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Girl Genius #1
Agatha Heterodyne and the Beetleburg Clank
In a time when the Industrial Revolution has become an all-out war, Mad Science rules the World...with mixed success. At Transylvania Polygnostic University, Agatha Clay is a student with trouble concentrating and rotten luck. Dedicated to her studies but unable to build anything that actually works, she seems destined for a lackluster career as a minor lab assistant. But when the University is overthrown, a strange clank stalks the streets and it begins to look like Agatha might carry a spark of Mad Science after all.
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
About the author
Phil Foglio
155 books346 followersA popular science fiction fan artist in the 1970s, Phil Foglio began writing and drawing cartoons and comics professionally in the 1980s. His work includes Magic: The Gathering, Buck Godot, and the popular series of comics and novels, Girl Genius, co-written with his wife, Kaja Foglio.
Awards:
Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist (1977 and 1978)
Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story (2009, 2010, 2011)
Awards:
Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist (1977 and 1978)
Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story (2009, 2010, 2011)
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 292 reviews
January 26, 2015
I was both eager and reluctant to read this. Eager because girl genius steampunk adventure? With great reviews? Awesome! Reluctant because, um, well you see the same cover I'm seeing, right? But hey, sometimes the cover art on graphic novels isn't the same as-- Oh. No. It is the same. Cartoony and exaggerated, with the added distraction of lots of details that were interesting but left me with the choice of either ignoring half of them or reading much slower than the story calls for. Most of all, I really, really hated the giant breasts and spine-breaking poses of the female characters. I know many comics are drawn this way, but that doesn't mean you *have* to do it, and it looks even more ridiculous paired with the rubbery cartoon faces. Isn't Agatha supposed to be a teen? Why does she have the physique of a forty-yer-old barmaid with a cut-rate boob job? And what's up with all the gratuitous Agatha-in-her-undies panels? Can't the kid buy a nightie? Seriously, after the first sleep-walking incident I would sleep in my clothes! The art did have a manic energy that matched the tone of the story, that's about all I'll give it.
The story itself was...fun. Plotwise I don't think it 100% made sense, but that's okay, because if that's one of your criteria you probably aren't reading this genre in the first place. Ditto the world-building wasn't totally coherent, but it had some really awesome, imaginative, original elements. Over-the-top, sure, but that's what you want in a story like this. I was cool with the mind-control-insect-spewing-dragons-from-Mars-attacking-through-an-interdimensional-portal. The actual political situation on Earth(?) was a bit less convincing, but okay. I wasn't sold on the central idea of the "spark" where some kind of magical genius ability just manifests and a person can suddenly build crazy machines without, y'know, studying engineering. And then they become insane and dangerous. There was some good dialogue and clever one-liners. The characters were okay but I didn't feel much attachment to them. They needed stronger emotional reactions, especially in scenes like
My feeling was that I would have liked this better as a standard novel, where the authors would have been forced to spend more time developing the personalities and politics rather than drawing funny robots.
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UPDATE: Apparently there are novels now!
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sc...
Wish the art in the comic looked more like this:
The story itself was...fun. Plotwise I don't think it 100% made sense, but that's okay, because if that's one of your criteria you probably aren't reading this genre in the first place. Ditto the world-building wasn't totally coherent, but it had some really awesome, imaginative, original elements. Over-the-top, sure, but that's what you want in a story like this. I was cool with the mind-control-insect-spewing-dragons-from-Mars-attacking-through-an-interdimensional-portal. The actual political situation on Earth(?) was a bit less convincing, but okay. I wasn't sold on the central idea of the "spark" where some kind of magical genius ability just manifests and a person can suddenly build crazy machines without, y'know, studying engineering. And then they become insane and dangerous. There was some good dialogue and clever one-liners. The characters were okay but I didn't feel much attachment to them. They needed stronger emotional reactions, especially in scenes like
My feeling was that I would have liked this better as a standard novel, where the authors would have been forced to spend more time developing the personalities and politics rather than drawing funny robots.
-----------------
UPDATE: Apparently there are novels now!
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sc...
Wish the art in the comic looked more like this:
September 18, 2010
I've been reading this series for years, and I really can't say enough good things about it. You can read the whole thing online if you like, but I really recommend buying copies from their website. Selling books is how these folks make their living. It's important to support things like that.
February 1, 2016
A graphic steampunk novel sounded great, but it wasn't. The story was confusing and puerile. The main character Agatha was inconsistent, sometimes pathetic, but sometimes brash and outspoken. Baron Wolfenbach was heartless, but his son, Gilgamesh, has some promise to become more than his father. Not sure if I will continue the series or not.
