KIRKUS -- Bitch Planet is a brilliant dystopian comicseries written by Kelly Sue DeConnick with art by Valentine De Landro. Set in aterrifying futuristic world (but with visuals/art that remind me of 70s pulpfiction) where white men (and to an extent, white women) hold the power andcontrol the riches-and all the non-compliant women are deemed criminals and sentoff to another planet, the Auxiliary Compliance Outpost, otherwise known asBitch Planet. What constitutes “compliance” and“criminality” is of course, arbitrary and unfair, rigged againstwomen and most specifically, women of colour and LGBT. The story follows anumber of inmates who have been tasked to create a team to participate in thefirst ever transmission of a brutal sport for the benefit of male viewers. Butthis world being what it is, there is a conspiracy at play here. Who could bebehind it? And who could benefit from it. Thefirst volume of Bitch Planetcame out all the way back in the 2015 (gosh, this feels like such a long timeago now) and I have been waiting in tenterhooks for the second trade to drop.The story picks up where it left off-with a murder and a secret buddingconspiracy-and it proceeds from there. Collecting issues #6-#10 (out of apromised 30 to complete the whole arc), this second volume feels similar to thefirst one in terms of portentous storytelling and themes but very different inpresentation. Whereas the first volume had more backstories concerning theprisoners with several issues dedicated to the prisoners' past and personality,covering the reasons why they were sent to Bitch Planet; as well as a storylinethat felt much more localised because it was so focused on this group of people,this second volume features only one backstory (a very important one) and itwidens the arc to include a broader view of the world, different characters, abigger look at the facilities within Bitch Planet (including a building thatseems to hold exclusively trans women) and to introduce one major new character:President Bitch. This new volume also feelslike it became less of an ensemble female cast and more of a panoramic view witha strong focus on one particular character. It is not a bad thing: in fact, I'dsay that it's starting to feel like I know where the story is going as theauthor's vision for it becomes more and more clear. One can see the seeds ofrevolution. I first described Bitch Planet as“Orange is the New Black in space and without Piper”, with astory that focuses primarily on the marginalised characters and it remains anapt description. The most important thing though is Bitch Planet is an overtlyintersectional, brutally honest, no holds-barred, angry feminist comics.There are also tons of extra materials-lots of meta commentary on our presenttime-that are as important and exciting as the comics itself. I highly recommendit.Rating: 8 -Excellent
