Bitch Planet #3 Analysis Part 4

In Bitch Planet Issue 3, Kelly Sue DeConnick teams with guest artist Robert Wilson IV to present the events that lead to Penny Rolle landing in the eponymous outpost penitentiary. Did she kill someone considering her frequent entries into melee with guards? Did she do something equally dangerous within society? Well, yes, but not at all what a reader might expect. Spoilers ahead! If you’d like to read part 1 of this analysis, click here. You can find part 2 here. And part 3 here.

Pages 20-21

The two infuriating conversations continue. The woman who ordered the absurd muffin to split three ways is now calorie counting with her two companions. 15 calories each. One brags that she “evac’d 12 ounces two days in a row” using a toilet scale. The blond remarks that she envys her bowls. Gross. The other, a brunette, says she’d trade them for the blond’s hair. This is what compliant women do–deflect praise with another compliment, saying my good isn’t as good as your good. Also gross.  Intercut is the racist man at the other table finishing his analogy from the previous page, spelling out oh so clearly that having sex with a “skin” is akin to the same with a baboon. (Wow. What a total douchebag.)

The dough cannot absorb Penny’s rage. She busts out from behind the counter, cracks the screen playing The Feed, and yells at both tables to get out. The racist calls her a crazy bitch. The guy who had complained about the late open tells her he’s calling the cops on her–“Your life is over!” “Good!” Penny responds and cracks the racist’s jaw with her rolling pin. “I didn’t much like this life anyway.”

This is, of course, the act that is going to get her thrown into Bitch Planet. But I’m not sure Bitch Planet is any worse than what her life was like before. In some ways, the outpost is more straightforward about its expectations. It’s more real, despite the giant pink holograms.

Pages 22-23

The three women are in panic. Penny repeats to them to get out. She adds, “And take the muffins!”

But that’s not the important part of this page, just a funny closing to the previous bit of action. The Feed is still playing, though the screen is now cracked in the shape of a spider’s web. They’ve come back to the story of the terrorist arrest. The image of a large, muscular white man with blond, curly hair, including a ringlet that hangs in his face just like Penny’s is shown while snippets of info get presented: “44-year old,” “gender terrorist,” miscegenation,” and “the size of an oak.” This has to be Penny’s father. She looks at the screen in shock and dismay. Then she touches that non-compliant lock of hair. Now the government has everyone in her family. She’s alone.

Also, I want to know more about how I can become a gender terrorist.

Back in the present, the guards are finishing hooking up the ideal-self-image machine. The images of the judges has been replaced by images from her past. The woman from The Feed, one of the split muffin women, a woman who must be Penny’s mother, Penny’s father, the guy who threatened turned her in to the cops. It is unclear if she is visually zoning out the judges or the machine has read these memories and is projecting them.

Penny begins to think, “I wish you could see me…”

The judges’ voices now come in as a broadcast, at a distance. They tell her it’s time, that “visualization is key to achieving our objectives,” that they are trying to help her. She exclaims, “No!” and emphasizes how much this is a violation of her mind by the government.

Penny then finishes the thought, “…the way I see myself.” I’m unclear whether this is her own thought or an echo of a mentor, like her mother.

Page 24

The final page reveals that her “Idealized Actualization” is the exact woman she already is, except laughing heartily and without the machine hooked to her.

The judges are surprised. One asks if this is a mistake. Another says to send her to the outpost, that this is a waste of time.

Penny thinks back to her grandmother’s words: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” She adds, “I ain’t broke…And you bastards ain’t never gonna break me.” The issue ends with the great Penny smile we know and love.

Now, I wasn’t surprised by the reveal. But that didn’t matter much, because when it comes to women and self-image, having an idealized self-image that matches what we really are is akin to a superpower. It is truly difficult to accept our bodies as they are without any caveats or wishes that some small part wasn’t different. The images of media we are surrounded by continually point us to an image that a minuscule number of women can actually meet. So here we have a mixed race woman who doesn’t meet any of the beauty standards of her society. She’s been robbed of her family, but she is confident in who she is. She has both the body and the mind of an oak, inherited from that family she remains loyal to.