August 17, 2010
1.5 to 2.0 stars. I am not sure how this one didn't work for me. I love steampunk as a genre, I enjoy gaslamp stories and I am a fan of the graphic novel format. The story just didn't interest me enough. I thought it was okay, but I was expecting to like it a lot more.
July 10, 2018
4/5 stars
I AM SO EXCITED TO SEE WHERE THIS IS GOING, OH MY GOD
*since it's a huge series, I will probably follow what I do in manga too and review in the last volume*
I AM SO EXCITED TO SEE WHERE THIS IS GOING, OH MY GOD
*since it's a huge series, I will probably follow what I do in manga too and review in the last volume*
January 4, 2013
Ok, people. Phil Foglio was doing steampunk comics WAY before the teenagers caught on. This was published in 2001. 2001. (Yes, it needed to be said again.)
ANYWAY... So yeah, this is pretty groundbreaking. The library edition I read is printed all in brown&white, except for an excerpt of the next volume at the end. And I know this shouldn't be my firstish comment about the book, but OMG, this is SO MUCH BETTER in color. Which, I know, is a total DUH. The Foglios (which always throws me off because it's so close to "folio" and that's funny, especially for steampunk) fixed that in later editions. But in the meantime, brown and white feels pretty chaotic.
I like what they're trying to do here. Our heroine is plucky, can-do, and unabashed. In everything. There's a lot of cool technology stuff, but I felt a little like I was looking at the pictures through a screen. It was hard to get a sense of focus. All of the characters are caricatures, some of which subvert themselves. I'm not really sure what's up with the guy with the slash-mouth, though I imagine he'll be explained as the series develops.
Fun, glad I read it.
ANYWAY... So yeah, this is pretty groundbreaking. The library edition I read is printed all in brown&white, except for an excerpt of the next volume at the end. And I know this shouldn't be my firstish comment about the book, but OMG, this is SO MUCH BETTER in color. Which, I know, is a total DUH. The Foglios (which always throws me off because it's so close to "folio" and that's funny, especially for steampunk) fixed that in later editions. But in the meantime, brown and white feels pretty chaotic.
I like what they're trying to do here. Our heroine is plucky, can-do, and unabashed. In everything. There's a lot of cool technology stuff, but I felt a little like I was looking at the pictures through a screen. It was hard to get a sense of focus. All of the characters are caricatures, some of which subvert themselves. I'm not really sure what's up with the guy with the slash-mouth, though I imagine he'll be explained as the series develops.
Fun, glad I read it.
March 28, 2007
This series is *excellent*.
Its a graphic novel from Phil and Kadjia (I prob. misspelled that) Foglio.
Their art is great and the work is *really* interesting.
Essentially, its an alternative earth where Mad Science is very real. Mad Scientists are said to posses the 'Spark' and are able to build amazing things . . . unfortunately there is a reason that they are called 'Mad'. Essentially, it manifests as a complete inability to determine if they *should* build just because they can. For this reason they are often just called Madboys.
The main character has a mysterious heritage which is still getting explored as the books continue.
The 6th volume (to be released in June) will conclude the 2nd major story arc.
Highly, highly recommended!
Its a graphic novel from Phil and Kadjia (I prob. misspelled that) Foglio.
Their art is great and the work is *really* interesting.
Essentially, its an alternative earth where Mad Science is very real. Mad Scientists are said to posses the 'Spark' and are able to build amazing things . . . unfortunately there is a reason that they are called 'Mad'. Essentially, it manifests as a complete inability to determine if they *should* build just because they can. For this reason they are often just called Madboys.
The main character has a mysterious heritage which is still getting explored as the books continue.
The 6th volume (to be released in June) will conclude the 2nd major story arc.
Highly, highly recommended!
June 20, 2022
Here's another web comic that my partner's been following for close to 20 years (the other is MegaTokyo) and that I've gotten through the first couple of installments of, but have never caught up. It's more of a trick to catch up with with this one than MT because the creators are--perhaps appropriately for this comic--like clockwork, posting three comics pages a week for decades now.
The art in Girl Genius is fun and campy, and the story is, too. You've got all kinds of mad science from little mechs to giant mechs to Frankenstein's monster-like organic constructs who need maintenance every now and then. The setting is somewhat dystopian, an empire with a ruler whose punishments for crime are along the lines of the perpetrator being next in line for human experimentation, or put in a big glass tube in a public square to die.
Our main character is a "spark"--a mad scientist with near-magical powers of invention--who is constantly underestimated because her abilities have been suppressed with an amulet. The amulet gets stolen, and all hell breaks loose!
