Bitch Planet

Bitch Planet
Cover art for Bitch Planet #1 (December 2014). Art by Valentine De Landro.
Publication information
Publisher	Image Comics
Schedule	Monthly (loosely)
Format	Ongoing series
Genre	Feminist Dystopian
Publication date	December 2014 to present
No. of issues	10
Main character(s)	Kamau Kogo (Kam) Penny Rolle Fanny Renelle
Creative team
Written by	Kelly Sue DeConnick
Artist(s)	Valentine De Landro

Bitch Planet is an ongoing American comic book created by writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and artist Valentine De Landro. The series is a feminist send-up of the exploitation film genre that takes place in a dystopian reality where non-compliant women are sent to an off-planet prison.

DeConnick described the creation of the book as being "born of a deep and abiding love for exploitation and women in prison movies of the ’60s and ’70s."

The first issue was published in December 2014 by Image Comics.

The series focuses on a number of women who have been imprisoned at an off-planet prison known as the Auxiliary Compliance Outpost for being "non-compliant." Narrative arcs move back and forth through time, presenting how the women were arrested in the first place as well as their various experiences within the prison.

Inmates

Prison administration and bureaucracy

Reaction to Bitch Planet has been generally positive.Susana Polo at The Mary Sue said: "Bitch Planet promised space prison, violence, a heck of a lot of ladies of various colors, and a reclamation of the “women in prison” subgenre of exploitation film for the modern audience. Its first issue delivers." Jeff Lake writing for IGN called it "an excellent comic." Chris Sims of Comics Alliance, reviewing the first issue, said "it’s thrilling, it’s violent, and it’s one of the best first issues of the year." The first volume of the comic got more mixed reviews from The Guardian, which praised the series as a "refreshing foray into the feminist exploitation genre," while also criticizing it for the use of "lots of ingredients...without much forethought," leading to muddled critiques of religion and politics.