Jump to content

Girl Genius: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
 
(725 intermediate revisions by more than 100 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|Comic book and webcomic series}}
{{Cleanup|date=February 2008}}
{{for|the general term|Child prodigy}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox Webcomic <!-- Part of [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Webcomics]] -->
{{Infobox Webcomic <!-- Part of [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Webcomics]] -->
| title = Girl Genius
| title = Girl Genius
| image = [[Image:Girlgeniuspromopic.jpg|Agatha, main character of Girl Genius]]
| image = Girlgeniuspromopic.jpg
| caption = Agatha, main character of ''Girl Genius''
| caption = Agatha, main character of Girl Genius
| author = [[Phil Foglio|Phil]] & [[Kaja Foglio]]
| author = [[Phil Foglio|Phil]] & [[Kaja Foglio]]
| artist = [[Phil Foglio|Phil]] & [[Kaja Foglio]]
| illustrator = Phil & Kaja Foglio
| url = http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/index.php
| url = {{URL|www.girlgeniusonline.com}}
| status = Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
| status = Updates on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays.
| began = {{Start date|2001|01}} (''Secret Blueprints, Vol. I'' preview issue)<br>February 21, 2005 (web publication)
| began = [[November 4]] [[2002]] [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021104]
| genre = Fantasy, humor, science fiction, steampunk, gaslamp fantasy
| ended = Still in Progress
| ratings =
| genre = Fantasy, Humor, Science-Fiction, Steampunk
| ratings =
}}
}}


'''''Girl Genius''''' is an ongoing [[comic book]] series written and drawn by [[Phil Foglio|Phil]] and [[Kaja Foglio]] and published by their company, [[Studio Foglio]] LLC under the imprint Airship Entertainment.
'''''Girl Genius''''' is an ongoing [[comic book]] series turned [[webcomic]], written and drawn by [[Phil Foglio|Phil]] and [[Kaja Foglio]] and published by their company [[Studio Foglio]] LLC under the [[Imprint (trade name)|imprint]] Airship Entertainment. The comic won the [[Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story]] three times, has been nominated for a [[Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist]] and twice for [[Eisner Award]]s, and won multiple [[Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards|WCCA]] awards.


''Girl Genius'' has the tagline of "Adventure, Romance, Mad Science!". It follows the main character Agatha Heterodyne (introduced in 1995<ref name=IOU/>) through an alternate-history Victorian-style "[[steampunk]]" setting, although elements veer from what is usually thought of as steampunk. Kaja Foglio describes it as "[[gaslamp fantasy]]" instead to suggest its more fantastic style.
On April 18, 2005, ''Girl Genius'' became a [[webcomic]], and quarterly publication of the comic ceased, although publication of collected volumes continued. The new ''Girl Genius website'' now contains all the published work. It used to have two streams, "Girl Genius 101" (where the back issues were being released over time, intended for those who have never read the comic before) and "The Advanced Class" (where all new material is released); the two streams were merged when "101" caught up to the beginning of "Advanced". The site has been prone to bandwidth overages, especially when the complete comic was made available - one can now read it at a sitting.


As well as the comics, the Foglios have also written four Girl Genius novels, all published by [[Night Shade Books]], and two games based on the world have been made.
''Girl Genius'' updates on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.


