Stephanie Kay
Oct 13, 2007, 09:42 pm
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0906/DetectiveComicsCv823.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0906/DetectiveComicsCv823t.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Detective Comics #823"></a>Reviewer: T. Martin, khpa3665@yahoo.co.uk
Story Title: Stalked
“You know who I am and what I am.
If you believe any different, you’re making a liar out of yourself.”
Writer: Paul Dini
Penciller: Joe Benitez
Inker: Victor Llamas
Colorist: John Kalisz
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Cover: Simone Bianchi
Associate Editor: Michael Siglain
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Published by: DC Comics (http://www.dccomics.com)
Batman created by: Bob Kane
Batman has had his fair share of femmes fatales: Catwoman, Talia al Ghul and, of course, Poison Ivy. Of these three, it is the latter who has always been the most sexualised. Based originally on fifties pin-up girl Bettie Page and introduced in part to give Batman a new villainess after Catwoman became more sympathetic, until recently Pamela Isley gained most of her power from her effect on men and her subsequent deadly kiss. Despite the acquisition of powers no longer dependent on seduction, the interest in Ivy’s sexuality continued, especially with speculation about her relationship with Harley Quinn in Dini’s Batman: The Animated Series. Now Dini returns to the character, this time in the comics, and while artist Joe Benitez depicts Ivy as a curvaceous sexpot (as, of course, does Bianchi’s cover!), Dini’s story takes her well beyond that into some much more uncomfortable territory.
In this done-in-one story, Poison Ivy is attacked in her Arkham cell by the very things in this world that should love her and do her bidding: plant-life. Escaping in the ensuing destruction, she seeks help from the police and Batman. While Batman leaves her in the cave with Robin to keep her company, he investigates her past for clues and does not like what he finds. Meanwhile, whatever tried to kill Ivy before is still in search of her.
The strength of the issue is not in the plot, as such. Like Dini’s previous issues on Detective Comics, that aspect is cleverly – a little too cleverly – constructed with everything neatly tied up at the morally satisfying end. (Although a nod to a development in the previous number means that Dini’s run feels like it fits into a wider world for the first time.) Rather, this comic excels in the shift in tone between the set-up and denouement. Whereas we begin with the sympathetic, vulnerable Ivy of such recent takes as Batman/Poison Ivy: Cast Shadows, we end up with something out of a horror movie both in regards to Ivy herself and her new enemy. Ivy is consistently depicted as crazy, sexy and cute but it bears a whole different import in the second half of the comic than the first. Whereas the beginning of the issue is characterised by a couple of doses of humour (including a funny cameo from Harley) and a single-page splash of a pouting, nearly-naked Ivy pleading for help, the latter half stands out for an equally impressive splash of her enemy and a scene of Ivy’s very different idea of amusement. In fact the latter episode shows just how much more Dini is able to do in his new medium – this Poison Ivy is recognisably like his Animated Series one, but the lengths to which he can push her far exceed those appropriate for a kids’ cartoon. The enemy, meanwhile, although sharing a name with another recent entrant into the DCU’s villainous ranks, is nothing if not striking. It is a measure of Dini’s quality that in three issues on this book he has already introduced two antagonists unique enough to be noticeable as part of the most wide-ranging and bizarre rogues’ gallery in comics.
The new villain’s impact is, to be sure, as much due to Benitez’s creepy mixing of human and plant-like characteristics as it is to Dini’s script and it is in moments like this, where Benitez can really cut loose, that the art shines. At other times, the pencils are crisp and clear but perhaps not quite detailed enough. Ivy especially is sometimes cartoon-like, though to a lesser extent the same problem plagues the depiction of Batman and Robin. The art is undoubtedly easy on the eye, and such an approach would not be a problem if the tone of the book were ultimately lighter or the antagonist not culled from the horror genre. Here the contrasting elements jar, notably in an early double splash. That Kalisz colours Ivy’s skin at the greenest end of her usual spectrum does not help. The storytelling is straightforward enough to follow, though the precise sequence of events in the climactic action scene could have been clearer and Benitez or Dini display throughout an over-fondness for close-ups of Ivy’s eyeballs.
This could have been disastrous. The poisonous seductress who gets her righteous comeuppance is a misogynist clichÈ at least as old as The Book of Genesis. Dini is clearly aware of the problem and allows Ivy to call Batman out on the hypocrisy the stereotype represents. Batman’s happy to rescue Ivy as long as he doesn’t think about what she represents. Until that point, he can project whatever desires he wishes onto her, assuming a passivity that, as Ivy points out in another horrific context, does not represent any real women. It is possible to read here an implicit criticism of attempts to domesticate Ivy by giving her typical female roles like that of a mother figure. It may also be that Dini’s attempt to escape the misogynist stereotype ultimately fails due to the nature of the denouement, with Ivy punished for her power and made dependent on Batman.
This is something of a bricolage of a book, feeling like it has been constructed ad hoc from a variety of elements which don’t quite fit together. Some of the art is bright and cartoonish, some dark and horrific. The plot is a neat, inconsequential puzzle which negotiates (maybe fails to negotiate) some problematic political territory. On the surface there’s a perfectly entertaining mystery and even if deeper consideration reveals inconsistencies, they are very interesting inconsistencies. That’s meant as a strong recommendation.
