In the story Bitch Planet by Kelly Sue DeConnick there are three flashbacks to Penelope’s life: one in her early childhood (pages 179-182), one in her teenage years (pages 185-188), and one as an adult (pages 191-197). The author uses visual motifs in these flashbacks to show Penelope’s descent into a life she doesn’t like and her final change back to want she wanted to be. The author uses colors, camera angles and visuals in the background to show the difference in these flashbacks and how Penelope is not happy that her life has gone down a path she doesn’t want and how and the final moment in which she is herself. 

In Penelope’s first flashback she is in a house with her Grandmother and they are baking. These panels show the good life that Penelope started with and the start of the breakdown of it.The colors in these scenes are very vibrant, bright, and warm. This theme is coupled with the use of many yellows, oranges, and pinks. These colors are very unthreatening colors. The lines are not sharp, but soft, and there are no intense camera angles like close ups, which allows the reader to look at the picture and not feel anxious or feel like there’s something wrong. Everything about the house they are in seems normal and everybody seems happy. The visual motifs help convey a strong sense of this as a home and that Penelope is in a place she can be happy. Then towards the end of the panels pages 180-182 shadows start to show up in the background where they weren’t before and above the fridge and door you are able to see cracks in the walls that you couldn’t see before. These two visuals are subtle but still easily seen, with this the author was trying to show that Penelope’s life is starting to break and get worse. Another visual that points to this is in the very last panel in the kitchen the cabinets and door seem to be slanted and out of place. Then at the end of the panels the police come to do something at the house. Because of the prior visual motifs you can assume something bad is happening. One could only have come to this conclusion because the visuals went from light and orderly to dark chaotic. 

In Penelope’s second flashback she is in what seems to be a school and she has hit another kid defending her grandma and then she goes to Mother Siebertling’s office. These scenes are meant to show that Penelope is still holding onto her old ways and the point in which she is broken. In these scenes the colors are much dimmer and duller right from the start. There are also some close-ups right from the start, showing that this time is already a more intense part of Penelope’s life that the previous flashback. In these panels she refers to Penelope’s grandma, and it seems as though she was taken away or killed, which would explain the colors being dimmer because she is no longer in a home she loves. All around the mother’s office there are pictures and other visuals that point towards the mother being this stereotypical “perfect” girl. There’s sorority letters, beauty pageant prizes, prom queen pictures and a family picture. These all show that the mother has totally conformed to this society and shows the readers the contrast between Penny and her grandma, and Mother Siebertling. At the end of this flashback Mother is talking about fixing Penelope and in the very last panel you see an over the shoulder shot of mother Siebertling over Penelope and her shadow on Penelope, this seems very sinister and this shows the readers that again something bad is going to happen and points to the fact that Penelope is about to be broken.

In the very last flashback the panels are very dim and washed out to show that Penelope isn’t much of herself anymore. The author uses dark cool colors to help show this because it is in such contrast with the colors in the first flashback which is when Penelope is at her happiest. And again there is another close up in this flashback at the beginning showing the intensity of the situation. In the background of the bottom panel of page 192 you can see a Born Big sign that seems to be the name of her shop, and if you look in the first flashback in the very first panel you can see a flyer with the same name on it. This makes you make a connection that this was where her grandma worked and shows that even though Penelope has gone off her original path that she is still thinking about her grandma and she still doesn’t fully conform to this society. In this flashback, one can fully get to understand how brainwashed this society is and helps you appreciate Penelope’s originality the author does this by showing the T.V.’s on every table that everyone has to watch and showing the big T.V. and then adding in the weird adds advertising products for the bowels and news about beauty. As this flashback goes on there is a conflict between two guys and Penelope. In the conflict the guys are saying very offensive things about Penelope, and as it goes on the camera angles are slowing getting closer which conveys intensity and the expressions on Penelope’s face slowly come more into view with each camera angle getting closer shower her anger. Then she snaps, and the angles go to close-ups on her, her roller and the men. The camera angles in these scenes conveys intensity and hatred. This helps us understand the feelings inside of Penelope. Before the fight her face was filled with anger, but during the fight you never see her full face and then at the end. When you finally see her face and it sort of looks like a face of relief. This really helps show that she is starting to be happy even though she just did something bad she didn’t give in she didn’t let a piece of herself be taken this time and this is why she is relieved and its only because the authors ability to show this through his angles that you are able to see this.

The author uses the visual motifs of color, angle and detail, to help convey the wrongness of this world Penelope’s in and her journey to find herself. The author used colors to show the scale of the situation in each flashback and the emotions being felt. The author did this by having the colors get dimmer and cooler with every flashback. The author used camera angles to show intensity or lack thereof in each panel and with each flashback the panels became more intense. The author used detail in lines and in the background to show the full story, she did this in a subtle way but it was still noticeable and helped to create a story that they don’t tell you and to foreshadow upcoming events. Overall these were used in a way which shows Penelope being broken with every flashback while she still tries to hold on to her real self. The idea of this is shown in every flashback with the colors slowing descending into darkness and the small clues to show she still wants her old life. The author keeps showing these ideas until she finally breaks away from society and feels happy, and accepts herself no matter what any person tells her to be. This idea  that she is finally happy is revealed in the last page of the story outside of the flashbacks. Where the leaders try to show her true self that she’d be happy. These scenes are still dark in color except Penelope. Penelope is almost vibrant in these scenes almost matching the vibrancy of the first flashback. The author does this to show that she is finally back to being happy. We are revealed this in the Leaders experiment which backfires and shows that she is her true self because she accepted herself for what she is in her flashbacks.