Dystopian fiction is experiencing an all-time high in popularity, and female protagonists are enjoying a healthy share of the genre’s spotlight, so Bitch Planet is not an entirely unexpected offering. In the same vein of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, we are introduced to a world largely recovered from some cataclysmic event, wherein women and people of color have returned to a social standing that is clearly subjugate to Old White Dudes.
In both stories, women who do not conform are shipped off to a location where they are no longer a threat or disruption to the New Order. However, in Atwood’s work, this location is a nuclear clean-up site, while in Bitch Planet, as you might guess, the Non-Compliant are even further removed.
Bitch Planet further departs from Atwood’s work and most other popular dystopian fiction by following protagonists that have already been caught and sentenced by the unjust government, as opposed to the stories where the heroes spend most of their time avoiding capture. The NCs- Kamau Kogo, Penny Rolle, Meiko, and a large cast of others who we might expect to learn more about in later volumes- are already on a prison planet full of violent, leering guards and a virtual dominatrix that attempts to brainwash and torture them.
In the first volume alone, we have three or four prison riots, innumerable flashbacks, and brief glimpses into the plans of the Fathers, top-ranking government officials who have some nefarious scheme involving the NCs and a next-level version of football called Megaton.
Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, the story is action-packed and gripping from beginning to end. The pacing is nearly break-neck interspersed with intense exposition from the Earth-side bureaucrats. The biggest problem is, DeConnick is keeping a lot of her secrets close to the chest. Despite all the action, the plot is portioned out droplets at a time. This does have the advantage of keeping readers guessing, making rereads all the more intriguing as the second or third time can reveal subtle foreshadowing that went unnoticed the first read-through. However, this reader was left a bit unsatisfied when the volume ended- or at least, impatient for the next installment.
DeConnick’s co-creator Valentine De Landro has created a unique style that mixes sixties pulp comic elements, bright and bold colors, and layouts that move the reader through the scene smoothly. De Landro and DeConnick have worked well together in building their dystopian world; little things in the Earth side of the story are sometimes more telling than what we see and hear in the prison- the inclusion of microaggressions the modern woman will find all too familiar, in dialogue and body language, are amplified to reveal a world that is a frightening caricature of our own. It isn’t unimaginable that a manager might smack a waitress on the ass on her way to serve drinks, or that a stranger would call a woman “honey” in a condescending tone- but adding the menacing undertone that objecting to such treatment might ruin your life and put your loved ones at risk pulls the reader in and makes Bitch Planet stand out amongst its peers.
It’s undeniable that Bitch Planet has been something of a sensation amongst female comic fans, and if you missed the first few issues, this is a great place to jump on and find out just how Non-Compliant you are.
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