Don’t your dare be non-compliant.
Creative Staff:
Story: Kelly Sue DeConnick
Art: Valentine De Landro
What They Say:
2014 Best Writer Eisner Award nominee KELLY SUE DeCONNICK (PRETTY DEADLY, Captain Marvel) and VALENTINE DE LANDRO (X-Factor) team up for the very third time to bring you the premiere issue of BITCH PLANET, their highly-anticipated womenin- prison sci-fi exploitation riff. Think Margaret Atwood meets Inglourious Basterds.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Image Comics has been on a roll for awhile with some very strong series starting up from a variety of creators and there are a lot that I’m enjoying, as selective as I’m trying to be. But when you get a title that’s named Bitch Planet, you can’t help but to plunk down a few bucks just to see what it’s going to do and if it can live up to the title. I’ve read a number of Kelly Sue DeConnick’s works in the last few years and it’s been hit or miss for me, but I’ve enjoyed what she’s doing for the most part and will always give something new a try. With this series, she’s working with Valentine de Landro and the two are very well paired here to create what is a very cinematic experience that also feels very old school in style with a quirky retro modern way.
This opening issue is one that’s all about the setup when you get down to it and you do realize that it’s probably best to not get too attached to anyone quick based on how it all goes down. In a science fiction future of some sort, mankind has changed a good bit as we used to look at the planet as Mother Earth but now view it as Father Earth and space as the real mother that will take care of us. Earth itself feels like it’s really found a kind of forced harmony and peace through compliance that people accept as there are huge penalties for those that are non-compliant. You get the sense that Earth is peaceful, but there’s a kind of caution and deep seated fear in a lot of people about how their actions are perceived. We see this throughout the issue in a parallel story that focuses on a husband and wife, where the husband details events on Earth from his point of view while his wife is off on Bitch Planet.
Which, obviously, they’re not supposed to call it. It’s really called the Auxiliary Compliance Outpost and is a place where it’s essentially a really harsh prison to try and correct people. Or at least that’s the sense you get from how the prisoners are brutally treated along the way because of how non-compliant they are with authority. The focus on the women’s side here gives it, and I hate to say, a kind of Orange is the New Black feeling set in space, but it works well as we see several women adapting – or not adapting) to the harsh regime based on the fact that they tend to not be compliant in general. It spreads its time across a trio of women for the most part, but it turns heavily on the wife from the other story, showing how she’s convinced she’s not supposed to be there and that it’s all a mistake. We see that truth revealed over time with the twist, but the book gives us a simple but solid understanding of how things work in the ACO.
In Summary:
The series looks like it certainly has its own internal logic down and it’ll be interesting to see that unfold more as we get a handle on both the prisoners and the wardens, real and virtual alike, with how they deal with NC’s over the long haul. We get a couple of interesting women from the start that have a lot of material to mine with who they are and how they’ll handle this place. DeConnick introduces us to a number of characters here and getting a handle on them definitely works well because of how their experiences unfold, though you’re still sifting through the cast as a whole to figure out who the focus will turn on, even as an ensemble. There’s a lot of good stuff that can be worked with here since science fiction allows you to hold the mirror up to society and provide sharp commentary with a slight bit of distance. DeConnick and Valentine aren’t pulling any punches here and that’s good. There’s a good rawness about the book that has me really interested in seeing where they intend to go, what they want to say and how these characters retain who they are along the way. The second issue can’t come soon enough.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Image Comics
Release Date: December 9th, 2014
MSRP: $2.99
