Reviews

Bitch Planet, Volume 1: Extraordinary Machine by Kelly Sue DeConnick

fleshcladmonster's review against another edition

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5.0

I fucking loved this comic! All of the characters are phenomenal and I found myself wanting to know more about them. Overall badass comic that I’m looking forward to continuing!

df_monk's review against another edition

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4.0

In the world where the Men's Rights Activist movement is a frighteningly powerful undercurrent in modern society, Bitch Planet is the chilling answer to what might happen if that went "too far." It's well written, beautifully drawn and both a provoking and ultimately entertaining read. Looking forward to the next volume.

beaniebookbagel's review against another edition

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4.0

Awesome. I can't wait to see where this series goes.

geniusscientist's review against another edition

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3.0

Okay, so it's good, but also . . . really bleak and depressing? Like, how can the ever hope to accomplish or win anything. I assume the ladies will prevail at some point in some way because otherwise what's the point, right? But it seems so hopeless. Like A Handmaid's Tale. Guh.

a_a_ron3891's review against another edition

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3.0

I reread this today in preparation for the long-awaited Volume 2 that I'd recently picked up.
I remember thinking it was very well done but I did not understand the hype around it. I generously gave it 4 stars at the time, probably because I am susceptible to the all types of hype that I don't understand. I have adjusted my rated down to 3 stars, but I actually like it better upon my second reading and having followed it up immediately with reading Volume 2.
It's all an introduction to this world and its players, with great art and amazing supplementary breaks in the form of satirical magazine advertisements.
3/5 stars, the Patriarchy recommends.

nyketha's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot

5.0

... Are such that you are beyond correction or castigation. Like a cancer you must be excised from the world that bore you. For the well-being of us all. Lest your sickness spread. 

The retro art makes this dystopian future feel like something from the past especially when the complaint woman vs. the non-compliant women are on the same page. I can't wait to find out what happens in the rest of the story and learn more about the non-compliant women. 

doctoraction's review against another edition

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3.0

Nice poise, nice attitude. A good start. Not schamazing like you may have heard but the world needs more stuff like this, so do get involved if you fancy it in any way. Given the subject matter and intention it's a little lacking in heart, I felt. More character development and plot excitement is needed to lift it out of the comics-with-cool-ideas-not-quite-realised bucket into the great. Will read more when it arrives.

jrhartauthor's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The Good: With a dystopian earth and a nearby planet where non-compliant women are sent to be corrected and imprisoned, Bitch Planet covers a lot of topics within the patriarchy, fatphobia, and what it means to be "non-compliant." Strikingly relevant in today's world, Bitch Planet forces you to confront the fact that our current world isn't too far off from the horrific moments pictured (after all, our current government is a good picture at how much we hate women as a society). Very well-written, very artful overall, Bitch Planet will smack you in the face with the idea that you have to comply or die, and empower you to choose neither of those options, pushing you to fight back against the systems that hold us down. Bitch Planet is also wonderfully intersectional in the feminist views it presents, while leaving you on edge for the next segment of the story, and wanting a nice little fix. The overall tone is retro despite being futuristic, and the contrast of these things blends beautifully onto each page. It fits right in, tonally, to the amount of tradwives embracing the retro 50s vibes, even as we progress into modernity.

The Bad: Many moments of the story are confusing, and while the authors are right to trust us to be able to piece it together, I wish we got more time with some of the characters that we were met, so we could better understand their perspective, their "non-compliance," and gave us more time to say "wow, this person is relatable in these ways." All in all, if you have any sort of liberal and feminist mindset, you'll support many of these characters even without deep backstory (if they're non-compliant, they're almost certainly in the right), but some of them probably had more story for us to really be able to know, that we weren't given a chance to. This may be by design -- a lot of women die without their full story known irl too -- but it made the story feel jumpy at times. Also, I feel like for a prison planet, the story leaned far more into discussions of feminism than the prison industrial complex, and it could have honestly balanced that better, imo.

The AMAZING: Be sure to pay attention to the background of artwork. There are many times in which you'll see fights, aggression, and conversation beyond what is apparent on the main story of the page, and it's well done in a way that deepens the story without distracting from the main plot.

The "My Bad": I think that this would've fared better had I read it as individual issues of a comic series (which, you can see the divisions of in the book by the title pages and mock classified ads), but strung together in a single-book format, I didn't take enough time to process what had happened in the previous issue to prepare myself for the next one. Even stepping away didn't seem to signal to my brain that these were separate parts of a larger whole when the storyline was this intense, so I think I probably would've rated it higher if I had read it individually (so I did give it an extra .5 for the fact that I didn't pick it up in a different format).

jdgcreates's review against another edition

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5.0

This is a dream come true for "non-compliant" women. Are you "caged and enraged"? Welcome to Bitch Planet! Cannot wait for the future volumes!

alanaes's review against another edition

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4.0

...now I kind of want a non-compliant tattoo...hmmm.....