Seriously, she is my hero. And her powers of self-acceptance are rival to the combination of flight, invulnerability, and strength Wonder Woman has.

Bitch Planet #3 Analysis Part 3

In Bitch Planet Issue 3, Kelly Sue DeConnick teams with guest artist Robert Wilson IV to present the events that lead to Penny Rolle landing in the eponymous outpost penitentiary. Did she kill someone considering her frequent entries into melee with guards? Did she do something equally dangerous within society? Well, yes, but not at all what a reader might expect. Spoilers ahead! If you’d like to read part 1 of this analysis, click here. You can find part 2 here.

Pages 14-15

Back in the judgement room of the present, Penny is standing with her hands up while black, armored guards apply sensors to her face and forehead. The judges explain that this is an experiment and then go on to spout some scientific mumbo-jumbo like you’d find in your basic sci-fi setting. The upshot here is that these sensors will read electrical impulses through her body and interpret via algorithms what Penny sees in her mind’s eye. One of the judges is quite excited by the scientific advancement and possibilities of this technology. He fails to understand that this is a violation of Penny’s body and privacy. She is clearly not so excited.

“What pictures are you trying to get out of my head?” One judge says, “Nothing private, of course.” Another puts forth, “We want to see how you see your ideal self.” I end up wondering how this isn’t the most private of all information we store in our brains. But this is the disconnect of the Fathers to individuals. They believe the body is public and theirs to make compliant. An individual’s sense of self is of less value than the Father’s sense of that person’s self. Siebertling related as much on the previous page when she told Penny, “You need to learn to see yourself through the Fathers’ eyes.” The judges intend to use this information to compare where she is to where she wants to be and make a treatment plan from it.

“How long since you imagined what your life could be like if you were more compliant, Penelope?” one judge asks. “How long since you prioritized how others see you?” The guards have brought out something shrouded in cloth and placed it in front of Penny. She responds to the judge’s questions with a simple, “I dunno…” This takes us into the next flashback.

Pages 16-17

The bridge into the flashback finishes Penny’s answer, “…s’been a while.” Penny is working in a bakery and having a minor fight with a curl that doesn’t want to stay in her headkerchief. It’s that hair metaphor again. The bandanna keeps most of her hair out of the way, but part of it just doesn’t want to comply.

She wipes off the sneeze-guard in front of the muffins to reveal an overweight white man with hands and face pressed up against the glass. “We need the Feed,” he says, surprising Penny to say the least.

It’s initially unclear whether the Feed he refers to is food-related. He admonishes her for opening late, pointing out it’s the second morning in a row and if her muffins weren’t so good he’d talk to her “old man about this.” Although previously Penny had been apologizing, now she laughs a little and states she’s “state-sponsored.” This makes me think of old school patriarchies where women couldn’t go anywhere without consent and protection of a father, brother, or husband. Could not she just open a bakery on her own? Apparently not, since the expectations is a man owns the business, and when that isn’t met, we find the government sponsors it. The man takes a moment to find the words but then has the last word by saying, “All the more reason to be on the ball, all right? Feeds up by 7 a.m.”

We finally see what the Feed is referring to with a shot of a large screen television. A blonde woman, dressed in pink like some cross of the Bitch Planet holograms and Mother Siebertling, announces, “…more on that breaking story after these messages on The Feed!” It’s unclear whether this man is just a big The Feed fan or there is some requirement by the Fathers for everyone in society to watch The Feed. I suspect, like with many aspects of this society, there is an encouraged compulsion by the government without them ever putting forth in so many words that it is law. But not watching The Feed might be an indicator of non-compliance, and thus watching would be one way for citizens to keep themselves safe from too much Fatherly attention.

In the background is Penny’s infamous tattoo–Born Big–painted on the wall. Clearly this is the name of her shop, a personal stamp on a state-sponsored bakery.

