Post by Disgruntled Gremlin on Apr 7, 2005 22:04:28 GMT -5
Human Nature, Parts 1-3
Part 1
A young man, who looks very out of it, jumps off a building, for numerous civilians to see. A hooded Poison Ivy sees his face on a television screen and recognizes him as Danny, one of her orphans. Hush confronts Ivy, but she turns him away.
At a media release, Commissioner Akins is questioned about the deaths of the teen, which apparantly followed several others. Also, the mayor is confronted by the mysterious Zhang about some kind of conspiracy.
Elsewhere, Ivy is in Robinson Park, where she recognizes her orphans as the dead. She flashes back to No Man's land, and then heads to the coroner's office to confirm her suspicions.
Upon examination of the bodies, Akins finds that the victims were poisoned, and he names Ivy as the prime suspect.
Ivy tracks down another orphan, Justin, who she finds at a Greenhouse eating fertilizer (!). The police get involved, and Justin kills an officer. Ivy stops him with her plants, and he screams that she is to blame before he passes out in her arms.
Part 2
Batman confronts Poison Ivy about Justin's death (he's been turned to stone, essentially). She says she wants Bruce Wayne's help. Somewhere else, two teens (including a blonde girl named Jenna) are lighting up when Zhang attacks them. They are brought into a strange lab filled with doctors where another teen is suspended in fluid, naked, with wires coming out of him.
In the Batcave, Alfred and Bruce discuss a blood sample from an orphan, revealing that he was petrified. As Batman, he meets Ivy, who then brushes him off.
Ivy ponders her condition, making her feel guilty, thinking she is at fault. Back in the lab, Jenna is hooked up to some equipment, which makes her scream when turned on. In Hush's hideout, he is concealed in some kind of plant chamber which somehow makes him immune to Poison Ivy's powers.
At a strange building, Jenna approaches a man in a business suit. They enter an elevator together, and she walks out, he is left petrified, like the orphans were. Poison Ivy then attacks Jason Woodrue's old lab. His assistant tells her that Woodrue is dead (car crash!), but she still manages to steal his research.
Part 3
An abulance holding the businessman's body from part 2 crashes, and is lit ablaze by two mysterious men. At her lab, Ivy is using Woodrue's notes to try to undo her condition. Akins is looking for Ivy, and a swat team is sent to take her out. Suddenly the team is attacked by vines. A grinning Ivy-like figure looks on, but it is not Ivy herself.
At Wayne Manor, Alfred defends Poison Ivy. The Mayor and Zhang argue over the car accident, while Bats ponders the possibility of multiple Ivys. Ivy goes on (again) about how she feels guilty and how she can't continue to live this way. Another orphan is being chased near the park. When he sees her, he runs, saying it's her fault (again). Hush confronts Ivy, leading to a toxic kiss, which appears to have no effect.
Bruce is dancing with Selina, but is interrupted by Ivy, who tells him she wants to be normal again.
First thing's first- I don't regularly buy any Batman titles ('cept for Strikes for my nephew). I keep up to date generally by flipping through anything that looks interesting and by word of mouth. However, when I saw Gotham Knights #61, I thought the cover was so mind blowing I HAD to have it (by this time, 62 and 63 were out too, so I grabbed 'em as well).
Having read about the Human Nature story arc, I was excited. All I can say is WHAT A LET DOWN!
Where do I begin? Okay, first, the artwork. While the covers (Ivy bending over the dead orphans, Hush's needle with Ivy's reflection) are brilliant, the inside of the book was extremely underwhelming in places- largely due to character design.
Although I'm used to Hush's sloppy bandage look by now, Poison Ivy was too much to take. There's no beauty about this incarnation- she looks like a watered down version of Jim Lee's Ivy with all of her sex-appeal robbed from her. While her cloaked look was cool-ish, she just seemed gruff and at times, a bit man-ish. Also, her hair- while Jim Lee's style had it flowing beautifully, it's now a gigantic clump of orange, looking not only completely unrealistic, but unappealing, too.
I honestly haven't seen an Ivy this bad since "Harley and Ivy."
In issue 62, Bruce Wayne was even worse, looking more like a disfigured Asian man than a billionaire playboy in a couple of panels. However, the rest of the art was decent enough- it's the story that bugged me most.
While the plot involving the false Ivys intrigued me, it annoys me how out of character Poison Ivy acted through the entire story. Rather than flirting with Hush, as she would normally, she basically grunted at him a couple of times without advancing the story at all. When she kissed him, again, there was no hint of beauty in her.
But Poison Ivy wanting to quit? Okay, it's not been done since House and Garden, but any shock factor was eliminated by her CONSTANT, IRRITATING REITERATION of the same 'epiphany,' which was treated as a new revelation each time.
These issues just really missed the mark for me. Ivy wanting to quit? Batman working with her, despite the fact that she's STILL bringing in an innocent body count? Alfred standing up for Poison Ivy after everything? The whole series came at the expense of every single appearance of Ivy beforehand, leaving her so far removed from Jeph Loeb's witch-like psychopath it's impossible to believe they are the same person!
While the first two parts were 'average', Part 3 simply annoyed the hell out of me, turning a brilliant character, into a sloppy, rather unlikable ball of self pity in some sad attempt to give her depth. The whole thing seemed like a lousy fanfic writer's messed up 'Hush' sequel.
