Celebrate International Women’s Day with Bitch Planet (Comic Review)
Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick (Pretty Deadly, Captain Marvel), illustrated by Valentine De Landro (X-Factor), and put out by Image Comics, Bitch Planet shines on every level. Now heading into its 8th issue, due out April 6th, it has already cemented itself as a must read. The book is centered around a futuristic interstellar women’s penitentiary. To say the inmates have it rough is to put it very lightly. They are, however, allowed to play a brutal game called Megaton which has similar objectives to football or rugby, but with much more violence allowed. This outlet is utilized to demonstrate their indomitable perseverance and might.
It should be stated clearly, though, that this isn’t a sports comic book which happens to include women. This is a book about an ensemble cast of women kicking all kinds of ass. When their chips are down, when they have all but nothing left, they still manage to band together to demonstrate that they are not to be trifled with. They are not play things. They will not submit, even at risk of severe (and when I say severe, I mean the kind of severity there is no coming back from) punishment.
Bitch Planet fires on all cylinders. It has villains you come to truly despise, but not in a typical nemesis sort of cliché. These are intelligent, rounded, and down to the bone, pure evil kinds of villains. The kind of people that you can actually believe are so vile, yet so canny, that you simply have hate them. In the face of such genuinely terrible people, these inmates are driven to find some way, any way to strike back.
Mind you, everything is taken away from the heroes of this book. The odds are obviously and blatantly stacked against them. They must face pervert guards, harsh prison life, a system built for them to fail, and all manner of other obstacles, but they persevere all the more in the face of almost overwhelming adversity.
I also have to take a moment to address the covers, because holy smokes, wow. The original covers and design, by Rian Hughes (Dan Dare), are pulpy, retro masterpieces. They’re poster worthy. I dare say the covers of Bitch Planet are some of the best coming out currently.
I can say with the relative certainty of a comic-aholic that there is nothing like this on the shelves today. Even the title of this book took moxie to release. After all, “Bitch Planet” might not be the most marketable headline, but it perfectly fits the unforgiving nature of the content.
While this book is a thrill of a read for men and women alike, the book emanates feminine pride and power with every page. It has gained such a dedicated following that many women have been tattooed with the logo of the inmates, NC, which stands for Non-Compliant. The images of many of these tattoos can be found in the letter columns of the single issues, and while I buy the book for the story itself, I always look forward to seeing new photos at the end.
The first trade paperback is out now, and a great way to dive in if you need to catch up. Considering every element of Bitch Planet, I give this book an easy 5 out of 5 Megatons.
