Gotham elected Poison Ivy, real name Pamela Isley, as their mayor. At the same time, the city put Vandal Savage, an ancient and ruthless immortal, in charge as police commissioner. Two former supervillains are now running Gotham’s government.
By the time this issue starts, both of them have lost the public’s trust in their own ways. Savage has been running his police force like a private army, arresting vigilantes and cracking down hard on anyone who gets in his way. Meanwhile, Ivy is cornered. A few issues back, she killed a being called Bog Venus, a member of a plant-based collective called the Parliament of Trees, to protect her friend and on-and-off partner Janet. Now the Parliament wants payback, and Ivy doesn’t have many allies left to help her stop them.
So Ivy strikes a deal. She’ll hand Gotham over to the Parliament of Trees to grow wild and free. In exchange, they’ll forgive her for killing Bog Venus and help her fight off Savage.
6:00 PM: The City Starts to Change
Everything in this issue happens during one long night, racing towards sunrise. Starting at 6:00pm, at King Plaza and the Bowery, ancient, prehistoric-looking plants start growing through the pavement. At the same time, over at City Hall, Ivy tells her staff it’s time to defend themselves. Over at police headquarters, Savage is rallying his officers to go after Ivy, accusing her of clinging to power.
Janet doesn’t agree with Ivy. She asks how giving the city to ancient plants will fix anything. Ivy’s selfish answer: the corruption in Gotham runs too deep to fix from a mayor’s office. She’s already tried that and failed. Giving the city back to nature is the only way she can see to settle her debts, beat Savage, and undo the damage humans have done. When a staffer reminds her that people voted for her because they believed in her, Ivy says the city is doomed either way. Ivy gave two choices:
- Stay and face a fast death from her plants.
- Leave and face a slow one from climate change.
Then Ivy describes how, billions of years ago, ancient plants didn’t just adapt to Earth’s atmosphere, they actually reshaped it, with storms lasting a hundred years and air that would’ve killed a modern human. What took nature a billion years to build, she says, she’s going to recreate in a single night.
By sunrise, humans will no longer be able to reside in Gotham.
Here is what doesn’t make sense to me: what is to stop it from spreading globally? Are the ancient plants only going to take over Gotham? Obviously, Gotham somehow survives but I find it interesting that it isn’t brought up. Yet. It’s not a Gotham problem, in my opinion. It’s a global problem.
Enter the Bat-Family
While all this political chaos is unfolding, the story jumps around the city to check in on: Robin (Damian Wayne), Harley Quinn, the Ventriloquist, Batgirl Stephanie Brown, Tim Drake, Officer Jim Gordon, the Signal (Duke Thomas), Batgirl Cassandra Cain, Catwoman (Selina Kyle), Batwoman (Kate Kane), Anarky (Lonnie Machin), and Nightwing (Dick Grayson). Everyone is being pulled into this mess.
Back at Wayne Manor, Batman lays out what they’re dealing with in blunt terms:
- As of 6:54 p.m., Gotham is facing a “localized, hyper-accelerated terraforming event.”
- The plants are growing and they’re targeting infrastructure on purpose, which is why he calls it an invasion rather than a natural disaster.
- He warns the team that the air is going to get harder to breathe, that metal and electronics nearby are going to corrode and burn out fast.
- They need a backup way to stay in contact once their comms go down.
Batman’s orders: get people inside, keep everyone safe, don’t get sloppy, and don’t get caught.
Damian notices something unsettling: every time he cuts one piece of the plants, other pieces react, almost like the whole system is connected.
Batman sends Damian to check on Arkham Asylum. Damian asks who his father is concerned about: him or her? He’s referring to Annika Zeller and the Joker.
Tying this to what is happening in Batman’s story: Batman tells Verity that Alfred believed in her, so he does too. Verity realizes Alfred’s shoes are hard to fill. Batman told her now is the time to fill them.
Remember, Bruce has assassins trying to kill him. That plot is on hold as the city is in chaos.
A City Turning on Itself
Unfortunately, it’s not just plants causing chaos. People immediately started taking advantage of the situation. A delivery driver charges someone $200 for a food delivery and jokes about “capitalism”. The plants will not be the only problem..
Batman, the Sewers, and an Unlikely Rescue
In the sewers, a massive, teeth-filled plant is chasing down a mother and her child. Batman shows up and starts fighting it off. The plant grabs him and drags him underwater just as the mother and kid are climbing to safety. She calls Batman’s name as he is dragged under water.
Who saves Batman? Killer Croc (Waylon Jones). He eats the plant, freeing Batman. Croc said the plant was: “Weird, but tasty.”
Croc’s Warning
Croc tells Batman that things are about to get very bad, and not just because of the plants.
- He points out that people are going to start hurting each other in ways nobody’s prepared for.
- Gotham’s police force can’t protect anyone right now.
- People, in general, are kind of the worst, especially in a city like Gotham.
- Savage has a custom-made poison, chemical cocktail built specifically to kill Ivy.
- Savage tried using it to kill Ivy before and came close to succeeding.
- If he finishes the job this time, there’s no stopping Ivy’s plants, since only she seems to have any control over them.
- Either Ivy’s plan works and the city becomes an untamed jungle, or Savage kills Ivy and the plants run wild anyway with nobody left to rein them in.
- Croc warns the plants are going to get stronger and spread faster when the sun rises (superbloom).
- Whatever Batman and the others are going to do, they need to do it before dawn.
When Batman asks why Croc’s telling him all this, Waylon says he owes Batman, and that most people might be terrible, but some are still worth saving.
In a previous issue, Batman was kind to Croc when he escaped from Annika Zeller’s custody. Croc is paying back that kindness.
Back at City Hall
Savage shows up outside Ivy’s office with his forces, telling her she’s surrounded and giving her the chance to surrender. Ivy sends Janet away, telling her to get as far from Gotham as she can before sunrise. Ivy said she is staying behind to stall Savage.
When Janet asks what happens if things go wrong, Ivy says if the Parliament double-crosses her, or if Savage gets to her first, there’s no way to stop what she’s started. Her only priority left is finding Harley Quinn and getting her to safety before it’s too late.
