Bitchin'

Bitch Planet #2
Writer: Kelly Sue DeConnick
Art/Covers: Valentine de Landro
Colour: Cris Peter
Letters: Clayton Cowles
January 2015
Image Comics

I completely forgot to bring attention to the tagline of Bitch Planet in my last post. This brings to mind the Always commercial #LikeAGirl I saw months ago about how toxic and sexist language can be when used certain ways (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs).

It may seem simple and insignificant, perhaps even amusing to see the cliched "Are you man enough to blah blah blah?" take a different spin, but it's actually calling into question what we tend to take for granted and naively assume: that the pinnacle of power and what we should all strive to be is a man (a powerful and dominating man at that). To say that someone throws like a girl is insulting not because the insulter is mocking the insultee for her/his/their throwing ability, but because that kind of insult implies that being a girl is a bad thing. This stereotype can be seen in the first round of questioning in the Always video. (To what extent the commercial is staged and scripted, we'll never know, but it's message is still pertinent regardless of whether or not the "actors'" responses are genuine testimonials). The seemingly innocent responses from the actors is at first amusing, as orchestrated by the actors expressions as well as the editing. The commercial takes a turn for the sappy and makes its moral message very clear (ugggghh, the music).

Despite tackling this issue in a commercial for a corporation that creates tons of waste every year (check out the less wasteful form of feminine hygiene: http://divacup.com/) - well wait, a fucking company is trying a sympathy tactic to get consumers to buy their product because they're progressive... that's not creepy at all... - at least it provided a forum for which to discuss this issue. So kudos to Always for that (still a creepy, capitalist way of doing things).

Ahem. So Bitch Planet #2. I hereby declare that I won't be so harsh and negative this time around. I am still not a fan of Valentine de Landro's art, but my complaining and bickering won't do anything to improve it so I'll instead focus on the positives of this issue. The story moves forward and presents a clear plot that we can look forward to seeing develop. We are introduced to a new key player who goes by the name Father Josephson (Jesus allusion?). Whether he is a priest has yet to be seen, but I'd like to wager a guess and say that "Father" is a term that is used in Bitch Planet to designate status for respected and powerful men.

Father Josephson embodies the characteristics of a self-serving, ego-driven leader who spouts jargon about being united as a race despite being divided by blood and geography - in other words, we're divided into the privileged and the unprivileged. "The us... and the them" as Josephson puts it. He also portrays Republican and Conservative attitudes, through his obvious privilege, in his desire to uphold his authority in the presence of employees, and his vehement concern with imposing his beliefs upon others in vulnerable positions (namely the prisoners of Bitch Planet).

Presumably the series' protagonist, Kamau Kogo is given the most panel time out of any of the prisoners this issue. In a conversation with guard Miss Whitney, Kamau is given an ultimatum: form a Megaton team (a mysterious sport that was the main topic of Father Josephson's speech in the opening scene) consisting of other inmates, or decline to do so and face an extended sentence for "killing" inmate Marian Collins (see last issue). Miss Whitney gives an impressive speech about sports culture and building character the ol' patriarchal way. Kamau's situation can be read as a metaphor for how women don't have any choice but to exist in a patriarchal world, suffer the indecencies that exist within it, and play by those rules to succeed in society (which is obviously what team Bitch Planet is critiquing).

During Kamau's recruitment efforts, we're introduced to yet another character who will likely be a main player. Meiko's her name, and despite Kamau's stubbornness and reluctance to agree to Miss Whitney's demands, Meiko convinces Kamau with an enticing offer that immediately convinces her to assemble the team.

In the final scene, Father Josephson's corrupt nature is further confirmed when business and economic interests supersede empathy and understanding. There is a budding partnership forming between Father Josephson and Roberto Solanza (overseer of the A.C.O.; introduced in the first issue) which poses to be dangerous for the inmates of Bitch Planet.

Bitch Planet is turning out to be better than I initially thought, at least story-wise. Now that some direction has been established and stakes raised, Bitch Planet is a series I feel vested in reading. Aside from failing to mention the comic's slogan, I also forgot to bring up how awesome the backmatter is after the story. Each issue features a feminist essay by professional feminists (well educated feminist writers who I imagine majored in Gender/Womens Studies) and further creates dialogue about issues both raised within the story as well as outside of it. I'm not sure whether these feminist essays will be included in the collected editions, so best to snag single issues to read them!