==Plot==
==Overview==
===Setting===
The setting has been described as [[steampunk]],<ref name=":4">{{Cite magazine|last=Booth|first=John|date=2012-05-31|title=Girl Genius: Omnibus Volume One|magazine=Wired|url=https://www.wired.com/2012/05/girl-genius-omnibus-volume-one/|access-date=2020-09-15|issn=1059-1028}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Shockley|first=Cheyenne|date=July 16, 2015|title=Review: 'Girl Genius' Volume #1|url=https://fangirlnation.com/2015/07/16/review-girl-genius-volume-1/|access-date=2020-09-11|website=FangirlNation Magazine|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite magazine|last=Lawson|first=Corrina|date=2011-03-30|title=Comics Spotlight on Girl Genius|magazine=Wired|url=https://www.wired.com/2011/03/comics-spotlight-on-girl-genius/|access-date=2020-09-11|issn=1059-1028}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=Hogan|first=Robert|date=April 23, 2015|title=Girl Genius Review|url=http://www.overanalysing.com/web-comic-review/2015/4/23/girl-genius-review|access-date=2020-09-11|website=Over analysing|language=en-US}}</ref> with reviewers for ''Wired'' describing it as a "mosh of Victorian era, magic and emerging technology"<ref name=":2" /> and "steampunk to the core",<ref name=":4" /> but co-creator Kaja Foglio dislikes the term and instead coined the term "[[gaslamp fantasy]]" to describe the work. Kaja said in a blog post that when ''Girl Genius'' was first coming out, there was a comic called ''[[Steampunk (comics)|Steampunk]]'' and she wanted to avoid confusion. She added that "we have no punk, and we have more than just steam, [so] using a different name seemed appropriate."<ref group="‡">{{cite web |last=Foglio |first=Kaja |title=Dirt, Collection Vol. 5, Furniture and Gaslamp Fantasy |date=26 April 2006
|url=http://kajafoglio.livejournal.com/60562.html |access-date=3 December 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313103808/http://kajafoglio.livejournal.com/60562.html |archive-date=13 March 2007 |df=dmy-all
}}
</ref> ''Girl Genius'' differs from classic steampunk in that technology is not just limited to machines but also encompasses biology such as "constructs" – biological creations which range from [[Frankenstein's monster|Frankenstein]]-style creatures<ref group="‡">{{cite web |last1=Foglio |title=Girl Genius |url=https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060308#.X2FkEGgzaUk |website=Girl Genius |access-date=16 September 2020 |date=March 8, 2006 }}</ref> to talking cats<ref group="‡">{{cite web |last1=Foglio |title=Girl Genius |url=https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050202#.X2FauWgzaUk |website=Girl Genius |access-date=16 September 2020 |date=February 2, 2005}}</ref> and mouse-sized [[mammoths]].<ref name="mimmoths" group="‡">{{cite web |title=Girl Genius |url=https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20041105#.X2Fd-GgzaUk |website=Girl Genius |access-date=16 September 2020 |date=November 5, 2004}}</ref>


''Girl Genius'' is set in an alternate-universe Europe<ref name=":3" /> with Industrial Revolution-like surroundings, airships, and mad scientists called Sparks.<ref name=":4" /> These Sparks, who have incredible powers of invention,<ref name=":1" /> turned the Age of Enlightenment into a full-scale war that ravaged the continent, until Baron Wulfenbach brought an uneasy peace through force.<ref group="‡">{{cite web |last1=Foglio |title=Girl Genius |url=https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040806#.X2FnBWgzaUk |website=Girl Genius |access-date=16 September 2020 |date=August 6, 2004 }}</ref>
''Girl Genius'' is a [[steampunk]] tale; “a gaslamp fantasy with adventure, romance and mad science”, set in an [[alternate history (fiction)|alternate history]] "where the [[Industrial Revolution]] has become an all-out war" due to the appearance of "Sparks" &mdash; highly charismatic [[mad scientist]]s with supernormal abilities in one or more sciences.


=== Plot ===
The main character, '''Agatha Heterodyne''', is, as far as is known, the sole surviving descendant of the [[Heterodyne]] clan, a centuries-old Spark [[dynasty]]. Known for their unique family trait, a form of [[autosuggestion]] involving a hummed tune that enhances their already prodigious abilities they called "Heterodyning",[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070606] they were among the world's most powerful Sparks – and the most villainous.
''Girl Genius'' tells the story of Agatha Clay, a student and apprentice at Transylvania Polygnostic University, whose experiments never work until she encounters an electromagnetic pulse and is robbed of her locket.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> This leads her to break free of an attempt to suppress her powers as a Spark and to hide that she is the long-lost daughter of legendary figures William "Bill" Heterodyne and Lucrezia Mongfish,<ref group="‡" name="v5story"/> and thus is the last of the prestigious and dreaded House of Heterodyne.<ref group="‡" name="v8story"/> Agatha Heterodyne learns to mix scientific genius, a streak of heroism, and an obsessive possessiveness for what she considers her own in order to claim her heritage and birthright while trying to remain safe from the many European powers trying to use her for their own ends.<ref group="‡" name="v13story"/>


