
Bitch Planet, written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, is about an African-American woman named Penelope Leona Rolle. The comic is based in a futuristic setting. Penelope has been judged and criticized her entire life, partially because of mistakes and crimes her mother committed. People assumed that just because her mother went down one path that Penelope will do the same, and in some ways she does. Like Penelope, one who reads this comic may learn to love who they are. 

In the first three pages of DeConnick’s Bitch Planet, Penelope Rolle is in some sort of prison standing before the “Fathers” as they call themselves. On page 176 DeConnick uses the full body shot to show the reader who Penelope Rolle is so that one may gain an understanding for what she looks like and what her life has become. The fathers are the men that supposedly run the city or state. As the first man is reading off the description of her case, one can already tell that Penelope is aggravated by being forced to be there and the fact that all of the fathers are judging her. Even though they say they are “trying” to help her because they “love” her, she does not appreciate that. They see her and cannot even believe that she is clinically obese. And they express this disbelief and judgment which angers her even more. DeConnick uses the close up shot when showing Penelope’s face of anger while being judged and ridiculed by the group of men. DeConnick uses the same shot showing the man that is reading off her case scenario and when he is so surprised when he actually lays eyes on her. When DeConnick uses the close up shot on Penelope in the first panel on page 177, only half of Penelope’s face is shown. This allows the reader to see just how angry and upset she is with the fathers and her being there. In the last panel on this page, the over-the-shoulder shot is used. Deconnick pictures the back of Penelope’s head and shoulders while showing the fathers on their computer or television screens. This shot shows just how much they outnumber Penelope and how she may feel with that many people looking down on her and judging her all at once. On page 178 DeConnick uses the close up shot for almost every panel. This is because she is depicting and dialoguing the conversation between Penelope and the fathers. They tell her they are just there to help her because they love and care about her. However, she knows this is truly not the case. They simply want to get credit for everything good in her life that has happened. They do not actually care about her condition or her wellbeing or state of mind. They just want to rule her life and mandate everything she does and carefully critique her. Penelope feels that the fathers look at her in disdain, and the reader may be able to tell that their words hurt and sting her. 

In the last two pages of Bitch Planet, DeConnick shows the reader that Penelope is being tested, seemingly being used as a lab rat. The prison guards strap her down to a table that is upright, attach cords to her face and head, and plug the table in to a mirror-like screen. The fathers then proceed to tell her that the machine will show them a picture of Penelope’s ideal version of herself, or something she would like to be one day. They expect Penelope to want to be a normal, happy person– perhaps with children of her own. However, the fathers are in for a big surprise. They are disgruntled and confused by exactly who Penelope wants to be. The fathers judge her by how she looks and by her actions. They do not seem to realize that a human has feelings and a temperament. They only seem to care about the outside, rather than what Penelope feels and thinks on the inside. 

On the last page of Bitch Planet Deconnick uses a few different shots to picture Penelope Rolle as she is being critiqued and judged by the group of fathers evaluating her. In the first panel on page 199, when the guards hook Penelope up to the table and project her “ideal visualization” of herself on the screen, DeConnick uses the over-the-shoulder shot to show Penelope and her projection. On the screen with the picture of herself, she pictures herself laughing because her “ideal visualization” of herself is exactly who she already is. She even pictures herself in her prison clothes. In this panel DeConnick uses shadows. In the shadows are the fathers on the screens and Penelope herself. The only thing in color in this panel is the screen of the projection of what Penelope pictures as her ideal self. This is important because her ideal self is overshadowing everyone else, including her actual self. She realizes that the fathers opinions and words do not matter. They cannot rule her life and turn her into what they want her to be. She is who she wants to be and she lets them know that. She tells them “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” This is a saying her grandmother used when she was a child and it seems to have stuck with her throughout her entire life. She does not want to be changed and has the will-power to stand against the fathers and everything that they demand of her, whether it be change or compliance according to their standards.  

In the second panel on this page, DeConnick uses the close up shot again. This panel is the scene where Penelope uses her grandmother’s quote “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Penelope’s face in this panel shows how determined she is not to become whatever the fathers tell her to be. This panel intensifies the situation even more than it already was. 

Kelly Sue DeConnick shows that Penelope Rolle is the victim in this comic. She uses different angles and shadows to bring out what is going on in a scene and just what Penelope is thinking. Although she may have done everything the fathers accuse her of, it was all out of reaction because of how people provoked her and upset her. In the end, Penelope seems to be content with who she has become over the years and does not seem to regret becoming who she is. This is a trait many should acquire– that one should be proud of the person he or she is and only do something if one will not regret it later on. 