Part 1: **
Part 2: ***
Part 3: *
Part 1
A young man, who looks very out of it, jumps off a building, for numerous civilians to see. A hooded Poison Ivy sees his face on a television screen and recognizes him as Danny, one of her orphans. Hush confronts Ivy, but she turns him away.
At a media release, Commissioner Akins is questioned about the deaths of the teen, which apparantly followed several others. Also, the mayor is confronted by the mysterious Zhang about some kind of conspiracy.
Elsewhere, Ivy is in Robinson Park, where she recognizes her orphans as the dead. She flashes back to No Man's land, and then heads to the coroner's office to confirm her suspicions.
Upon examination of the bodies, Akins finds that the victims were poisoned, and he names Ivy as the prime suspect.
Ivy tracks down another orphan, Justin, who she finds at a Greenhouse eating fertilizer (!). The police get involved, and Justin kills an officer. Ivy stops him with her plants, and he screams that she is to blame before he passes out in her arms.
Part 2
Batman confronts Poison Ivy about Justin's death (he's been turned to stone, essentially). She says she wants Bruce Wayne's help. Somewhere else, two teens (including a blonde girl named Jenna) are lighting up when Zhang attacks them. They are brought into a strange lab filled with doctors where another teen is suspended in fluid, naked, with wires coming out of him.
In the Batcave, Alfred and Bruce discuss a blood sample from an orphan, revealing that he was petrified. As Batman, he meets Ivy, who then brushes him off.
Ivy ponders her condition, making her feel guilty, thinking she is at fault. Back in the lab, Jenna is hooked up to some equipment, which makes her scream when turned on. In Hush's hideout, he is concealed in some kind of plant chamber which somehow makes him immune to Poison Ivy's powers.
At a strange building, Jenna approaches a man in a business suit. They enter an elevator together, and she walks out, he is left petrified, like the orphans were. Poison Ivy then attacks Jason Woodrue's old lab. His assistant tells her that Woodrue is dead (car crash!), but she still manages to steal his research.
Part 3
An abulance holding the businessman's body from part 2 crashes, and is lit ablaze by two mysterious men. At her lab, Ivy is using Woodrue's notes to try to undo her condition. Akins is looking for Ivy, and a swat team is sent to take her out. Suddenly the team is attacked by vines. A grinning Ivy-like figure looks on, but it is not Ivy herself.
At Wayne Manor, Alfred defends Poison Ivy. The Mayor and Zhang argue over the car accident, while Bats ponders the possibility of multiple Ivys. Ivy goes on (again) about how she feels guilty and how she can't continue to live this way. Another orphan is being chased near the park. When he sees her, he runs, saying it's her fault (again). Hush confronts Ivy, leading to a toxic kiss, which appears to have no effect.
Bruce is dancing with Selina, but is interrupted by Ivy, who tells him she wants to be normal again.
First thing's first- I don't regularly buy any Batman titles ('cept for Strikes for my nephew). I keep up to date generally by flipping through anything that looks interesting and by word of mouth. However, when I saw Gotham Knights #61, I thought the cover was so mind blowing I HAD to have it (by this time, 62 and 63 were out too, so I grabbed 'em as well).
Having read about the Human Nature story arc, I was excited. All I can say is WHAT A LET DOWN!
Where do I begin? Okay, first, the artwork. While the covers (Ivy bending over the dead orphans, Hush's needle with Ivy's reflection) are brilliant, the inside of the book was extremely underwhelming in places- largely due to character design.
Although I'm used to Hush's sloppy bandage look by now, Poison Ivy was too much to take. There's no beauty about this incarnation- she looks like a watered down version of Jim Lee's Ivy with all of her sex-appeal robbed from her. While her cloaked look was cool-ish, she just seemed gruff and at times, a bit man-ish. Also, her hair- while Jim Lee's style had it flowing beautifully, it's now a gigantic clump of orange, looking not only completely unrealistic, but unappealing, too.
I honestly haven't seen an Ivy this bad since "Harley and Ivy."
In issue 62, Bruce Wayne was even worse, looking more like a disfigured Asian man than a billionaire playboy in a couple of panels. However, the rest of the art was decent enough- it's the story that bugged me most.
While the plot involving the false Ivys intrigued me, it annoys me how out of character Poison Ivy acted through the entire story. Rather than flirting with Hush, as she would normally, she basically grunted at him a couple of times without advancing the story at all. When she kissed him, again, there was no hint of beauty in her.
But Poison Ivy wanting to quit? Okay, it's not been done since House and Garden, but any shock factor was eliminated by her CONSTANT, IRRITATING REITERATION of the same 'epiphany,' which was treated as a new revelation each time.
These issues just really missed the mark for me. Ivy wanting to quit? Batman working with her, despite the fact that she's STILL bringing in an innocent body count? Alfred standing up for Poison Ivy after everything? The whole series came at the expense of every single appearance of Ivy beforehand, leaving her so far removed from Jeph Loeb's witch-like psychopath it's impossible to believe they are the same person!
While the first two parts were 'average', Part 3 simply annoyed the hell out of me, turning a brilliant character, into a sloppy, rather unlikable ball of self pity in some sad attempt to give her depth. The whole thing seemed like a lousy fanfic writer's messed up 'Hush' sequel.
Part 1: **
Part 2: ***
Part 3: *