The bonus story in this volume was better than the main part, in my opinion. The storytelling is more sympathetic, and the art seems better too. In this first volume, the reader must put up with (or enjoy, depending on their taste) a fair amount of big-boobed women whose natural standing pose has them jutting out their chest, but the adventurous imagination behind the somewhat eye-roll-inducing art is appealing. I'm hoping that Agatha's travels take her someplace less depressing, and she's able to utilize her spark to its fullest. And maybe puts some clothes on...
The art in Girl Genius is fun and campy, and the story is, too. You've got all kinds of mad science from little mechs to giant mechs to Frankenstein's monster-like organic constructs who need maintenance every now and then. The setting is somewhat dystopian, an empire with a ruler whose punishments for crime are along the lines of the perpetrator being next in line for human experimentation, or put in a big glass tube in a public square to die.
Our main character is a "spark"--a mad scientist with near-magical powers of invention--who is constantly underestimated because her abilities have been suppressed with an amulet. The amulet gets stolen, and all hell breaks loose!
The bonus story in this volume was better than the main part, in my opinion. The storytelling is more sympathetic, and the art seems better too. In this first volume, the reader must put up with (or enjoy, depending on their taste) a fair amount of big-boobed women whose natural standing pose has them jutting out their chest, but the adventurous imagination behind the somewhat eye-roll-inducing art is appealing. I'm hoping that Agatha's travels take her someplace less depressing, and she's able to utilize her spark to its fullest. And maybe puts some clothes on...
March 15, 2016
I've been following this webcomic for 5 or 6 years, and sometimes I binge read the whole thing again (it's starting to get to long to do this, but who cares? It's fun!) My last re-read was last month (May 2014!) and I decided it's probably a good time to review it.
Girl Genius is set in a steampunk society where some people are "sparks" or talking plainly: geniuses. The thing is, most of the time when people "get the spark" or become a spark, they also go insane. The kind of insane that builds monsters or weapons of mass destruction and ends up blowing themselves along with everyone around them 50% of the time.
Evil geniuses the lot of them.
So, we have a society of mad geniuses, an even more evil bad guy, a group of funny (and sometimes smart) good guys, a love triangle that thankfully tries not to be cliche and boring, and a talking castle. (Yes, the talking castle is the best part of this whole thing.)
I should warn you: I have several smart, well articulated friends that do not like this comic. They dislike the romance part of it, they think the plot is convoluted and all over the place, or they take offense to the buxom scantly clad representation of females. I should probably take offense to this too, but seriously? I'm not. I'm okay with buxom and scantly clad as long as there are no boob windows. Besides, this comic book has a female protagonist who's smart, dedicated and takes matters into her own hands, I don't care if she's half naked sometimes, I still love her.
So, you might like this or you might not, I guarantee it's worth trying to find out.
Girl Genius is set in a steampunk society where some people are "sparks" or talking plainly: geniuses. The thing is, most of the time when people "get the spark" or become a spark, they also go insane. The kind of insane that builds monsters or weapons of mass destruction and ends up blowing themselves along with everyone around them 50% of the time.
Evil geniuses the lot of them.
So, we have a society of mad geniuses, an even more evil bad guy, a group of funny (and sometimes smart) good guys, a love triangle that thankfully tries not to be cliche and boring, and a talking castle. (Yes, the talking castle is the best part of this whole thing.)
I should warn you: I have several smart, well articulated friends that do not like this comic. They dislike the romance part of it, they think the plot is convoluted and all over the place, or they take offense to the buxom scantly clad representation of females. I should probably take offense to this too, but seriously? I'm not. I'm okay with buxom and scantly clad as long as there are no boob windows. Besides, this comic book has a female protagonist who's smart, dedicated and takes matters into her own hands, I don't care if she's half naked sometimes, I still love her.
So, you might like this or you might not, I guarantee it's worth trying to find out.
December 22, 2014
So I looked this one up online (and read it there for free) as I was struggling with the 13th volume which is a 2014 Hugo finalist for Best Graphic Novel, and while this is from only one point of view - Agatha's - it's still a little disjointed and hard to follow. Almost every sentence of dialogue feels like it should end with a exclamation mark. It's high drama, or melodrama. But perhaps that's a mark of the mad science genre - I wouldn't know, I'm new to it.
Agatha is a strong female role model. She doesn't crumple in the face of adversity. I found the worldbuilding a little lacking and many questions are left unanswered by the end of the volume.
The artwork is nice though a little cartoon-y and Agatha's proportions seem a bit ludicrous for a teenager. She'd be more at home as a buxom barmaid wench in a tavern filled with randy vikings.