==Major characters==
The only exception to the family's nefarious nature were Agatha's uncle, Barry, and her father, William. As the famous Heterodyne Boys, they established a [[Golden Age]] in [[Europe]] that lasted years and almost completely redeemed the family name. However, around the time of Agatha's birth, it came to an end with the appearance of the most dreaded Spark in recent history – a mysterious force known to most only as "The Other".
The main and recurring characters of ''Girl Genius'' include:
*'''Agatha Heterodyne''': She was raised under the name of '''Agatha Clay''' and was kept ignorant of her true identity growing up. It is when her locket is stolen that Agatha "breaks through" as a Spark, leading her to learn that she is the last of the Heterodyne family. She spends the story trying to reclaim her family heritage and defend it from the many threats to its safety.<ref group="‡" name="v13story">{{cite book |last=Foglio |first=Kaja |author-link=Kaja Foglio |date=2014 |title=Girl Genius Volume 13: Agatha Heterodyne and the Sleeping City |url=https://archive.org/details/girlgeniusvolume0000fogl/page/n7/mode/2up |location=Seattle, Washington |publisher=Airship Entertainment |page=iv |isbn=978-1-890856-60-1}}</ref><ref group="‡" name="v5story">{{cite book |last=Foglio |first=Kaja |author-link=Kaja Foglio |date=2014 |title=Agatha Heterodyne & the Clockwork Princess |url=https://archive.org/details/agathaheterodyne0000fogl_l0b7/page/n5/mode/2up |location=Seattle, Washington |publisher=Airship Entertainment |page=vi |isbn=978-1890856397}}</ref><ref group="‡" name="v8story">{{cite book |last=Foglio |first=Kaja |author-link=Kaja Foglio |date=2014 |title=Agatha Heterodyne & the Chapel of Bones |url=https://archive.org/details/agathaheterodyne0000fogl/page/n5/mode/2up |location=Seattle, Washington |publisher=Airship Entertainment |page=vi |isbn=978-1890856472}}</ref>
*'''The Heterodyne Boys''': Two legendary brothers and heroes, Bill and Barry Heterodyne, who are Agatha's father and uncle respectively. Bill's wife Lucrezia Mongfish went missing one day, prompting the Heterodyne Boys to fight in a war from which they became missing in action.<ref group="‡">{{cite book |last1=Foglio |first1=Phil |author-link1=Phil Foglio |last2=Foglio |first2=Kaja |author-link2=Kaja Foglio |date=2011 |title=Agatha H. and the Airship City |url=https://archive.org/details/agathahairshipci00kaja/page/1/mode/2up |location=San Francisco |publisher=Night Shade Books |pages=1–7 |isbn=978-1597802123}}</ref>
*'''The Other''': A malevolent, enigmatic entity who almost destroyed Europa twenty years before the story's start,<ref group="‡" name="v13story"/> and whom the Heterodyne Boys went missing when going off to fight. Over the course of the story, Agatha comes to believe that the Other was '''Lucrezia Mongfish''', her long-lost mother.<ref group="‡">{{cite web |last1=Foglio |title=Girl Genius |url=https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060116 |website=Girl Genius |access-date=17 May 2023 |date=January 16, 2006 }}</ref>
*'''Baron Klaus Wulfenbach''': A pan-European leader.<ref group="‡" name="v13story"/><ref group="‡">{{cite book |last1=Foglio |first1=Phil |author-link1=Phil Foglio |last2=Foglio |first2=Kaja |author-link2=Kaja Foglio |date=2011 |title=Agatha H. and the Airship City |url=https://archive.org/details/agathahairshipci00kaja/page/26/mode/2up |location=San Francisco |publisher=Night Shade Books |page=26 |isbn=978-1597802123}}</ref> Klaus was once a sidekick of the Heterodyne Boys, but when they disappeared, he chose to bring peace to Europe through force. He suspects Agatha Heterodyne to be the Other.
*'''Gilgamesh "Gil" Wulfenbach''': The only son of Klaus Wulfenbach,<ref group="‡">{{cite web |last1=Foglio |title=Girl Genius |url=https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021216 |website=Girl Genius |access-date=17 May 2023 |date=December 16, 2002 }}</ref> who is raising him as a successor, and one of Agatha's love interests. He is torn between his loyalty to his father and his love for Agatha.
*'''Tarvek Sturmvoraus''': A prince from Sturmhalten,<ref group="‡">{{cite book |last1=Foglio |first1=Phil |author-link1=Phil Foglio |last2=Foglio |first2=Kaja |author-link2=Kaja Foglio |date=2012 |title=Agatha H. and the Clockwork Princess |url=https://archive.org/details/agathahclockwor00phil/page/282/mode/2up |location=Portland, Oregon |publisher=Night Shade Books |page=282 |isbn=978-1597802239}}</ref> who is the direct descendant of the legendary 17th century "Storm King" Andronicus Valois.<ref group="‡" name="v8story"/> Though only introduced in Volume 6 (after it moved to webcomic format),<ref group="‡">{{cite web |last1=Foglio |title=Girl Genius |url=https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20051021 |website=Girl Genius |access-date=17 May 2023 |date=October 21, 2005 }}</ref> Tarvek later became one of Agatha's love interests.
*'''The Jägermonsters''' or '''Jägers''': A type of [[Super soldier|super-soldiers]] serving House Heterodyne.<ref group="‡">{{cite book |last1=Foglio |first1=Phil |author-link1=Phil Foglio |last2=Foglio |first2=Kaja |author-link2=Kaja Foglio |date=2012 |title=Agatha H. and the Clockwork Princess |url=https://archive.org/details/agathahclockwor00phil/page/144/mode/2up |location=Portland, Oregon |publisher=Night Shade Books |pages=144–145 |isbn=978-1597802239}}</ref>
*'''Zeetha''': A lost warrior-princess from a faraway land known as Skifander.<ref group="‡" name="v5story"/><ref group="‡">{{cite web |last1=Foglio |title=Girl Genius |url=https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20041101 |website=Girl Genius |access-date=17 May 2023 |date=November 1, 2004 }}</ref> She volunteers to mentor Agatha.
*'''Krosp''': An artificially-made cat with human intelligence<ref group="‡">{{cite web |last1=Foglio |title=Girl Genius |url=https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040315 |website=Girl Genius |access-date=17 May 2023 |date=March 15, 2004 }}</ref> and one of Agatha's sidekicks.
*'''Othar Tryggvassen''': A self-styled "Gentleman Adventurer" and a Spark who seeks to kill all the Sparks in the world, ending with himself.<ref group="‡">{{cite book |last1=Foglio |first1=Phil |author-link1=Phil Foglio |last2=Foglio |first2=Kaja |author-link2=Kaja Foglio |date=2012 |title=Agatha H. and the Clockwork Princess |url=https://archive.org/details/agathahclockwor00phil/page/2/mode/2up |location=Portland, Oregon |publisher=Night Shade Books |page=3 |isbn=978-1597802239}}</ref>


