Review: Bitch Planet, Vol 1: Extraordinary Machine

Bitch Planet, Vol 1: Extraordinary Machine by Kelly Sue DeConnick
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I received an e-galley copy of this book from NetGalley.

I've been absolutely dying to read this - the description and the kick-ass covers had me basically drooling. Dystopian feminist satire of exploitative comics set in space? FUCK yes I am all about that. And it MORE than lived up to my expectations.

The premise of the story is simple: when a woman is deemed non-compliant with the patriarchal laws of this society in any way, she is sent to a prison planet, colloquially known as "bitch planet." That sentence, I think, says a lot about the kind of society this book imagines. Important men in politics (whose actual role I can't quite figure out yet) have the title "Father," while "Mothers" seemingly run homes for single women. Non-compliance can be anything from murder to obesity to being a tease. But that's not all there is to the world - so far, I think the authors have done a pretty good job of creating a world that is obsessed with gender roles but also exists in a coherent way beyond the parodic aspects. People interact with each other in a way that feels natural and real, and that contrasts nicely with how people are "supposed" to act according to how they should perform their gender. The men generally have more freedom in their interactions, both in terms of what the reader sees and according to the rules of this world, but they still refrain from showing emotion in the political sphere (though we see it happen in private); compliant women are demure and nurturing in public, though we haven't seen any in private yet; non-compliant women are not afraid to show the full range of their emotions, their anger and frustration and desire; and I'm interested in seeing some non-compliant men who show their taboo emotions, too. It's a great commentary on how rigid gender roles limit not only the range of expression and emotion, but also constrain who is allowed to be a particular kind of person.

The main characters, of course, are non-compliant women who have been imprisoned on Bitch Planet. They get a rare opportunity to maybe earn some respect (or possibly freedom) by competing in a male-only domain: sports. As the main character puts her team together, we get to know a few of the inmates more closely. I appreciate that the authors chose to include a lot of women of color and queer women - the kinds of women who are, in real life, disproportionately incarcerated and deemed "non-compliant" for existing the way they are.

There are only a few things that are less-than-perfect about this book. First, the plot moves rather slowly, partly because of the guest comic every 3rd issue (in this case, a flashback history of a character) and partly because there are several different locations and groups of people moving the plot forward, so the storytelling is diffused. There's a major event in the final issue of this book that had less impact than I would've liked, and it would have packed a much bigger punch if we'd been given a little more story - even one more issue would've been great (especially because the author has indicated that the next issue is going to be a history of one of the characters involved). Other than that, this first volume is getting a story with a lot of moving parts up and running, so I understand the slow pace. My second complaint is that the artwork is a little less than exciting. The covers are fucking awesome, but the pages don't quite live up. It's not bad art at all, just not as great as I wanted it to be. And my third complaint is that the collected volume lacks a lot of the back matter found in the issues, which is a bummer. I read a couple of the issues and really enjoyed the essays and discussions at the end of each.

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