I love visual steampunk, on TV and in the movies, but can't get into it in novel form so I thought this would be good middle ground. Not this time.
Agatha is a strong female role model. She doesn't crumple in the face of adversity. I found the worldbuilding a little lacking and many questions are left unanswered by the end of the volume.
The artwork is nice though a little cartoon-y and Agatha's proportions seem a bit ludicrous for a teenager. She'd be more at home as a buxom barmaid wench in a tavern filled with randy vikings.
I love visual steampunk, on TV and in the movies, but can't get into it in novel form so I thought this would be good middle ground. Not this time.
October 24, 2011
The kickoff for a truly delightful and famously enjoyable graphic series, which is up to eleven volumes as I write this. All of them are available at the Girl Genius web site, so you don't have to buy the paper books until you're hooked. Plan to have several free hours before you start in, because they're very addictive! And, just to enable you, after you suck through all the comics on line, there is a wiki, a yahoo group and several livejournal groups.
Because it's PG, this is a great webcomic to start an older child or a young teen on. The number of works that empower women and present science and education as a powerful advantage are rare.
Because it's PG, this is a great webcomic to start an older child or a young teen on. The number of works that empower women and present science and education as a powerful advantage are rare.
Read
September 19, 2015Re-reading the physical volumes to refresh my memory, since the online version has now (after an epically long time) referenced the event that started Agatha's adventures off.
The art has become cleaner and crisper since these early days, but otherwise is not too different - and a very pleasant world it is, full of a very broad range of people. We meet Agatha, who is the workshop failure, never able to successfully invent anything. She is having a very bad day, and that's even before she draws the attention of the Baron whose steely rule has kept this world of madboys and wild invention relatively at peace.
The art has become cleaner and crisper since these early days, but otherwise is not too different - and a very pleasant world it is, full of a very broad range of people. We meet Agatha, who is the workshop failure, never able to successfully invent anything. She is having a very bad day, and that's even before she draws the attention of the Baron whose steely rule has kept this world of madboys and wild invention relatively at peace.
November 21, 2014
I wanted to like this more than I did. The drawings are entertaining. The plot was a bit weak, though I think it will make more sense in the 2nd book. What bothered me the most was the way the MC, Agatha, a teenager is drawn. As a previous reviewer asked, why is she drawn like a 40-year old barmaid with a boob-job? In some ways, I think the artists were trying to imitate Manga, with the extreme exaggerations, but they somewhat missed the mark.
August 8, 2017
HUGELY FUN, and if you want a story that loves and uplifts its heroine this is GOLD TIER. Also, gives me actual hope for a happy polyamorous end to a love triangle. (And if it doesn't, I probably won't have to be disappointed about it for a decade or so!)
(This is a review of the comic as a whole if that wasn't INCREDIBLY OBVIOUS.)
(This is a review of the comic as a whole if that wasn't INCREDIBLY OBVIOUS.)
January 14, 2024
I have read this volume a couple of times now. After re-reading vol 2 & 3 I went to the Girl Genius website and read this in the webcomic format. It still holds up and a good introduction. But I'm up to volume 10 now and the story gets better!
If you enjoy a bit of old fashioned cliffhanger like the old Flash Gordon shorts, you will probably love this comic. It is very much old school cliffhanger storytelling with a overly dramatic Steampunk (IE wordy) setting. It is also very cleverly written with good human. It is a bit like a Discworld book where you just have to pay attention to the dialog, the story and funny bits in the background.
If you enjoy a bit of old fashioned cliffhanger like the old Flash Gordon shorts, you will probably love this comic. It is very much old school cliffhanger storytelling with a overly dramatic Steampunk (IE wordy) setting. It is also very cleverly written with good human. It is a bit like a Discworld book where you just have to pay attention to the dialog, the story and funny bits in the background.
September 28, 2022
One of the best - if not THE best - web comics I've yet read, Girl Genius has a long and detailed plot that incorporates a lot of inventive world-building and alternative history, all around the idea of a late 18th-, early 19th-century Europe where some people have "the Spark:" an indefinable affinity for crafting outlandish and extreme science fantasy gadgets (a bit like Rajandra Das in Desolation Road). Agatha has the opposite of the Spark: while she has enthusiasm, she has absolutely no ability to create gadgets whatsoever (everything she touches ends up malfunctioning spectacularly). It's filled with memorable characters and lots of humor, and the story continues to this day. Each volume is better than the last, as you come to appreciate more and more how much effort has gone into creating the backstory before the tale even begins.
