Poison Ivy. The focus of this little fansite. Though Poison Ivy ran through many different incarnations from comics, cartoons and the like, the version portrayed by Uma Thurman in the film "Batman & Robin" remains my favourite to this day. And the one that has gripped me-- and in my youth gleefully infatuated.
But what is it about her that keeps me coming back? Her attractiveness? Her sinisterly seductive charms? Or is it just the age-old concept that villains have and indeed ARE the most fun!
The answer is all those...and then some!
My history with Ivy has been rather empty in all honesty. Uma Thurman's take on the character was the first one I really noticed, living where the only real exposure to the Batman mythos was through television and film. I'm sure you can get the comics in certain stores but they were very few and far between and beyond my means at the time. But as I grew more and acquainted with Uma's Poison Ivy with age and exposure my adoration of her only grew. I turned to the Internet in it's primitive form at the time (God, how I DON'T miss Dial-up...!) in effort to learn and see more of her.
I sought every reference, every scrap I could find- even if it was only a passing allusion to the villainess! In turn I came into contact with a slew of colourful and wildly imaginative fansites dedicated to the Vixen of Venom, and discovered yet another nook in the mad world we call "fandom" that seems only to exist when we seek it. By this time I was hooked. Let's see... Poison Ivy's Lair of Lust; Poison Ivy's Lair of Love; Villainous Vamps of Gotham City (I miss that one); Poison Ivy's Rain Forest (that one was neat) etc.-- if they mentioned Ivy even once I was probably lurking from the shadows and reading with interest. I was a teenage boy at the time now and girls were (and generally ARE) the thing at that age. I never knew who Ivy was at first. I may have caught a silent glimpse of her on the cartoon but that was it. But at this point I wanted to know her. I was in paradise. And I wanted to show the world just what it was I saw in the character and the passion I have for her.
Creeped out yet? :D Yeah, I can come on strong but I'm just being honest here. I love the character so much. I think I always will. And in turn I want to celebrate her in the best way I know how. Or at least within the borders I dare not to cross. My own fansite.
Let's not beat around the bush. I marveled at the girls and boys in possession of such creative prowess to design and compile a website in the way they did. No matter how primitive or how ugly it looked in place it was so iconic to me-- and I wanted that for my Ivy. Yes. The Uma Thurman incarnation of Poison Ivy.
The single site that stood out to me to this day is one known as "The Flora Lounge*". In the grand scheme of things and by today's standards it was never really anything to write home about- even the site's author seemed to have misgivings about it's design later on. But it didn't matter because the quality of it was so great and so neat and concise and held such knowledge and passion about the subject-- I'll stop now.
The point is: I wanted to emulate that so badly. I wanted to present Poison Ivy in this passion to the very best of my ability someday- as tribute to both her and "The Flora Lounge".
As someone who never grew up reading the Batman comics I never had history with Poison Ivy prior to dawn of the likes of Batman The Animated Series and the aforementioned film so my views may not sit so well with the die-hard fans of Ivy. But I can only speak for myself and how I see and interpret the character. But nevertheless I hope I can give you a glimpse of the mystery and enchantment the Uma-Ivy inspires in me in the following pages of this fansite. :)
* Put "http://members.aol.com/PlantBoy73/index1.html" into the Wayback Machine. It might be a tad iffy (it's not completely how I remember it) to look at but at least you can see the origins here. It's a fantastic site. RIP.