Page 18-19

The woman behind the man wanting his 7 a.m. Feed makes a snide remark. “God forbid folks use their private screens and leave the rest of us in peace.” The man points his finger in the air: “Private screens don’t build community.” The woman rolls her eyes at this, and the man calls her on it. “Did you just roll your eyes at me?” “…No,” the woman responds, but as he walks away, fear is clear in her stance and facial expression. This man could turn her in by filing a complaint about her non-compliance. Penny attempts to prevent this by offering the man a free muffin, “grandma’s recipe–with a thanks for The Feed reminder.”

It’s tough imagining Penny lasting many days in a row eating crow at the hands of douchebags. The rest of these two pages make that crystal clear with two complementary motifs.

1. The Feed is running a story on a parasitic worm diet. The guest calls getting a gastrointestinal parasite a “dream come true.” Meanwhile, a overly smiley young woman asks for a “sugar-free, salt-free, gluten-free muffin and three plates.” Both of these story elements highlight the lengths women will go to for thinness. Both are surface level absurd, but half of all teenage girls participate in unhealthy eating habits in the name of weight loss. 25% of college women binge and purge to control weight. And parasites aren’t nearly as “unsightly” as vomiting.
2. The man who complained about the late opening is now sitting with another white guy. He opens conversation by judging Penny’s appearance, noting it’s no surprise she’s state-sponsored. “Who wants to come home to that?” His table mate begins spouting racist stereotypes about sexual preferences. He calls black people “skins” and gives some of the oldest stereotypes–they like them big, they’re animalistic, wild.

Penny’s getting angrier and angrier, taking out her violent tendencies on the dough she’s kneeding. But in the midst of this chaotic cutting from one flawed aspect of human perception to another, The Feed has dropped in a tidbit that will become important: “We’ll update a developing story on a terrorist arrest 16 years in the making.”

To be continued in part 4.

Bitch Planet #3 Analysis Part 2

In Bitch Planet Issue 3, Kelly Sue DeConnick teams with guest artist Robert Wilson IV to present the events that lead to Penny Rolle landing in the eponymous outpost penitentiary. Did she kill someone considering her frequent entries into melee with guards? Did she do something equally dangerous within society? Well, yes, but not at all what a reader might expect. Spoilers ahead! If you’d like to read part 1 of this analysis, click here.

Pages 8-9

Penny is clearly getting more angry as one of the judges gives us the culmination of the previous pages’ story: “You were adopted by the state when you were…nine–” “Eight,” she corrects. Another judge sarcastically praises God that she speaks. Penny continues to reshape their version of events: “I was eight years old when they took me.” Of course, this is our understanding of the event as well, since we clearly saw that it wasn’t necessity that put her in state care. She had a family who lovingly took care of her, but the Fathers ripped her away from her home.

Although not explicitly related, this makes me think of Native American children who were pulled from their homes and sent to BIA boarding schools. In one tribe, the Utes of Colorado and Utah, the net effect of being confined to a reservation and the loss of their children was a 50% suicide rate in adults. Our US Government did that. This is part of why Bitch Planet rings so true. History and current portrayals and treatment of women show it to be entirely plausible.

One of the judges corrects her. “Took you in. Penelope, everything your Fathers have done has been for your protection. You were a child. The woman who birthed you–” Penny interrupts, full of anger, “My mother. You’re talking about my mother!” The inset of the judge, matched to Penny’s enraged eye line, covers his mouth and seems to reevaluate Penny’s condition. Although the Fathers see Penny’s mother as “a very sad case…delusional, and dangerous, refus[ing] to see the truth before her,” Penny, as we already know, saw her mother as strong. There is a bond and love there that changing the semantics of won’t change. The judge reveals his new evaluation: “And quite frankly, we are concerned that you are too far gone down that same path.”