Critique: The story is good, and is set up with a framing device of a storyteller telling another story of the Heterodyne family...a device that will recur again and again in the series. But the artwork in this first volume is relatively rough, with a lot of distortion for comic effect (there's enough stretch and squash for a Looney Tunes episode), and the characters aren't quite in their final, finished forms. It's a bit like watching the first season of "The Simpsons," where all the characters are slightly manic with too-large teeth.
Review:
Critique: The story is good, and is set up with a framing device of a storyteller telling another story of the Heterodyne family...a device that will recur again and again in the series. But the artwork in this first volume is relatively rough, with a lot of distortion for comic effect (there's enough stretch and squash for a Looney Tunes episode), and the characters aren't quite in their final, finished forms. It's a bit like watching the first season of "The Simpsons," where all the characters are slightly manic with too-large teeth.
Review:
February 3, 2018
Fun but hard to follow at times. Steam punk world with a spunky female heroine and some interesting villain characters...
June 3, 2013
Ok, book one had some good characters but A LOT of set up. Stuff definitely got rolling- ancient legend, awakened main character, a big death, baddie and baddie jr who are both strong and smart (smarts- rare and admirable to see in antagonists)... Not as comedic as I thought it'd be. I do like where the plot is going but felt like I didn't get to see too much of it in book one. Certainly makes me curious to read more though! Parts kind of remind me of Zelda (mostly the ancient legend, awakened main character stuff).
Art style reminds me of... something! Just can't put my finger on it. Kind of confusing layout compared to other GNs but the art is clean and adds a comic aspect to it (as opposed to the more realistic styles of other GNs).
Art style reminds me of... something! Just can't put my finger on it. Kind of confusing layout compared to other GNs but the art is clean and adds a comic aspect to it (as opposed to the more realistic styles of other GNs).
January 20, 2012
This graphic novel follows the story of a family of Sparks - people gifted with the ability to manipulate the laws of physics. It's told as history and placed in a world with a steampunk ethos. The story and illustration are only moderately involving. Nothing very interesting or innovative occurs and I found myself extremely disappointed as I really enjoy the trappings of the steampunk movement. I unfortunately bought volume 2 of this series and will probably read it just to be sure, but I can't really recommend this to anyone.
June 6, 2008
Phil Foglio has been an inspiration of mine since a teenager. He draws in such a great cartoony-yet-realistic style, even if his young characters tend to look alike. If you have not read Girl Genius, check it out online at http://www.girlgeniusonline.com - where you can read the entire series up to the most recent update (M-W-F). Humorous fantasy in the great tradition of, um, Pratchett? Monty Python? It's very silly, but very smart stuff.
February 23, 2017
Originally published online as a Web comic (where it can be found at www.girlgeniusonline.com), this series follows the exploits of a young woman, Agatha, who discovers she is the lost heir to a long-feared dynasty. Instead of a terribly serious version of this tale, the author/artist stick to humor over horrors. Still friends and enemies die, leaving their mark on Agatha as she grows to understand who she is and what she can do.
February 9, 2011
This really just set the scene without really getting into what Agatha's like as a genius. Some of the characters are quite colourful and the mood of the comic is awesome.
And now, I must buy more.
And now, I must buy more.
August 11, 2010
I just spent 20 straight unshowered hours reading this comic online from start to the present day.
Beautiful art style, non-stop action, romance, science and a kick-ass heroine who's a little bit dangerous. I'm hooked.
Beautiful art style, non-stop action, romance, science and a kick-ass heroine who's a little bit dangerous. I'm hooked.
December 13, 2021
Lots of fun! I don't usually read graphic novels, but I'm now converted. Plus, I've been inspired to buy the novelisation, as I kept thinking that it would do brilliantly as a novel.
Steampunk at its best, IMHO.
Steampunk at its best, IMHO.
January 19, 2016
Not entirely sure what I make of this yet. The story does have promise, and is probably worth continuing, but the pace is a bit frenetic and confusing and the artwork is a bit over-the-top. I expect it's the kind of thing that will grow on me.
October 28, 2011
I was pleasantly surprised by this.
I should have listened to all the positive reviews sooner.
I love the steampunky feel to it.
Will definitely be reading more.
November 19, 2012
interesting first volume, made me want to go and read the next, that's good enough for me
July 27, 2014
In theory, I love this book, but in practice, I've picked it up three or four times, and never gotten past page 40.
September 10, 2014
An original and entertaining steampunk graphic novel, Agatha is a wonderful heroine. Great characters, wonderful setting and world building, if perhaps a little confused initially.
August 1, 2017
Fun, inventive, with cool steampunk art - but also confusing. I was not a fan of Agatha's oversexualized character design - wasn't she supposed to be smart and nerdy?
Displaying 1 - 30 of 292 reviews