==Publication history==
The Other possessed almost unimaginably powerful technologies, chief among them the terrifying Slaver Wasps, parasitic insects which transformed their victims into Revenants -- servants who, despite retaining their intelligence and consciousness, become somehow dominated by The Other in a hitherto unknown manner.[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040326] Leading the fight against them and The Other were, of course, the Heterodyne Boys. After several years of war, The Other disappeared – and so did the Heterodyne Boys.[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070817]
[[File:Phil and Kaja Foglio Gen Con 2007.jpg|thumb|Kaja and Phil Foglio in 2007]]
The idea for the style of ''Girl Genius'' came about when Kaja Foglio went through some of Phil's loose drawings, saying in an interview: "I was going through all of Phil's old files and I was filing all of the old sketches, and I was coming across weird airships and cats in tophats with walking canes, and all of this wonderful... Victoriana sci-fi stuff... it was like 'Oh, this is everything I love!'"<ref>{{cite web|date=27 January 2008|title=Interview with Phil and Kaja Foglio, Part 2 of 2|url=http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-7022/TS-86385.mp3|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720203728/http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-7022/TS-86385.mp3|archive-date=20 July 2011|access-date=14 September 2020|work=The Biblio File|publisher=[[TalkShoe]]|at=7m, 15s|format=MP3}}</ref> Phil Foglio said, "We wanted to do something with a strong female lead character. We both like the tropes associated with mad science, and I really enjoy drawing fiddly Victorian-style gizmos".<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=9317 |url-status=unfit |last=Jordan |first=Justin |work=CBR News |title=Getting Smarter: Phil Foglio Talks "Girl Genius" |date=12 February 2007 |access-date=3 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081118005703/http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=9317 |archive-date=18 November 2008 }}</ref>


Agatha Heterodyne first appeared in print in 1995 in a [[GURPS]] sourcebook that the Foglios illustrated.<ref name=IOU>{{cite book |first=Phil |last=Foglio |title=[[GURPS Illuminati University|GURPS IOU]] |page=11 |quote=Agatha Hete.. Mad Scien..}}</ref> Phil Foglio states that plotting for ''Girl Genius'' started in 1993, and it was first published in 2000.<ref name=":5">{{cite web |url=http://steampunkworkshop.com/phil-foglio.shtml |title=Meredith Scheff Interviews Phil Foglio |last=Scheff |first=Meredith |work=The Steampunk Workshop |date=9 March 2008 |access-date=3 December 2008 }}</ref> ''Girl Genius: The Secret Blueprints Vol. I'' was printed in January 2001, followed closely by the monochrome Issue 1 in February.{{Citation needed|date=September 2020}} In 2005 ''Girl Genius'' became a webcomic, and quarterly print publication of the comic ceased.<ref name=":5" />
Bill has not been seen since, but Barry raised Agatha in secret until she was seven when he disappeared once more, leaving her in the care of Punch and Judy, two "constructs" (artificial people, in the style of {the [[pop-culture]] version of} [[Frankenstein's monster]]) originally built by Barry and William. At the beginning of the series, Agatha is ignorant of her true heritage, and is being raised under the name of Agatha Clay, knowing her adoptive parents only as Adam and Lilith.