Seeing that the previous judge is failing to reach Penny, another shifts the groups’ line of questioning. “Are you happy, Penelope?” Another continues, “All we want is to help you be happy. Why do you insist on making your own life so difficult? Why must you be so angry?” Happiness, for these men, is a compliant smile. Penny was happy, living with her grandma. Perhaps she was happy with her mother too. But those things have been taken from her. Others’ ideas of what is appropriate for women in society have been repeatedly forced upon her, and when she attempts to just be herself, to be happy, society steps in to correct her in the myriad ways they do–shaming, contempt, pity, and charges of non-compliance. Penny’s eyes are featured again, this time with increasing anger at the hypocrisy in front of her. The eyes take us into another flashback. The bridge between pages is people yelling, “Penelope!” at her.

Pages 10-11

Again we have the large half-tone dots to indicate the shift in time. Penelope, now looking more like her grandmother from the previous flashback with shoulder-length curls and an impressive height, is standing over a boy she has just bloodied the nose and blackened the eye of. A blonde teacher or administrator, named Mother Siebertling, calls her into her office. This is apparently high school. Though the mostly white crowd of other students were initially disturbed by Penny’s show of violence, as Siebertling takes Penny away, they watch with smirks on their faces.

This scene resonates strongly with Bitch Planet. Siebertling is similar, though corporeal, to the pink hologram of the Catholic nun. Like most high schools, this one is a microcosm of society, and this is our introduction to how society at large might view and respond to Penny. We’ll see more of this in upcoming pages.

In Siebertling’s office, there’s an interesting cross-role presented in Siebertling. She is the mistress here, thus making her similar to the administrative holograms at the prison outpost, but the various pictures featured behind her desk remind me of the pictures shown to Kamau of Marian’s life while they were attempting to break Kamau into confessing (absent, of course, are the sex pictures). This is a reminder that while Siebertling is the administrator here, she is also under the same oppressive rules of society we see on all the other women. She is middle-management. Her non-compliance would be met harshly. Luckily, she seems to fit the perfect standard of beauty and femininity–blonde, blue-eyed, thin, white, clothing that shows her figure and skin.

Siebertling opens the conversation with a question parallel to the ones the judges were asking: “Why can you not control these violent impulses of yours?” “He was talking about my grandma.” “Ahhhh. Mrs. Chester Alexander rears her fat ugly head once again.” Reading this condescending, judgmental, and patriarchal (Grandma is identified in reference to her relationship to her husband, which gives her two masculine names) dismissal of Penny’s grandmother, I can’t help but ironically note the impressive control over violent tendencies Penny is showing in the face of Siebertling. Rather than get angry outwardly, Penny merely corrects Siebertling by saying, “…Bertha…” She goes on to explain that Grandma was “Alberta” but liked to be called “Bertha.” Siebertling condescendingly and unsympathetically states that once again “Mrs. Chester Alexander doesn’t get what she wants.”

I find it interesting that “Bertha” is a name frequently connected to fat women. And certainly, Penny’s grandma fits that description. But by wanting to be called this, Bertha is owning that identity and refusing to feel shame about it. It seems similar to taking a racial slur or demeaning label and re-contextualizing it to take ownership of it. You know, like the comic does with the word “bitch.” (wink)

Page 12-13

Siebertling goes on to tell Penny that blind loyalty is the act of a fool. “You’re not a fool…are you?” Then we learn that this is because the boy Penny punched was teasing her about the arrest of Bertha, news that she might not have known previously. Siebertling says she had wanted to keep the news of the arrest from Penny. She condescendingly states, “I’m sorry that I failed you.” It sorta needs a “#sorrynotsorry” tagged on it.

In the background is a set of Greek letters indicating Siebertling’s membership in a sorority. Sororities are society’s acceptable representations of sisterhood, playing into traditional views of beauty, femininity, and gender roles. They’re not revolutionary sisterhoods. In fact, much of the violence perpetrated by men on women on college campuses happens within the Greek organizations. More amusingly, her sorority seems to be ZOD. As in “kneel before.” 

