By reading Kelly Sue DeConnick’s Bitch Planet, one can see how the white dominated society in the comic degrades the African American female through its visual elements and comics. The images in Bitch Planet portray the black female in a false way, and through the eyes of the controlling white dominated society in the comic, making her appear to be a shameful and unintelligent human being lacking beauty and confidence. In addition, the visual effects of the comic book show the black female, in this case the main character Penelope, as undesirable in the eyes of the white people through the way she interacts with them and negatively stands out in society by way of her expressions, actions and angry attitude/ugly body image.

Bitch Planet by Kelly Sue DeConnick shows the black woman as undesirable through the eyes of the white men in the comic through Penelope’s interaction with them and struggle to fit into the white dominated society. From the beginning, the comics reveal Penelope as a troublesome person starting during her childhood. They convey this point by zooming in on her face to make her appear sneaky and deceptive in the comic (180). By zeroing in on her misbehavior and the mess she makes with the muffin mix, the comics show Penelope as a disobedient person and a liability from her early years (180-82). They skip the times when she acts nice and respectably, and attempt to cloud the reader’s mind with the assumption that Penelope has always been a bad person, which is how she is viewed by the white men. The “fathers” who control Penelope at the mental institution treat her with disrespect and disregard for her humanity. The comic shows their disgusted and cynical facial expressions towards her. The way the “fathers” are portrayed in the comic further confirms how they look down upon the black woman as white alpha males. The controllers are shown looking intelligent and dressed in nice clothes, which makes them appear to be the educated ones while Penelope is shown as mentally unstable and physically unattractive. The controllers’ expressions are both disgusted and horrified at the sight of Penelope and her ghastly figure, which the comic illustrates visually by zooming in on her half-shaved head and unpleasant face. Together with her wrinkled and ghastly face, Penelope’s half-shaved gives her the look of a man almost and the comics further illustrate this point by focusing on her face and head (183). The fact that the comics portray Penelope as man, as she is seen by the white men, make her out to be more of a violent sort of monster. Since she is seen as a male instead of a female by the white men, as the comics portray her, this tries to make the verbal and physical torture that she endures throughout the comic at the hands of the fathers in the white controlled society a little less harsh, in that if she was a pretty woman the reader might be more sympathetic to her pain and suffering than if she was an angry woman who looks like a man. Even in the cafe scene, the men and women in the café are shown as put together and attractive for the most part, while Penelope is visually made to look like an old maid with her homely apron and cooking outfit. In the eyes of the white culture and as portrayed through the comic, the three women look beautiful and intelligent, while Penelope appears unattractive thanks to her job in the kitchen and drab clothes. The comics reveal a white dominated society full people who see themselves as above Penelope and try to objectify others, specifically her. An example of this would be when the racist white man in the café talks about her and claims that her big ass and lips are part of her race, going as far as to liken her to a baboon (194-95). This part of the comic reveals the ugly side of how Penelope is seen through the eyes of the whites. It seems to further illustrate how the white people in the society see her as appearing unattractive and repulsive. These scenes from the comic show how Penelope is ostracized visually through the others’ eyes and struggles to fit in with the other characters. 

Penelope is portrayed visually as an ugly and obese black woman who gets dirty looks from others and is frowned upon by society. In the comic that shows Penelope standing over the bleeding boy she just punched, she looks like a monster with clenched fists and a violent expression. The comic visually portrays her as a menacing character and outcast among others with her mean look and rag tag clothes. During the scene with the pretty white woman, Penelope is visually portrayed as an outcast and undesirable. Penelope is shown throughout the scene with a confused look as well as a frown, while the pictures show the white lady with a confident look and a smile. Also, in the background the room looks clean and colorful, while Penelope visually sticks out and is portrayed with disheveled hair and an ugly expression. The white woman treats Penelope like a kid, because of the way she is shown chastising her and doing her hair. Basically, she appears visually to be in control of the situation while Penelope is portrayed as helpless and feeble. The orange prison suit that Penelope has to wear furthermore demotes her image. The scene where she is shown with her hands in the air wearing the prison suit makes her appear as a criminal, when in reality she is not. Lastly, the café scene further portrays Penelope as a beast and visually frightening person. Penelope’s actions are shown again to be violent and out of control via the sound words such as “WOOMP” and “KRSHH.” She knocks a man out with a pie roller, and it is shown in her hand covered in blood and as a weapon of brutality. In several scenes throughout Bitch Planet, Penelope appears to have a dark shadow that casts over her body. This shadow gives Penelope a negative and gloomy appearance, while casting some mystery and uneasiness over her character. The shadow also creates a contrast, as Penelope appears in a dark light while others around her appear in a more favorable and bright light. Penelope is usually portrayed in the comics up close with either an angry or frowning face and from the white person’s perspective as a villain due to the fact that she is black and visually unattractive. Her violent actions together with an unappealing image as portrayed in Bitch Planet, cast a shadow over Penelope’s role as a black female in organized society. 

The comics from Bitch Planet continuously show Penelope in an unfavorable state as she appears in the eyes of the white people. For example, in the control room the patriarchal society of white men see her as angry and evil through her expressions and interactions with the them. Later, Penelope is shown shouting at the fathers and visually upset, with clenched fists which add to her image as a violent beast (193). In addition, while in the control room, Penelope’s menacing grin and wicked laugh portray her as an evil person from the white man’s point of view and feared by the white men as part of the white dominated society (199). DeConnick, through the comics, makes the other characters seem innocent and respectable in comparison to Penelope’s cruel persona that DeConnick portrays throughout much of Bitch Planet. These angry and violent expressions displayed by Penelope in the comics visually reveal her as an evil and cruel person. 

The visual effects and comics in Bitch Planet attempt to paint a distasteful picture of the black woman through the eyes of the white people by painting a picture of her ugly body image, angry expressions, struggles to fit into society, and brutal actions towards others throughout the comic. It is up to the readers to decide whether or not they will choose to view Penelope through the same lenses of the white dominated society. Does the audience see Penelope as the innocent and youthful black girl as she is portrayed in the beginning of the comic with her mother, or do they see her as a problematic outsider in the homogeneous and controlling white society in the comic?  
