Absolute Batman #17
Author : Scott Snyder
Artist : Eric Canete
Colourist : Frank Martin
Bat Poison : Issue #17 Summary
Snyder introduces us to the evil and monstrous nightmare that is Poison Ivy. She’s nothing like we’ve seen before; this is a different level of monster that is capable of unfathomable things. Absolute Batman #17 is a fantastic horror piece, from the suspenseful writing, to the cleverly rough and gruesome artwork; it is a body horror tale that will excite you and frighten you all at once.
Meat Eating Plants : Issue #17 Review
WARNING SPOILERS!
Tree Of Death
The previews for Absolute Batman #17 had revealed that Snyder would be introducing the Absolute Universe’s Poison Ivy, and not in my wildest nightmares could I have imagined what we got. In Absolute Batman #17 the main character is Dr. Isley, and the creativity to innovate her character, her personality and her powers was nothing short of remarkable to me. What I thought I would see, and what I got from Absolute Batman #17, was exceeded by the truly inventive repackaging of Poison Ivy.
Snyder doesn’t leave Batman or Bruce in the background in Absolute Batman #17, we’re given insight into Bruce’s loyalty as we see him to continue to visit his friends; Ozzy, Waylon, Eddie and Harvey. However, he’s not getting any luck in reforming the bond they once had, that bond shattered by Ark M and Jack Grimm. The depression Bruce is feeling is brought out when he’s Batman—dialogue feels short and angry, his interactions with Pennyworth feel tense, and his thoughts convey a subtle defeat in his emotions. That emotionally defeated tone that Snyder sets, transforms into anger when he goes up against Poison Ivy.
As I mentioned, this depiction of Ivy from Snyder is truly unique, her origin story was insightful and alluring, but filled with death at its heart—just like Poison Ivy. What Snyder has done brilliantly in this Absolute Batman run is having the A and B storylines running simultaneously—Absolute Batman #17 has Ivy’s childhood past, Bruce’s recent events and the present with Batman climbing the Tree of Death, all being told at the same time.
What Snyder does with the three stories running at the same is quicken the pacing and double down on the anticipation from me as the reader—each page creating questions that will be answered in the following pages. This in conjunction with Eric Canete’s clever panel work—using thinner panels that build each moment step by step, creates a volatile pace that kept me loving each page I read.
Planting The Seeds
The thick layers of storytelling were the introduction of Poison Ivy, the personal complications of Bruce and his friends, and Bruce coming to terms with what Batman is beginning to mean to the people. They both lead to the fattest layer in this canopy of characters, whereby Batman will eventually go head-to-head with Poison Ivy.
The other layers helped me, as a reader, to enjoy a more rounded story, that gave me threads to hold on to until Absolute Batman #18 is released—Batman’s fleeting interaction with Barbera Gordon, Jim Gordon and Martha Wayne finding themselves in a relationship, Harley partnering with Batman, and a nice little wink to an EMT called Dick. All of these threads come within pages of each other, showing the deep narrative that Snyder develops; reading these little inserts of famous characters from the Bat-verse, one after the other was building my excitement in general for this issue—the following page after these references is where The Bat meets Ivy. As the reader my emotions are at an all-time high, amazing emotional tiering from Snyder and his writing, I’m so ready to see this fight between Batman and Poison Ivy.
Here is the biggest unknown seeded layer to the Poison Ivy origin—Snyder writes that whilst Dr. Isley is working, the doors are bolted shut and alludes to a fire starting out of nowhere. Two incidents that are rather mysterious and coincidental—perhaps it was Joker who orchestrated this accident to turn Isley into Ivy. Dr. Isley did after all, take her research away from her sponsors to get it done herself in order to help her dying mother.
Story Stratification
Stratifying is a clever term for layering, and that’s what Scott Snyder done impeccably well in Absolute Batman #17! There is not just one, but two major events that shape Absolute Batman #17’s story, the first one is what Ivy is capable of—I’ve never seen her do what Snyder writes and Canete draws. We’re used to Ivy having control of plant life, combining human DNA with plantae—yep, Snyder takes this up several notches.
Absolute Universe’s Dr. Isley thought bigger, and that made Ivy badder—merging not just plant life, but Animalia, Fungi, Protista, Eubacteria and Archaebacteria, with human DNA to create a sensational swimming pool of sinister scenarios. I had to Google all of those cell terms that Ivy put together, and they’re a recipe for disaster. Ivy has new powers to the point where she can make the Last of Us come to the Absolute Universe, she’s not just taking control of humans through plant scent, she’s making them her undead zombies.
The big reveal of Ivy’s final form comes right at the end of Batman climbing atop of the Tree of Death, because what he finds up there is not life, but death incarnate. A gruesome, malformed, disgusting entity, akin to what biblical texts would describe angels as—too much for the human eye to look at and comprehend.
The second mouth-watering revelation is that Martha gives a cheeky phone call to none other than the Court of Owls, something I remember vividly from Snyder’s New 52 run of Batman. What a cliff hanger—Batman at the mercy of Ivy, and Martha dialling up the Court of Owls?! That’s how you keep the audience coming back for more.
Demonic Drawing
This was a fantastic body horror drawn by Eric Canete and coloured by Frank Martin. The ways in which that Canete drew Ivy’s plant minions, Ivy’s plant monsters and Ivy herself, felt like I was reading through Dante’s Inferno. As the reader I felt that is super interesting; Bruce is effectively moving upwards from floor to floor, trying to reach the source at the top—an inversion of what Dante’s Inferno and seven stages of hell are.
The panelling from Canete in Absolute Batman #17 perfectly keeps up with Snyder’s dialogue and narrative, the main plot is linear, we’re moving upwards a tree growing out of a building; Batman trying to reach the top. Canete’s panels capture that step-by-step approach with the pages starting with thinner panels, moving to thicker panels with more details. I really loved the contrast between the first page of the issue versus the rest of it—the colouring from Frank Martin was superb in its brightness, and the innocence Martin created. This was the exact opposite for the rest of the story, it was dark, the mood was depressive and oppressive.
My favourite panels are the revelation of Ivy in her final form, because as I mentioned, it depicts her as this almost archaic angel that you read within old texts. Too much for the human mind to comprehend, she’s part plant, animal and everything in between. Yet Canete creates a sense of elegance in her deformed representation, showing me as the reader Ivy is proud of what she’s become, she’s embraced it. That can be seen in the following page, where just like we saw with Joker’s transformation; this I think beats it. It is truly horrifying; I would need myself a Bat-diaper for sure. Again, it displays what the Absolute Universe is ALL about—imbued with Darkseid energy, everything and everyone is bigger, badder, uglier and more unstoppable than they’ve ever been.
Conclusion & Rating
Absolute Batman #17 was a body horror that I didn’t know I needed in my life. Poison Ivy is depicted as something out of Dante’s Inferno; elegant, gruesome and fierce all at the same time. The pacing of this issue is near perfect with Snyder’s dialogue and Canete’s panelling—Snyder’s proven technique of telling more than on story at the same time work brilliantly.
Giving me as the reader enough narrative to consume, without overloading my brain with too much going on. Having three stories being told at the same time was genius. Reading Absolute Batman #17 I couldn’t wait to read the next page and the one after that, but I didn’t want the story to end.