OVERALL:
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'To the Batsite! Buy Detective Comics online now from X-World and save!' (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=118&cat=DETECTIVE+COMICS)
Story Title: Stalked
“You know who I am and what I am.
If you believe any different, you’re making a liar out of yourself.”
Writer: Paul Dini
Penciller: Joe Benitez
Inker: Victor Llamas
Colorist: John Kalisz
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Cover: Simone Bianchi
Associate Editor: Michael Siglain
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Published by: DC Comics (http://www.dccomics.com)
Batman created by: Bob Kane
Batman has had his fair share of femmes fatales: Catwoman, Talia al Ghul and, of course, Poison Ivy. Of these three, it is the latter who has always been the most sexualised. Based originally on fifties pin-up girl Bettie Page and introduced in part to give Batman a new villainess after Catwoman became more sympathetic, until recently Pamela Isley gained most of her power from her effect on men and her subsequent deadly kiss. Despite the acquisition of powers no longer dependent on seduction, the interest in Ivy’s sexuality continued, especially with speculation about her relationship with Harley Quinn in Dini’s Batman: The Animated Series. Now Dini returns to the character, this time in the comics, and while artist Joe Benitez depicts Ivy as a curvaceous sexpot (as, of course, does Bianchi’s cover!), Dini’s story takes her well beyond that into some much more uncomfortable territory.
In this done-in-one story, Poison Ivy is attacked in her Arkham cell by the very things in this world that should love her and do her bidding: plant-life. Escaping in the ensuing destruction, she seeks help from the police and Batman. While Batman leaves her in the cave with Robin to keep her company, he investigates her past for clues and does not like what he finds. Meanwhile, whatever tried to kill Ivy before is still in search of her.
The strength of the issue is not in the plot, as such. Like Dini’s previous issues on Detective Comics, that aspect is cleverly – a little too cleverly – constructed with everything neatly tied up at the morally satisfying end. (Although a nod to a development in the previous number means that Dini’s run feels like it fits into a wider world for the first time.) Rather, this comic excels in the shift in tone between the set-up and denouement. Whereas we begin with the sympathetic, vulnerable Ivy of such recent takes as Batman/Poison Ivy: Cast Shadows, we end up with something out of a horror movie both in regards to Ivy herself and her new enemy. Ivy is consistently depicted as crazy, sexy and cute but it bears a whole different import in the second half of the comic than the first. Whereas the beginning of the issue is characterised by a couple of doses of humour (including a funny cameo from Harley) and a single-page splash of a pouting, nearly-naked Ivy pleading for help, the latter half stands out for an equally impressive splash of her enemy and a scene of Ivy’s very different idea of amusement. In fact the latter episode shows just how much more Dini is able to do in his new medium – this Poison Ivy is recognisably like his Animated Series one, but the lengths to which he can push her far exceed those appropriate for a kids’ cartoon. The enemy, meanwhile, although sharing a name with another recent entrant into the DCU’s villainous ranks, is nothing if not striking. It is a measure of Dini’s quality that in three issues on this book he has already introduced two antagonists unique enough to be noticeable as part of the most wide-ranging and bizarre rogues’ gallery in comics.
The new villain’s impact is, to be sure, as much due to Benitez’s creepy mixing of human and plant-like characteristics as it is to Dini’s script and it is in moments like this, where Benitez can really cut loose, that the art shines. At other times, the pencils are crisp and clear but perhaps not quite detailed enough. Ivy especially is sometimes cartoon-like, though to a lesser extent the same problem plagues the depiction of Batman and Robin. The art is undoubtedly easy on the eye, and such an approach would not be a problem if the tone of the book were ultimately lighter or the antagonist not culled from the horror genre. Here the contrasting elements jar, notably in an early double splash. That Kalisz colours Ivy’s skin at the greenest end of her usual spectrum does not help. The storytelling is straightforward enough to follow, though the precise sequence of events in the climactic action scene could have been clearer and Benitez or Dini display throughout an over-fondness for close-ups of Ivy’s eyeballs.
This could have been disastrous. The poisonous seductress who gets her righteous comeuppance is a misogynist clichÈ at least as old as The Book of Genesis. Dini is clearly aware of the problem and allows Ivy to call Batman out on the hypocrisy the stereotype represents. Batman’s happy to rescue Ivy as long as he doesn’t think about what she represents. Until that point, he can project whatever desires he wishes onto her, assuming a passivity that, as Ivy points out in another horrific context, does not represent any real women. It is possible to read here an implicit criticism of attempts to domesticate Ivy by giving her typical female roles like that of a mother figure. It may also be that Dini’s attempt to escape the misogynist stereotype ultimately fails due to the nature of the denouement, with Ivy punished for her power and made dependent on Batman.
This is something of a bricolage of a book, feeling like it has been constructed ad hoc from a variety of elements which don’t quite fit together. Some of the art is bright and cartoonish, some dark and horrific. The plot is a neat, inconsequential puzzle which negotiates (maybe fails to negotiate) some problematic political territory. On the surface there’s a perfectly entertaining mystery and even if deeper consideration reveals inconsistencies, they are very interesting inconsistencies. That’s meant as a strong recommendation.
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/batfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/batfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/batfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/batfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/batnone.jpg
'To the Batsite! Buy Detective Comics online now from X-World and save!' (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=118&cat=DETECTIVE+COMICS)