The first three printed issues (which make up Volume 1) were in black and white. Subsequent printed and web comics were in color. Volume 1 was inked by [[Brian Snoddy]], Volumes 2 and 3 by Mark McNabb. Volume 4 by Laurie E. Smith, and all subsequent volumes by Cheyenne Wright.<ref name="newreaders" group="‡">{{Cite web|title=Girl Genius|url=https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/newreaders.php|access-date=2020-09-17|website=www.girlgeniusonline.com}}</ref> Wright also colored the comics of Volume 1; these colored versions were used for a new print edition of Volume 1 and have replaced the original comics on the website.<ref group="‡">{{Cite web|title=Girl Genius|url=https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021104#.X2LQSmgzaUk|access-date=2020-09-17|website=www.girlgeniusonline.com}}</ref>
But when she loses her locket, her only keepsake of her parents which Barry told her to always wear, her life changes. She is expelled from the renowned Transylvania Polygnostic University, and discovers that the locket held a secret - it suppressed her Spark. She quickly draws the attention of the ruthless ruler of much of Europe, Baron Klaus von Wulfenbach - a former associate of her father and her uncle, and a former unsuccessful suitor for her mother's hand.


In an interview recorded in January 2008, shortly before they began releasing pages of volume 8 of ''Girl Genius'' on their web site, the Foglios stated that they expected the climax of Volume 8 to be the rough equivalent of "the end of the first season," and that it would provide a logical break in case of author catastrophe and a fresh jumping-on point for new readers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-7022/TS-85030.mp3 |title=Interview with Phil and Kaja Foglio, Part 1 of 2, 33m:45s |work=The Biblio File |publisher=[[TalkShoe]] |format=MP3 |date=27 January 2008 |access-date=3 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413144418/http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-7022/TS-85030.mp3 |archive-date=13 April 2014 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> However, this was an underestimate of the length of the remaining "first season": the end of Volume 13 turned out to be approximately halfway through the planned overall story arc.<ref name="AMA" group="‡">{{cite web|title=We are Kaja and Phil Foglio creators of Girl Genius|url=https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1fcxje/we_are_kaja_and_phil_foglio_creators_of_girl/?sort=old|work=AMA| date=May 30, 2013 |publisher=Reddit|access-date=8 July 2013}}</ref> The "second season" of the series began March 3, 2014, with "Act 2, Volume 1,"<ref group="‡">{{cite web|url=http://girlgeniuscomic.livejournal.com/261579.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140310123612/http://girlgeniuscomic.livejournal.com/261579.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2014-03-10 |publisher=Girl Genius |website=[[Livejournal]] |title=Girl Genius Comic for Monday, March 03, 2014 |date=2014-03-02 }}</ref> after a two-month hiatus of the main story.
=="Gaslamp Fantasy"==
Kaja Foglio coined the term "Gaslamp Fantasy" (an alternative to "steampunk") to describe the work. In her [[April 24]], [[2006]] [http://kajafoglio.livejournal.com/60562.html LiveJournal entry], Kaja Foglio explained how the term came to be coined:


===Published collections===
<blockquote>
{{Unreferenced section|date=September 2020}}
"I called it Gaslamp Fantasy because, around the time we were bringing ''Girl Genius'' out, there was a comic called [[Steampunk (comics)|''Steampunk'']] on the shelves and I didn't want any confusion. Plus, I've never liked the term [[Steampunk]] much for our work, it's derived from [[Cyberpunk]] (a term which I think actually fits its genre well) but we have no punk, and we have more than just steam, and using a different name seemed appropriate. I mis-remembered a term that I had come across in the foreword to an [[H. Rider Haggard]] book, where the author was talking about [[Jules Verne]], [[H.G. Wells]], Rider Haggard and that sort of pre-[[pulp magazine|pulp adventure]] material, and came up with "Gaslamp Fantasy." I felt a bit foolish when I discovered that I had made up my own term, but it works and I like it."
The webcomic, as well as the initial printed issues, have been collected into printed volumes, and in some cases those volumes have been collected into printed omnibuses. Unless stated in the notes below, the books reprint works first published as the webcomic.
</blockquote>


