Girl Genius Volume 4: Agatha Heterodyne & the Circus of Dreams

Agatha Heterodyne is all alone in the world. She's on the run from the ruling power of Europe, his airship fleet, his mechanical soldiers and military monsters, his homicidal maniac lieutenant (on furlough from her job as a pirate queen) and his handsome and intelligent son. Agatha is travelling incognito in the wastelands with her only talking cat. But not for long, for she has a knack for making friends. It all makes sense, really it does. You just have to be there, which is where Phil and Kaja Foglio come in. This is a rip-snorting tale with a well-developed universe, humor, danger, romantic overtones, clever references to our versions of the history books, terrific artwork, and lots of clues to future mysteries. Who are the geisterdamen? Who was the High Priestess? Who won the Race to the West Pole? What happens when a real mad scientist plays one on the stage? And what is kolee-dok-zumil?

On the lam from Mad Baron Wulfenbach, Agatha's mini-zeppelin crashes in the remote wilderness. On foot & hungry, she & her companion, the genetically-engineered cat Krosp, locate a traveling circus, under attack by a robot war machine. I bet you never thought you'd ever read the previous sentence. :) Will Agatha improvise a ray-cannon out of wrecked machinery, that can take out the robot war machine? Will Agatha escape the Baron's assault troopers? Will the Baron's lovestruck son find her first? And will the talking cat Krosp keep trying to stuff mice down Agatha's throat as field rations/bon-bons? If you can stop laughing long enough, you'll find out. The humor/storyline here is well worth the effort.

Phil and Kaja Foglio's characters are brilliant, exciting and generally a lot of fun to follow. The Girl Genius bug bit me in December and I'm now a very strong fan. Agatha labours to find her heritage as the sole heir to the family Hetrodyne, those with the greatest Spark for genius. She's clever and often displays a streak of mischief in creating her inventions, with an affinity for dingbots and a really good death ray. The characters who surround her range in personality, but all are capable of moments of light humour or devilish delight.

Note that this (excellent) book is shown with the wrong cover. See Kaja Foglio's livejournal for the correction.

Girl Genius is more fun than any mad scientist fan should be allowed to have. This quirky, deep, hilarious, adventurous romp became my favorite comic a bit over a year ago, and it just keeps on getting better. Set in a Europe that has endured centuries of chaos caused by battles between Sparks (mad scientists who can twist the laws of probability and science into the most fantastic and deadly forms), peace has finally been enforced by Baron Klaus Wulfenbach, the strongest spark of them all. Agatha is the daughter of one of the long-lost Heterodyne boys, raised in ignorance of her heritage by two people constructed by her uncle and dedicated to keeping the Spark in her supressed. The earlier Heterodynes were horrors, feared by all until her father and uncle redeemed the name before their mysterious disappearance. Though she doesn't know that she has the Spark until the device that suppressed her talents was stolen from her, she's a potential danger to the peace, the world, and herself. Even though she's a really nice, gorgeous, buxom supergenius gal who just wants to get along. And build things. The history and backstory implied in the comic are huge. The characters are over the top, complex, and often very, very unexpected. Even the lead villain has good motives most of the time, and Agatha is not without her own dark side. Most of the story of Agatha is available online at girlgeniusonline.com in two parts: GG101, the early story, and GG Advanced, which starts about 2/3 of the way through this volume. 101 is only about 1/2 of the way from the beginning of the story to the beginning of Advanced, so there's plenty to see in the previous three volumes. If you like what you see online, please pay Phil and Kaja Foglio, the brilliant authors, the ultimate compliment: buy the books. Cash is a great compliment. Another volume is due in July, and hopefully this one will be on time. Even though I've seen the story online, I just can't wait to get it into my hot little hands. It's the most fun I've ever had reading an adventure comic.