Then the scene oddly turns to Penny’s hair. If it weren’t for the fact that Siebertling puts on a pair of surgical gloves, this might seem like a nurturing turn, like Siebertling was a mother combing her child’s hair. “What are we going to do with this hair of yours, hm?” she asks Penny rhetorically with a brush in her hand. Bertha’s words echo in Penny’s head: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Penny asks Siebertling what’s wrong with it. Siebertling says “nothing” but then goes on to describe all the things wrong with it. In doing so, she sets up a clear metaphor between the hair and Penny. “It refuses to behave.” Some of the metaphorically elements are a little on the nose, but they tell us more about Penny. “What’s it supposed to do?” Penny asks. “Either curl up or lay down, perhaps?” Siebertling answers, suggesting Penny ought to conform to society’s expectations–submit. Then Siebertling goes on to give us a hint to a reveal to come: “It’s not black or white, good or bad. Folks don’t know what to make of it because they don’t know what it is.” Substitute “you” for “it,” and we’re just talking about Penny. We find out later her father was white. Because she doesn’t conform to society’s standards, Penny is difficult to label or understand. In short, Penny is marginalized on a couple of levels.

Penny knows Siebertling is talking about her, not her hair. “Why folks gotta say what I am, Mother? Ain’t it enough to know who I am?” True freedom of identity would focus on who she is. But this is a society of judgement, evaluation, and punishment. As far as this society is concerned, only one label really applies to Penny–non-compliant. Siebertling drops the hair metaphor: “No, Penny. It doesn’t work like that. You need to learn to see yourself through the Father’s eyes. And I will teach you, Penny. I will teach you, if it kills us both.” 

Obviously, this is a threatening statement, and the question Siebertling next asks–“You know what comes next, don’t you?”–coupled with the shadow stance over Penny underline the threat. This is the punishment for Penny’s violent outburst. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to read the inset image to get a concrete idea of what that threat is. Is the tool Siebertling picks up a razor to shave her hair? The “tzt” sound effect seems to say so. Or is it a hair straightener to bring her hair in line? Thus the punishment is more moral than physical? I’d love to have a clearer picture of what happens next.

Siebertling’s message is clear, and it’s one that has repeated throughout this issue. Penny’s sense of self needs to submit to the Fathers’ view of her.

Bitch Planet #3 Analysis Part 1

In Bitch Planet Issue 3, Kelly Sue DeConnick teams with guest artist Robert Wilson IV to present the events that lead to Penny Rolle landing in the eponymous outpost penitentiary. Did she kill someone considering her frequent entries into melee with guards? Did she do something equally dangerous within society? Well, yes, but not at all what a reader might expect. Spoilers ahead!

Page 1

Penny stands solid and tall, fists clenched, stance wide, ready to defend herself. She dwarfs the two guards flanking her behind barred panels which turn out to be screens of the same sort we saw in Issue 2’s scene of Kamau being tortured. Robert Wilson IV, our guest artist, has drawn lines leading out from Penny, emphasizing her strength of presence and will. As she stands here, she thinks, “I can’t see you, but I feel you judging me.” An inset image of a close up on her eye gives her gaze importance before we move to the next few pages where she will be looked at, judged by at least 40 eyes.

Pages 2-3

All 40 eyes belong to men. Most are white, but there appear to be at least two black men. These are not her peers, though this is clearly a trial. What is Penny on trial for? “Insubordination, assault, assault, assault, repeated citations for aesthetic offenses, capillary disfigurement, wanton obesity.” The judge reading these charges finishes by commenting, “Good God, woman.” Although I personally think it ought to be “Good God-woman.”

The men on the screens around him have varying looks of shock, disbelief, and disgust on their faces. One actually shields his eyes from her image. Attention is given to him by placing him just above the inset of Penny’s eye. I suspect he’s blocking her because she offends him, but it is a similar pose to when one wants to block a light that’s too bright. And certainly Penny is that, a light that shines far too brightly for their designation of womanhood, a group of people that should be pretty only by their standards, who should confine themselves to an acceptable size and shape. Penny is not that. She is the size of the sun and just as shiny.

I’m at a loss for what capillary disfigurement might be, whether she disfigured herself (seems unlike her character) or if she disfigured someone else’s. In any case, the judge continues his shaming of Penny by asking, “What have you done to yourself?” His tone is condescending, and Penny’s eye, a repeat of the close up from the previous page, narrows in response.

