Bitch Planet #9 Review: A Good Old-Fashioned Prison Riot
By Matt Conner
Bitch Planet returns with the prison in full chaos, pulling memorable character work and dramatic movement from the recently-stalled book. Welcome back!
Bitch Planet #9
Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick
Art by Valentine De Landro
Published by Image Comics
Last issue’s bombshells of a unit of trans women on Bitch Planet, including Kamau’s long-lost sister, and Meiko’s father’s takeover of the prison come to a head this week, reminding us why we wait four months between issues of this powerful feminist work.
My complaints about the slow pacing of the last couple of issues dissolved today. In addition to strong beats about Kamau’s reunion, Mr. Makoto’s sabotage releases a powerful new character to the story. Between these moments, roiling masses of rioters fill the panels. De Landro’s realistic art seethes with shouts and clangs and wet punches. Any good prison story stages a riot, and this one does not disappoint.
And as with every previous issue, the colored pictures are only half of the reason to get the book. As exciting as the guards-versus-prisoners battle royale gets, it pales before the meaty feminist thought in the backwater essays. Rebecca Wanzo surgically dismantles the “Great America” that never was and can’t be “Again.” The letters page explores asexuality as part of the queer spectrum and defines Intersectionality.
And the main page lets Kelly Sue DeConnick address that footage, the one of Trump and Billy Bush. In addition to pointing out how absurdly on-brand this was anyway, she notes how the counter-arguments are still, “What if he said that about your daughter?” And that’s wrong. A person is not valuable because she is your anything; she is valuable because she is a person, and so are you, and that’s a big part of what feminism means. I can’t say this as eloquently or passionately as DeConnick. Please read her version. Quote it. Send it to friends on Facebook. And keep this as part of our political narrative. We are not protecting our sisters. We are part of a community protecting each other.
The Bottom Line
Bitch Planet regains what makes this one of the most powerful books on the stands this week.