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Poison Ivy Reading Order

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Created by Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino, Poison Ivy made her debut in Batman #181 in June 1966. She is a botanist with the power to control all plant life. Determined to protect all plants, whatever the costs, she became an “eco-terrorist of global importance,” as she calls herself.

Also known under the name Dr. Pamela Lillian Isley, Poison Ivy is also part of Batman Rogues Galleries, and one of his most famous enemies, at first juggling between wanting him to fall in love with her or kill him.

Poison Ivy walks the fine line between antagonist and antiheroine, as her several team affiliations illustrate it. She has been a member of the Injustice Gang and Secret Society of Super Villains, as well as part of the Gotham City Sirens,  the Birds of Prey, and Suicide Squad.

Today, she is most famous for her partnership with her best friend, recurring ally, and love interest Harley Quinn. And like all relations in comic books, it’s complicated!

She has been featured in several adaptations of live-action, animated, and video games. She has been portrayed by Uma Thurman in the movie Batman & Robin; Clare Foley, Maggie Geha, and Peyton List in the television series Gotham, and Bridget Regan in the third season of Batwoman.

This reading order was requested by Nani, one of our readers! Don’t hesitate to leave a comment or write to us with some other suggestions!

Poison Ivy Reading Order

Where to start with Poison Ivy? An Introduction

First of all, for those who want to become familiar with Poison Ivy’s origin stories and discover some of her greatest hits, you’ll find everything you need in the following collected editions:

  • Batman: Arkham – Poison Ivy
    Collects Batman #181, #339, Batman: Legends Of The Dark Knight #42-43, Batman: Poison Ivy #1, Batman: Shadow Of The Bat Annual #3, Batman Villain Secret Files #1, Detective Comics #23.1, Gotham City Sirens #8, Joker’s Asylum: Poison Ivy #1, Secret Origins #36, The Batman Chronicles #9, Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory Of The Dc Universe #18, Who’s Who In The Dc Universe #5 And World’s Finest Comics #251-252.

We also invite you to read our article about the origins of Poison Ivy in the comic books, from her creation to the New 52 retcon and beyond!

Poison Ivy, Pre-Crisis Reading Order

Poison Ivy is introduced in Batman #181 where she challenged the most renowned female criminals for the title of number one female criminal. During this period, she joined the Injustice Gang, worked with Catwoman and Madame Zodiac, had to confront Wonder Woman, tried to steal the assets of Wayne Entreprises from Bruce Wayne, and more.

Crisis on Infinite Earths LogoThis period is concluded with the DC event Crisis on Infinite Earths (crossover event), resulting in the entire DCU being rebooted. Ivy appears in Crisis on Infinite Earths #5 & #9, though this is a totally optional event for her.

Poison Ivy, Post-Crisis Reading Order

Poison Ivy, the New Origins

As the DC Universe was rewritten, Poison Ivy’s origin story was revised by Neil Gaiman. He put her in Black Orchid, then wrote her new origins which explore what we knew about her before and links her to the future Floronic Man.

Poison Ivy’s progressive transformation is also explored years later, in a one-shot written by J.T. Krul:

Poison Ivy, Villainess and Suicide Squad Member

After a new confrontation with Batman, Ivy is hospitalized as her life was in danger from poisoning. Shortly after that, she joined the Suicide Squad for a time.

Despite being a member of the Suicide Squad, Ivy has still the time to concoct a plan to wipe out the population of Gotham.

Poison Ivy, Guest Star

After being part of the Suicide Squad, Poison Ivy is back again in her role as a guest star in several Batman titles.

Poison Ivy & the Gotham City Sirens (2009-2011)

Written by Paul Dini with art by Guillem March, Gotham City Sirens is a team-up book with Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy. The story takes place shortly after the events of Battle for the Cowl storylines, as Catwoman got her revenge by stealing all of Hush’s money and giving it to Gotham City’s female criminals, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, as well as Holly Robinson. Bruce Wayne is thought to be dead and is replaced by Dick Grayson.

In Omnibus Edition

Poison Ivy, the New 52 Reading Order

In the New 52 era, DC was rebooted and Poison Ivy was affected by this relaunch. The character’s origins were rewritten by Derek Fridolfs in Detective Comics #23.1, published in 2013. She also became a member of the Birds of Prey.

Ivy will soon have her own title, but in the meantime, she became a recurring character in the new Harley Quinn Volume. She appeared in the following issues: #2, #6-7, #15-16, #18-20, #24-26, #29-30, collected in:

Finally, after all those years, Poison Ivy blossoms into her first solo adventure, from writer Amy Chu and artist Clay Mann. She is now a researcher at the Gotham Botanical Gardens, studying the possibility of creating plant-human hybrids. But when her fellow scientists start turning up dead, she’s both the natural leading suspect…and the only person (or plant) who can crack the case.

Poison Ivy Rebirth

We enter the Rebirth era where Poison Ivy acts mostly as a supporting character in different comic titles, with no noticeable narrative arc for her. She appears in Trinity, Batgirl and the Birds of Prey, and Batman, as well as in the Harley Quinn solo series.

This is when the Dark Nights: Metal event took place (reading order here). That event is led by Barbatos, the dark god who plans to unleash darkness across every Earth. Stopping him will change the DC Universe forever. This is optional for Ivy who appears in Teen Titans (2016) #12 and Suicide Squad (2016) #26, both collected in Dark Nights: Metal: The Resistance.

Heroes in Crisis Icon Reading OrderTom King’s 2018-19 event Heroes in Crisis (reading order here) takes place at the Sanctuary, an ultra-secret hospital for superheroes and reformed supervillains who’ve been traumatized by crime-fighting and cosmic combat. At Harley’s request, Ivy checked in but something goes inexplicably wrong when many patients wind up dead, with two well-known operators as the prime suspects: Harley Quinn and Booster Gold!

Poison Ivy Infinite Frontier/Dawn of DC

A new era begins with James Tynion IV’s run on Batman coming to an end with another crossover event: Fear State (Reading order of the event here). Gotham City is on the brink of martial law as Batman fights a two-front battle! The Scarecrow is unleashing a devasting attack on the city while the Magistrate has made their move to invade! This story explored the consequences of having two Ivys, as she was split into two people at the end of the Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy miniseries.

It’s finally time for Poison Ivy to have her solo title again, this time from the creative team of writer G. Willow Wilson and artist Marcio Takara. Pamela Isley has been a lot of things in her life. A living god, a super-villain, an activist, a scientist, and dead. In a new body that she didn’t ask for and with a renewed sense of purpose, Ivy leaves Gotham and sets out to complete her greatest work—a gift to the world that will heal the damage dealt to it…by ending humanity.

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