Another judge asks, “Penelope…Do you know why you’re here?” At this question, Penny closes her eyes, head tipping downward, a grimace on her face. She does not answer, but clearly the question has pushed her from angry defiance into a different emotional territory. A third judge tells her, “You’re being given a chance, Penelope. A ‘thank you’ would be nice.” The judge who read the offenses says, “Penelope, your Fathers love you. It pains us to see you like this.” Another judge adds, “All we want to do is help you. Penny’s eyes remain closed at these words though her grimace is gone. Their condescension and hypocrisy have pushed back whatever pain was coming toward the surface. She thinks merely, “Help.” A word whose connotations of support and care don’t apply in this situation, not from these men. The ambiguity of it standing alone builds suspense as we move into flashback territory on the next pages. Does Penny want help? Surely not from these men, but perhaps from somewhere else?

Page 4-5

The word “…help” gets repeated as transition into a flashback of Penny as a child. She’s looks around 9 or 10 (though we will later find out she’s only 8), a large child but pre-pubescent. The style of art has changed to visually indicate the flashback. Rather than the solid-looking colors of the present, the flashback has a large half-tone dot pattern. Penny is baking with her grandma. Penny is stirring batter. Her grandmother asks, “Your arm tired? You need Grandma’s help?” Even at this age, Penny is independent. “I can do it,” she states. Her grandmother then plants a line that will come back to have powerful resonance later in the issue: “Well, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” She continues, “But it’s okay if you want some help.” Penny softens, “Maybe you could do the rest of this one.” Grandma knowingly “mm-hm”s. Penny doesn’t want to be soft though: “I’m pretty strong though.” Grandma offers encouragement: “You keep working as hard as you do and you’ll be as big and strong as an oak. Like your daddy.” And here we get a sense of something tender to the touch about the subject of parents when Penny responds, looking down, “My mom is strong.” Grandma is momentarily without words. Then she merely confirms the statement. What’s the story behind this moment? Given the society and future Penny, perhaps Mom has been declared non-compliant too based on aspects of her strength. 

But the moment is gone. Grandma has noticed Penny is accidentally dipping her curls in the batter. It creates a moment of both tension and humor. The humor is the slapstick of the batter flying around the kitchen while Grandma tries to get Penny to hold still to keep from spraying the batter every which way. But there’s a tension in the moment as well. A well-meaning response to an accidental situation creating an even worse set of problems. I end up wondering what this moment might be analogous to. Something with Penny’s mother or father?

Pages 6-7

The humor is increased on the next page as Penny begins to giggle and Grandma starts a food fight in return. What we learn from this scene: Grandma is supportive, helpful, forgiving, and fun. This makes the next page all the more painful when Grandma goes outside to see what the dog is barking at, sees four armed men charging for the door. They are a S.W.A.T.-like team. Their vehicles are armored with police lights on top. These are the police and they are coming after a baking grandmother and her granddaughter. Grandma, eyes wide, body frozen in a dog-petting crouch, says simply, “Penny…RUN.”

Grandma understands the threat these men pose. What happens to her is left a mystery. Does she get taken into police custody and jailed? Is she killed as she attempts to protect and allow Penny to escape? I can imagine both of these scenarios playing out.

The sudden shift of mood over these pages is heart-breaking–loving fun to destructive menace. Penny had a stable, loving home-life, but because her grandmother was obese–we don’t get any further indication of how she might be non-compliant or a threat to society–Penny is taken by the government.

But most crucial to these pages is the contrast between the “help” and “love” offered by the Council–one that comes with condescension and expectations of conformation and compliance–and the actual help and love offered by Penny’s grandmother. Penny was taken, but what was taken from her by the Fathers can never be recovered. Penny is technically the criminal here, but the crime against Penny is clear in these pages and hits as hard (or more so) than the crime against Marian by her husband and Solanza in the first issue. Mmm, that’s some good irony.