 Beauty standards, racism, and a world in which men control things; does this sound familiar? Kelly Sue DeConnick writes a feminist comic about breaking the typical barriers and exposes the harsh reality of society through an obese black woman named Penny. Analyzing a visual text such as a comic is easy to recognize but difficult to describe. Most comics use pictures with minimal text to tell a story.  In Bitch Planet, DeConnick uses visual aspects of a comic to portray a world, in comparison with today’s society in order to evoke change in the way society views sexism, beauty standards, and the obsession with technology. 

 Kelly Sue DeConnick, author of Bitch Planet, creates an overly satirized world in which women are condemned based on minor things such as race, weight, and their behavior. In this society women are labeled as ‘non-compliant’ and sent to a prison called ‘Bitch Planet’. The story is filled with symbols that relate to our society today, enhancing DeConnick’s argument for equal treatment. Penny starts out in full frame, the perspective is set to show her full body in comparison with the guards behind her. Her body image is criticized throughout the story, by men calling her fat and obese, showing how society expects women to look a certain way and if they do not then they should be punished and ridiculed for it. Unlike the women who come into the shop, thin and well groomed, Penny is fat and wears a bandana, symbolizing her lack of effort on her appearance. The women’s conversations consist only of their self-appearance showing how they prioritize that over everything else. She makes this comparison to today’s world where women obsess over unrealistic beauty standards and show how they will take extreme measures in order to achieve them. DeConnick emphasizes the importance of acceptance of your own self and being confident in your own skin, despite what society’s views are.

 The patriarchy in this society is dominant over the women, making another point which will tie to today’s world views. The author portrays the men as in charge of all the people and women around them. Mother Siebertling tells Penny that she should “learn to see yourself through the father’s eyes” before grooming her, which also shows how women criticize other women who don’t follow the ideal standards of beauty (DeConnick 188). By saying this DeConnick is comparing the men to today’s society; for they control how women act or how they should look, and that everyone should be what the men want in order to please them. The father’s power over the women gives men the idea that they are right and should always be given priority over women. Another example of how important it is to please the men is in the muffin shop when the man asks “did you just roll your eyes at me” and Penny tries to make him happy by giving him a free muffin and defusing the potentially bad situation (DeConnick 193). Penny does not normally give in to the men’s dominance, but in this instance she does. It isn’t until she hears him talking about the color of her skin and comparing her to an animal, that she loses her temper and beats the man. Noticing that she only goes for them men and only scares off the women instead of beating them up too. DeConnick uses this scene as a way to show how Penny’s anger and frustration is because of the men and she can’t blame the women for giving into their demands. Her perception of men in this society is tainted by the father’s and the way that women follow their harsh demands of appearance. Penny’s views and outbursts are her only defense against society. By trying to inhibit change, Penny refuses to accept the ideals that are being inflicted on her in this patriarchal world. 

 The male dominant society continues to exist, in a world where women work and can support themselves. The fathers all are pretty old and have the same values that men did in times such as the Victorian era when women were expected to be submissive house wives and not have opinions or a say in how they were treated. These views have not changed with society, as it evolves and changes the rules do not, making it a crime to be different. Their lack of change in values is symbolized through the lack of uniqueness between the screens. The men in the story all have the same look to them; finely cut hair, and suits or collard button ups. The similarity of their appearance goes along with their attitudes and beliefs. Not being able to differentiate between the faces takes away the father’s individuality and creates a separation of emotion. 

  The visual context in the story gives a greater perspective to the meaning, making it easier to portray the futuristic world in contrast with the outdated ideals of the past.. Without the pictures showing how obese and unkempt Penny is, the reader could have different interpretations and the meaning would be lost. Penny compared to the women in the muffin shop and Mother Siebertling are complete opposites. While Mother Siebertling dresses scandalous with revealing tops, makeup, and tight skirts, Penny wears t-shirts and does not worry about her appearance. The visual aspects of the coloring in the story plays a major role in determining the past and present scenes. In Penny’s flashbacks dark colors such as browns and purples are used with a faded film over what should be white colors now grey, showing her past and faded memories. The present consists of sharp imaging with a lot of white and orange. The technology on the futuristic planet gives the men a blue screen filtered look making them seem distanced, taking the emotion out of their words. The author designs the pictures in order to grasp the reader’s attention using sharp details on the faces and making the pictures have movement. The lines used to create a motion show the intensity of Penny’s anger and she hits the dough and swings at the man. The author also uses up close perspectives of character’s faces to zoom in and focus on their emotion from the look in their eye or expression on their face. All of the text bubbles coming from the father’s mouths and on the TV screens represent that it is not from a person but from the technology. 

The use of the screens is a way of communication and showing how advanced their world is. From the man in the muffin shops obsession saying how “we need the feed” shows the important role technology plays in the comic (DeConnick 193). The planet itself is far away from the people on the screens, but yet they have so much control over what those people are doing and how they can make them act. The screens are a representation of the father’s power in today’s society and how the screens can control our lives. DeConnick uses technology through images to portray a society where men and technology are in charge of the women and everything they do and how they act. The technology is an outlet for their control, by sending their messages through a distance it takes out the emotions of saying things face-to-face. DeConnick is pushing an argument that like men, the technology is also a means of control in the oppression of women. In today’s society, the media promotes unhealthy lifestyles and people buy into the ideals that they should do these things too. The women obsess over certain fashion trends and doing absurd things to try to look like the models on screen. This goes to show how women are controlled by not only the men but the influence that technology and social media has. Overall DeCOnnick is trying to convey a message to her readers to stop giving into these ideals, to be your own self and do whatever makes you happy. Her emphasis is on self-love and also not fueling the harsh criticism of women by putting other women down. 

 Kelly Sue DeConnick uses this comic to write a powerful story exploiting patriarchy and the oppression of women’s appearance and their role in society. Through visual and textual evidence, the audience is exposed to the satirized world of Bitch Planet in comparison to today’s world of people entranced by technology and obsessed with pleasing societal standards. DeConnick’s piece generates thoughts and empowers women to realize that society cannot control them and tell them what to do. This iconic piece helps to show society and open the eyes of the audience into new perspectives and evoke change. 
