community of Marshview seemed like the perfect place for Ivy and her friends to set up shop, with it being a formerly sunken swamp town that was magically secluded from the outside world.  Too bad that it’s still haunted by the people who died there, and one still living bog monster.  That’s the kind of threat Poison Ivy knows how to deal with, but when the full might of the Gotham Police Department comes knocking, she’s going to have to start expanding her network of friends and take on some new responsibilities.  Such as becoming the leader of a movement and trying to accumulate the kind of power needed to make real change in this world.  Which won’t mean a thing if Ivy can’t deal with the person who stabbed her in the back by helping to let the cops in.

I’ve been spoiled for the direction of this series thanks to headlines and solicitations, but that’s not as bad as it sounds here.  I think where writer G. Willow Wilson is taking “Poison Ivy” sounds really interesting – especially for a member of Batman’s rogues gallery.  You can see the seeds for that being planted here and I think that kept me from feeling like this series had finally gone off the rails.  There’s plenty of action and plot developments to be had here, but the overall pace feels really languid which makes these things come off as less urgent than they should.  Essentially, this is seven whole issues of setup and it reads like it, regardless of where it’s heading.