Poison Ivy: Thorns

The story follows a teenage Pamela Isley, who is presented as a shy and withdrawn young woman who is constantly abused and tormented by the men in her life. At school, she is bullied by a popular male classmate she briefly dated but later dumped, to which the principal turns a blind eye. At home, she is forced to act as a test subject for numerous experiments by her father in his increasingly futile efforts to cure Pamela's mother of a terminal illness. Pamela slowly begins to feel less and less human as she turns to the vast array of plants growing in her father's lab for companionship, using them to teach herself the science of botany.

Eventually, her relationship with another student named Alice convinces Pamela to take control of her life. Through genetic manipulation and her knowledge of plant life, she transforms herself into a plant-human hybrid and takes revenge on her father, the principal, and her old boyfriend. Renouncing her humanity forever, she renames herself "Poison Ivy" and sets out to fulfill her dream of a world where plants can exist free from the evils of human civilization.^[7]

Benton Jones' review for Comic Book Resources praised the "impressively complex narrative" that portrays Ivy as a sympathetic yet dark character.^[3] On the other hand, ComicBookWire found that the attempt to portray Ivy as both a hero and a villain resulted in a contradictory characterization.^[8] Publishers Weekly was critical of Keplinger's writing, particularly her overuse of storytelling tropes, but enjoyed the visual elements that Kipin and Lawson brought to the book.^[9] Kirkus Reviews found the novel "[a]tmospheric and haunting", and wrote that it "manages to bring heart to an antihero".^[10] In a review for the School Library Journal, Carla Riemer concluded that Poison Ivy: Thorns provides an "intriguing and sympathetic" backstory for the DC Comics villain.^[7]