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4.31 AVERAGE
4.31 AVERAGE
This veered away from what I expected in the best way. I really hope they come back to this series eventually because it deserves to continue.
I don't remember a whole lot from the first volume, and there are no "catch ups," but that's not a bad thing. The story is still strong, the women are still powerful, and the themes are still painfully relatable. I am very excited to see the direction they take with the transgender women.
As in the previous volume, the ads are amazing- my favorite being for "Misandry Cosmetics": "Sweep on this luxe liner for dramatic, smoky, playful eyes that hide your secret agenda, and make you look like a cat. IS IT WEIRD THAT YOU SHOULD LOOK LIKE A CAT?! NO! Because everyone knows that cats are girls and dogs are boys and dogs are nice and honest and friendly and cats are mean and manipulative and HOT LIKE FIRE." :D Amazing!
As in the previous volume, the ads are amazing- my favorite being for "Misandry Cosmetics": "Sweep on this luxe liner for dramatic, smoky, playful eyes that hide your secret agenda, and make you look like a cat. IS IT WEIRD THAT YOU SHOULD LOOK LIKE A CAT?! NO! Because everyone knows that cats are girls and dogs are boys and dogs are nice and honest and friendly and cats are mean and manipulative and HOT LIKE FIRE." :D Amazing!
dark
emotional
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
More solid social commentary by Kelly Sue DeConnick. I think my favorite parts may in fact be the end-of-issue ads for fictional products that point out all of the ridiculous consumer-focused societal-gender-role-conforming products we have forced on us every day in all forms of media. They are absolutely brilliant.
In this science fiction future, men have sentenced and shipped all "non compliant" women offworld to a prison colony in space. The only women left on Earth are the ones who conform to societal gender norms and are good little wives and daughters to the men in power. This volume introduces several new characters and deepens our understanding of the motivations of some of the characters that we have already met. I respect this comic for introducing several transgender characters and hope that they get more focus in future issues. This is a future that I do not want to live in, but I see shades of in our society today.
In this science fiction future, men have sentenced and shipped all "non compliant" women offworld to a prison colony in space. The only women left on Earth are the ones who conform to societal gender norms and are good little wives and daughters to the men in power. This volume introduces several new characters and deepens our understanding of the motivations of some of the characters that we have already met. I respect this comic for introducing several transgender characters and hope that they get more focus in future issues. This is a future that I do not want to live in, but I see shades of in our society today.
Bullet Review:
It was neat to see where the story went from volume 1. My biggest regret is not rereading volume 1 before jumping into volume 2 - not an ideal situation, as I was playing catchup most of the time. While the artwork on the characters makes them memorable (Penny and Kam are pretty distinct), the other characters blend in if you haven't read the previous volume.
This issue starts off with a standalone with Meiko, and that was not the way you want to start back a long-awaited second volume. There were important bits to the story but the artwork by Soma was atrocious.
Obviously, this is a very in-your-face feminist work, so if that's not your bent, well, don't be surprised if you don't like it. I think, like the Handmaid's Tale, this tale of "non-conforming" women being arrested for not maintaining their pretty complexion or being completely servile to men or other mundane things is an introspective tale (in the vein of science fiction, of course). It's meant to bring into sharp contrasts the way that sexism still exists...blah blah blah, feminist theory, blah blah. No one wants to hear me go off on that on a review (my more introspective character and plot analyses don't seem to get nearly as many up-votes as my barely coherent rants :/ ), so let me stop myself there.
I kinda want to go back, read volume 1 and then volume 2 again. I'll still be checking into volume 3 but with a bit more reservation.
It was neat to see where the story went from volume 1. My biggest regret is not rereading volume 1 before jumping into volume 2 - not an ideal situation, as I was playing catchup most of the time. While the artwork on the characters makes them memorable (Penny and Kam are pretty distinct), the other characters blend in if you haven't read the previous volume.
This issue starts off with a standalone with Meiko, and that was not the way you want to start back a long-awaited second volume. There were important bits to the story but the artwork by Soma was atrocious.
Obviously, this is a very in-your-face feminist work, so if that's not your bent, well, don't be surprised if you don't like it. I think, like the Handmaid's Tale, this tale of "non-conforming" women being arrested for not maintaining their pretty complexion or being completely servile to men or other mundane things is an introspective tale (in the vein of science fiction, of course). It's meant to bring into sharp contrasts the way that sexism still exists...blah blah blah, feminist theory, blah blah. No one wants to hear me go off on that on a review (my more introspective character and plot analyses don't seem to get nearly as many up-votes as my barely coherent rants :/ ), so let me stop myself there.
I kinda want to go back, read volume 1 and then volume 2 again. I'll still be checking into volume 3 but with a bit more reservation.
Just as good as Book One. I’m officially obsessed!
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
When Kelly Sue DeConnick started writing the Captain Marvel series, all the gamergaters panicked that radical feminism was coming to Marvel. (Because I guess Carol Danvers was such a better character when she was roofied, raped, forced to give birth, and then ran away to live happily-ever-after with her rapist, while all the other Avengers cheer her on?)
So DeConnick created Bitch Planet to show what a radical feminist comic would actually look like. And it's so much fun. Is it a little on-the-nose? Sure. (There's a whole plot point that only exists to ask why the cis-women are fighting the trans-women instead of their collective patriarchal oppressor.) But hell comics have always been about wish-fulfillment. And this wish-fulfillment was also complex, mysterious, detailed, and beautiful.
So DeConnick created Bitch Planet to show what a radical feminist comic would actually look like. And it's so much fun. Is it a little on-the-nose? Sure. (There's a whole plot point that only exists to ask why the cis-women are fighting the trans-women instead of their collective patriarchal oppressor.) But hell comics have always been about wish-fulfillment. And this wish-fulfillment was also complex, mysterious, detailed, and beautiful.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No