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A review by mediaevalmuse
Bitch Planet, Volume 1: Extraordinary Machine by Kelly Sue DeConnick
4.0
I cannot sing the praises of this comic enough, nor can I express the enormity of the social work it does or how it has affected so many readers. Bitch Planet is a comic for feminists, for the non-compliant, for people who don’t fit in the box of what society says you ought to be (which is pretty much everyone, let’s be real). It’s a comic that has the same revolutionary power as contemporaries such as Ms. Marvel and Saga (not that previous comics haven’t been feminist - just that there are a few titles out right now that REALLY pack a punch, and this is one of them). In short, this is a comic for today - and I’m sure it’ll be a landmark in comics for years to come.
Things I Liked
1. Premise: I love the idea of blending a “prison story” with a social commentary, especially a feminist one. Orange is the New Black attempts to do similar work, but it’s less explicitly about feminism than Bitch Planet, whose inmates aren’t imprisoned so much for breaking the law, but for acting out against what is considered “normal” or “feminine.” It makes for an interesting premise and a powerful statement about the patriarchy.
2. Social Commentary/Feminist Message: Bitch Planet doesn’t subtly hint that there’s something wrong with the patriarchy. It really hits you in the face with it, often using exaggerated, ridiculous narrative moments to show you just how dumb it is to try to fit people (especially women) into one ideal. Media says you should be stick-thin? Bitch Planet shows you moments where the media is advertising gastrointestinal parasite diets. Our real-life ideal is that women should be light-skinned to be considered beautiful? Bitch Planet gives us a host of characters who are black. This comic pushes against every delusional, backwards-looking ideal for women in our current society, and it does it with such ferocity that it’s hard not to throw a fist in the air when a particular character stands up to “the man.”
2. Penny: Penny... Oh my god, Penny. What a character. Penny is a large, black woman who is 100% confident in her appearance. There’s a moment when she’s hooked up to a machine that is supposed to read a person’s thoughts and project the ideal image of themselves onto a mirror-like screen. When Penny is hooked up, it is revealed that her ideal self-image is identical to her real-life one. What a powerful moment! And to accompany that, Penny’s backstory is one of sadness, but also one of deep love between her and her mother. It was touching to read and inspiring to follow, even after she is sentenced to prison.
4. Visuals: I really like the look of the prison world and the ridiculous pink holographic figures that deliver messages, like an intercom, but for corrective behaviors. I also like the look of the characters themselves, with varying body types, and the composition of the pages, which isn’t always a 3 by 3 grid. It changes up quite a bit.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Megaton Plot: The main plot of this story follows Kamau Kogo, who intervenes in a prison fight with the guards that results in a woman getting killed. Afterwards, she if offered an opportunity to choose a team of inmates to participate in a sort of rugby-like sporting match with a team from outside the prison (sponsored by the patriarchy, of course). To be honest, I wasn’t as interested in this plotline as I was in the backstories of the women who were in the prison. I’d much rather explore the world of the comic first, and at a slower pace, before delving into this larger plot which gets away from the prison itself.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in science fiction, space operas, women’s prisons and prison culture, prison planets/colonies, feminism, body image, and slaying the patriarchy. You might also like this book if you enjoy the Orange is the New Black show, short story collections such as Inside This Place, Not Of It, or comics like Saga, Ms. Marvel, and Rat Queens.
Things I Liked
1. Premise: I love the idea of blending a “prison story” with a social commentary, especially a feminist one. Orange is the New Black attempts to do similar work, but it’s less explicitly about feminism than Bitch Planet, whose inmates aren’t imprisoned so much for breaking the law, but for acting out against what is considered “normal” or “feminine.” It makes for an interesting premise and a powerful statement about the patriarchy.
2. Social Commentary/Feminist Message: Bitch Planet doesn’t subtly hint that there’s something wrong with the patriarchy. It really hits you in the face with it, often using exaggerated, ridiculous narrative moments to show you just how dumb it is to try to fit people (especially women) into one ideal. Media says you should be stick-thin? Bitch Planet shows you moments where the media is advertising gastrointestinal parasite diets. Our real-life ideal is that women should be light-skinned to be considered beautiful? Bitch Planet gives us a host of characters who are black. This comic pushes against every delusional, backwards-looking ideal for women in our current society, and it does it with such ferocity that it’s hard not to throw a fist in the air when a particular character stands up to “the man.”
2. Penny: Penny... Oh my god, Penny. What a character. Penny is a large, black woman who is 100% confident in her appearance. There’s a moment when she’s hooked up to a machine that is supposed to read a person’s thoughts and project the ideal image of themselves onto a mirror-like screen. When Penny is hooked up, it is revealed that her ideal self-image is identical to her real-life one. What a powerful moment! And to accompany that, Penny’s backstory is one of sadness, but also one of deep love between her and her mother. It was touching to read and inspiring to follow, even after she is sentenced to prison.
4. Visuals: I really like the look of the prison world and the ridiculous pink holographic figures that deliver messages, like an intercom, but for corrective behaviors. I also like the look of the characters themselves, with varying body types, and the composition of the pages, which isn’t always a 3 by 3 grid. It changes up quite a bit.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Megaton Plot: The main plot of this story follows Kamau Kogo, who intervenes in a prison fight with the guards that results in a woman getting killed. Afterwards, she if offered an opportunity to choose a team of inmates to participate in a sort of rugby-like sporting match with a team from outside the prison (sponsored by the patriarchy, of course). To be honest, I wasn’t as interested in this plotline as I was in the backstories of the women who were in the prison. I’d much rather explore the world of the comic first, and at a slower pace, before delving into this larger plot which gets away from the prison itself.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in science fiction, space operas, women’s prisons and prison culture, prison planets/colonies, feminism, body image, and slaying the patriarchy. You might also like this book if you enjoy the Orange is the New Black show, short story collections such as Inside This Place, Not Of It, or comics like Saga, Ms. Marvel, and Rat Queens.