Review: Bitch Planet Issue 1

Review: Bitch Planet Issue 1 by Travelling Man

December 17, 2014, 10:00 am
Filed under: Exquisite Reviews | Tags: Alasdair Stuart, Clayton Cowles, Cris Peter, Danielle Henderson, Feminist Ryan Gosling, Kamau Kogo, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Lauren McCubbin, Lauren Sankotvitch, Penny Rolle, Rian Hughes, Valentine De Leandro

Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick

Art and covers by Valentine De Leandro

Colours by Cris Peter

Letters by Clayton Cowles

Cover and Logo Design by Rian Hughes

Backmatter Design by Lauren McCubbin

Edited by Lauren Sankovitch

Published by Image

£2.50

 

We have under three weeks on the clock before 2015 and a probable winner for best first issue of the year. DeConnick’s been turning in exemplary work all year but there’s a level of complexity and form to this that puts it head and shoulders above the vast majority of books on the market. If you’re looking to write comics, you need to read this to see just how far you can push the form. The panels dance across the page, often in two directions at once, information overlaid on information in a way that’s almost melodic. This culminates in a three way, two planet conversation that closes the issue and drives a shiv between the ribs of any kind of hope.

This is a dark, nasty book and one that’s infinitely cleverer, and darker, than the Grindhouse trappings will lead some people to expect. Yes the script is crammed full of nudity, brutality and profanity. But it’s never a blunt instrument. DeConnick introduces us to these women, their warders and the world they left behind and there’s not a punch pulled, not a shot going wide, just one of the best writers in the business doing what she does best.

On the art side of things De Leandro’s stark lines play like Tommy Lee Edwards’ work but with far more subtlety and light and shade. Kamau Kogo and Penny Rolle, the two leads so far are especially great but every page and every design works, the action is neatly choreographed and those complex interlocking panels all click beautifully. Peter’s colours, especially the nightmarish pink of the prison AI, help immensely as do Cowles’ typically clever lettering choices.

 

This is tough, clever science fiction that plays like nothing else on the shelves. It’s unrelenting, intelligent, bleak and completely unlike anything else on the shelves. Individual issues are continuing the Image tradition of backmatter essays too, with the first by Danielle Henderson, creator of Feminist Ryan Gosling. Buy it, and get one of the best books of the year.

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