Poison Ivy: Thorns: A mature YA graphic novel

Poison Ivy: Thorns by Kody Keplinger (writer), Sara Kipin (artist), Jeremy Lawson (colorist), and Steve Wands (letterer)

Keplinger’s Poison Ivy: Thorns is a wonderful young adult graphic novel from DC illustrated in a unique style by Sara Kipin. The graphic novel is divided into four sections: Toxic, Roots, Bloom, and Ivy. It takes a look at Poison Ivy when she was Pamela Isley, a struggling high school student, and it gives her a different origin story than some of the usual ones that are presented in other DC storylines, because it places her origin as the pivotal moment when she comes of age by standing her ground for the first time against her father. And it even shows her as willing to take lives, to kill, which is a provocative decision on the part of the author considering the realism of the story in some ways. Though there are some fantasy elements to the graphic novel, for the most part, we are given a glimpse into the life of a young girl discovering her sexuality, wrestling with sexual harassment, confronting infuriating male authority figures, and coming to terms with a bullying father who is willing to risk his daughter’s life.

There is a lot going on in this book: First, the graphic novel opens with Pamela’s taking environmental action in her town, before returning home to the Isley Mansion, an ominous-looking gothic home. Her dad is fairly young, but he is an imposing father who warns her early on, “We have family secrets to protect,” referring to Pamela’s sick mother hidden away from the community in the attic. We next meet the rest of the cast who are from her school: Brett, an obnoxious young man who sexually harasses Pamela; Alice, the love-interest in the story, a strong-willed gothic figure haunting the halls of the school and standing up to Brett; Mr. Crowley, the kind teacher who looks after the school greenhouse where Pamela clearly spends a lot of her time; and Principal Carlson, a sexist man who ignores Pamela’s complaints about Brett’s behavior, which he blames on Pamela’s manner of dressing.

I suppose the story is a bit predictable and there’s not enough pages to allow for a lot of character development, but it is a well-told story and the art is fantastic. It really stands out visually from most comics, particularly superhero/supervillain comics. The panels are all rectangular and fairly large, creating a quick pace to the book since there are only a few panels per page. The colors are a bit muted which sets off Pamela’s red hair in a dynamic way. The eyes of the characters are particularly well done, creating effective use of nonverbal communication in the visual storytelling. So, overall, I really like this graphic novel quite a bit.

I wonder, however, if Poison Ivy: Thorns might not be embraced by those who select YA books for middle school libraries/media centers if they are worried about parental reactions. The book asks us empathize with and cheer on a young killer, whose violence seems almost justified by the narrative. And Pamela’s and Alice’s building romance might bother some who believe homosexuality (or sexuality in general) should not be addressed in YA books available in schools. But I like that the graphic novel challenges a young audience to be open to serious issues like sexuality, as well as the ethical issue at the heart of the story: What do we do when an author asks us to like and care for a character who commits violent, unethical acts like murder?

Overall, I give this book four stars. As I wrote above, the novel could have more depth and less predictability, but the art, the storytelling itself, and the challenging content are all strong points. I teach this book in a college-level American Crime Fiction class along with a more adult Poison Ivy story collection, and we discuss the graphic novel in terms of its being a YA book. The students seem to like it, and many wish she had been able to read it when they were younger. I also teach it in the context of noir novels that are told first-person from the perspective of killers, so it is interesting to read a YA graphic novel that is noir in getting us to empathize with a murderer. That’s very unusual for a YA book, and for that reason alone, I think this graphic novel is worth checking out.