Ralph Waldo Emerson put it best, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” If his statement is accurate, then Penelope is truly an accomplished woman. She does not embody the standard American beauty that all women are taught to strive to be. The author, Kelly Sue DeConnick, and artist, Valentine De Landro, portray this through visual motifs by making her a large black woman while the women around her, pressuring her to change, are small white women that meet society’s standards of beauty. The author does not only use color to show typical beauty standards but also to show lifelessness and conformity. DeConnick uses colors as a visual motif to represent pressures to conform to societal norms whether this be acting a certain way or changing an appearance to fit the stereotypical bitch look. Either way, the characters are drawn with colors that are dull and muted when they conform symbolizing the loss of their individual vibrancy.

The first panel on page 176, starts to depict the power roles the characters take one in this comic to the reader. Penelope is shown in a faded orange jumpsuit. The fact that the jumpsuit is orange tells the reader she is most likely in jail. There are two men in faded blue jumpsuits standing behind her so the reader can assume they are police or security guards at this jail. Her brown skin and orange jumpsuit contrast to the guards’ translucent skin and blue jumpsuits making her seem to be a more imposing figure in this scenario. The walls are a greyish blue and the whole panel is compiled of cool muted colors making this room feel cold and unwelcoming, as a jail cell would be. In the second panel on page 177, there is a white man who appears to be reviewing her. Again, his skin contrasts with Penelope’s creating a noticeable difference. His stark white skin may represent that he is a lifeless soul or perhaps heartless. The fact that the artist chooses to make him, the reviewer, white and her, the one being reviewed, black can symbolize the power that white men have in society (or at least think they have in society). In the fifth panel on page 177, she has her back to the reader and is facing a wall of screens that have men on them. The men are different colors but this does not seem to symbolize a racial issue but rather again represent power. They are dull and washed out compared to her stronger more vivid coloring. Suggesting that even though they seem to hold the power in this scenario she posses an inner strength that the dull men don’t seem to have.

In the next scene, starting on page 179, the colors are more vibrant giving the reader the sense that this is a happier time than the last. This scene is a flashback, so the change in the color scheme is used to differentiate the present from Penelope’s past memories. The artist uses warm colors, making he memories look much more inviting and happier. Her shirt is pink which represents her femininity. In the previous scene, she is portrayed in a more masculine sense. The grandma is wearing yellow, which is also a cheery color. This could mean that the grandma is a jovial woman. The use of orange in this scene adds to the sense of happiness and freedom Penelope is experiencing in her memories vs. the much less happy use of orange in the first scene. The orange jumpsuit she wore in the first scene was a symbol of her captivity in the jail, but in her memories it contributes to the cheerful mood, turning orange into a positive thing Then to combat the cheerfulness of the warm colors, in the last panel of this scene on page 182, there are men that are wearing drab colors such as black and grey. There drab dullness seems to invade the warm colors putting a damper on the whole scene like they are sucking out the happiness with their coloring. This gives the reader a sense that they must not be good since the other characters in the scene are presented in warm colors. Their dark dreary colors represents the darkness Penelope has ahead of her.

On page 190, panel two, the washed out men on the monitor explain to Penelope that they had sensors placed on her head to measure her electrical impulses. An image of how she sees herself will then be projected on a screen in front of her. They want to see how she sees her “ideal self’ as compared to her actual self to give her a “road map” for change. To their dismay, in panel one on page 199, her ideal self is the same as her actual self. The use of color as a visual motif not only in this scene but through out the whole piece emphasizes Penelope’s inner strength and confidence. Her bold and vivid colors, as compared to dull colors of the people oppressing her, emphasizing  how they are weaker minded because they lack the confidence to not conform to what society expects them to be. The illustrator was hinting that she was already her ideal self by making her a vibrant color throughout the piece. So what she sees in the mirror should come as no surprise to the reader. In panels two and three, Penelope then uses one of her grandmother’s sayings, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and with relief triumphantly declares  “I ain’t broke”.  

The use of color in this graphic novel helps to emphasize and apply meaning to the appearances of the different women. The title “Bitch Planet” immediately makes the reader picture the stereotypical twenty-something white female with blonde hair that looks like Barbie but is rude and self-absorbed. That is actually how the illustrator drew the girls more or less who would be considered the bitches in “Bitch Planet.” Penelope is a significant contrast to these women because of her size, brown skin, and black hair. In this story, the women’s coloring symbolizes how society deems that all women should want to strive to look like a certain way that way being the classic Barbie look. Unlike the men the women aren’t shown with a washed out dull skin color to show their conformity, but instead they all have similar skin tones to show how similar they are letting the reader know they conformed to be the stereotype. The fact that the creator chose to have Penelope be a large black woman who is happy with who she is makes a statement about how, despite popular belief, women can be content with who they are without having the stereotypical “bitch” look. 

DeConnick makes her comic, Bitch Planet, to have many layers. She uses color motifs in strategic ways to convey the mood of a scene to readers, but also to show the characters’ personalities and attitudes. On the surface layer, which is the initial impression that there is a black woman who did something bad that got her into jail. Then the coloring of the men who seem to be reviewing her gives the reader the impression that they may be the bad ones not her. In the scene with Pelops’s memories, the colors are vibrant and warm, letting the reader know her life was not always this gloomy. On a deeper level, colors are used to make a statement about society’s beauty standards. Penelope refuses to conform so, at the end, her coloring is the most vibrant showing she is the only one not living a life of dullness. DeConnick uses colors as a visual motif to represent pressures to conform to societal norms, whether it be acting a certain way or changing an appearance to fit the stereotypical bitch look. Just like in real life, conformity can cause individuals to lose their individual vibrancy and lead to a dull and unhappy life.  