Girl Genius Volume 1: Agatha Heterodyne and the Bettleburg Clank SC (Color Edition)

My wife and I play the Girl Genius card game, though up until recently I have known little of the background story. One day, curious, I looked it up and found this volume and ordered it. Before I was finished, I was already in love with Agatha. This volume gives little of the flavor of the full story that folds over the next 5+ volumes, but it does give insight into a richly imagined world. In some ways, it is a very common story. There is a student who seems not particularly good at anything, though the reader is made aware early own that there is more than meets the eye. There is a university where she learns, that seems to be taking part in caring for her and hiding something of a secret. There is a mysterious set of events in her past, and her family's past. She has an "item of power" that is taken and sets gears into motion. She meets a guy she both despises and admires at the same time. Somehow, though, the Foglios have found an excellent way to balance the "steam-punk", the cliche story line, and the relatively small beginnings of a comic that are meant to hint at things to come in a way to come up with something that feels fresh and, more importantly, fun. If you are thinking about ordering this volume, by the way, I recommend getting the next couple as well. It reads fast and I assure you that you are going to want more.

Agatha Clay is a young woman with a mysterious past. She lives in a world complicated by Sparks (think mad scientists with the ability to create devices and living things that bend or break the known laws of science) and ruled by Baron Wulfenbach, a Spark who conquered Europe to stop the chaos. Agatha's doesn't know her origin or about her imminent Sparkhood. When a mugging and theft allows her talents to break loose without warning, all hell begins to break loose, too. Girl Genius is beautifully drawn and wonderfully manic. Its characters are human, animal, robotic (called Clanks), and artificial biological constructs. The huge story includes Agatha, the Baron and his son Gilgamesh (himself a developing spark), the King of Cats, Jagermonsters, pirates, the most fearsome nanny in the known universe, a traveling circus, Translyvania Polygnostic University, various monsters, and Punch and Judy. The backstory underlying it is fascinating, imaginative, and enormously detailed. The villains are not totally evil, and the good have their dark sides, but don't take any of it too seriously. This is comedy that is both broad and pointed, and it works beautifully. This comic is a whacko masterpiece of adventure, romance, and discovery. After fifty years of reading all sorts of comics, this is now my all-time favorite.

Great characters set in a wondeful universe! I was overjoyed reading through it and puzzling out the world history, dropped in a way that wasn't heavyhanded but left me enough clues to keep me interested and moving forward. Agatha is great hero and seeing her evolve is really entertaining.

Mostly, when you see the phrase "fun for all" it really means "fun for nobody", but that does not apply here. The Foglios' illustrations and writing are vivid & joyous, and their sense of humor displays minds born with the belief that "the world is mad, so why not enjoy it?" Clever riffs on the old Universal Horror classics mix with wild sight gags & a great fondness for the spectacular in their work. There's a plot, too. That's always nice.

Anyone who writes will tell you that writing comedy is hard. Foglio has a history of writing brilliantly whimsical sci-fi comedy (the Buck Godot stories), and erotic comedy (XXXenophile). He's done it again with this inventive steampunk comic. In the Heterodyne universe Mad Scientists (called "Sparks") use bizarre technology to whip up fish flensing robots of doom in a matter of minutes. (They're effectively wizards in a technology setting). The heroine, Agatha Clay, is a late blooming but incredibly powerful spark who may destabilze an already tottering Europe. Agatha is fun: she's plucky, smart, and just a bit insane at times. All Foglio women are gorgeous, and Agatha is no exception. But her beauty is incidental to her brains in the storyline. In general the characters are complex, with heroic despots and maniacal heroes. As with Foglio, the backgrounds are intricate, detailed and often very, very funny. The steampunk setting is beautifully rendered, in a world where everything, from microscopes to zepplins, is ornamented and elaborate. Its worth rereading just to look at the backgrounds. The storyline is also intricate, and is not resolved in this volume. However, Foglio has a knack for weaving complicated plotlines that resolve elegantly, and I am sure that this series will eventually do the same.This collection includes just the first few black and white stories. The subsequent ones are now in color. As of 7/1/04 we're up to issue 11, so there will probably be more collections to come.