==== The First Journey of Agatha Heterodyne (also called "Act 1") ====
It also differs from classic steampunk in that technology is not just limited to machines but also encompasses biology. Thus alongside the Clanks (robots), dirigibles and walking gunboats of the world there are constructs - biological creations which range from [[Frankenstein]]-style creatures to talking cats and mouse-sized mammoths.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Vol / Omnibus #
!Title
!Pages
!ISBN
!Notes
|-
|Volume 1
|''Agatha Heterodyne and the Beetleburg Clank''
|96
|
Paperback: {{ISBN|1-890856-19-3}}, full color paperback: {{ISBN|1-890856-50-9}}, hardcover: {{ISBN|1-890856-20-7}}
|Reprints issues #1–3
|-
|Volume 2
|''Agatha Heterodyne and the Airship City''
|112
|
Paperback: {{ISBN|1-890856-30-4}}, hardcover: {{ISBN|1-890856-31-2}}
|Reprints issues #4–6
|-
|Volume 3
|''Agatha Heterodyne and the Monster Engine''
|128
|
Paperback: {{ISBN|1-890856-32-0}}, hardcover: {{ISBN|1-890856-33-9}}
|Reprints issues #7–10
|-
|Volume 4
|''Agatha Heterodyne and the Circus Of Dreams''
|128
|
Paperback: {{ISBN|1-890856-36-3}}, hardcover: {{ISBN|1-890856-37-1}}
|Reprints issues #11–13 and webcomic from April to June 2005
|-
|Volume 5
|''Agatha Heterodyne and the Clockwork Princess''
|112
|
Paperback: {{ISBN|1-890856-39-8}}, hardcover: {{ISBN|1-890856-38-X}}
|
|-
|Volume 6
|''Agatha Heterodyne and the Golden Trilobite''
|150
|
Paperback: {{ISBN|1-890856-42-8}}, hardcover: {{ISBN|1-890856-41-X}}
|
|-
|Volume 7
|''Agatha Heterodyne and the Voice of the Castle''
|128
|
Paperback: {{ISBN|978-1-890856-45-8}}, hardcover: {{ISBN|978-1-890856-46-5}}
|
|-
|Volume 8
|''Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones''
|144
|
Paperback: {{ISBN|978-1-890856-47-2}}, hardcover: {{ISBN|978-1-890856-48-9}}
|
|-
|Volume 9
|''Agatha Heterodyne and the Heirs of the Storm''
|144
|
Paperback: {{ISBN|978-1-890856-52-6}}, hardcover: {{ISBN|978-1-890856-51-9}}
|
|-
|Volume 10
|''Agatha Heterodyne and the Guardian Muse''
|152
|
Paperback: {{ISBN|978-1-890856-53-3}}, hardcover: {{ISBN|978-1-890856-54-0}}
|
|-
|Volume 11
|''Agatha Heterodyne and the Hammerless Bell''
|168
|
Paperback: {{ISBN|978-1-890856-55-7}}, hardcover: {{ISBN|978-1-890856-56-4}}
|
|-
|Volume 12
|''Agatha Heterodyne and the Siege of Mechanicsburg''
|192
|
Paperback: {{ISBN|978-1-890856-57-1}}, hardcover: {{ISBN|978-1-890856-58-8}}
|
|-
|Volume 13
|''Agatha Heterodyne and the Sleeping City''
|160
|
Paperback: {{ISBN|978-1-890856-59-5}}, hardcover: {{ISBN|978-1-890856-60-1}}
|
|-
|Omnibus 1
|''Girl Genius Omnibus Edition Vol 1''
|
|Paperback: {{ISBN|978-1-890856-40-3}}
|Reprints Volumes 1–3, in a smaller, black & white edition
|-
|Omnibus 1
|''Girl Genius Omnibus Vol 1: Agatha Awakens''
|
|Hardcover: {{ISBN|978-0-7653-3132-8}}
|Reprints Volumes 1–3 in color and new lettering<ref name=":4" />
|}


==== The Second Journey of Agatha Heterodyne (also called "Act 2") ====
==The Spark==
{| class="wikitable"
!Vol / Omnibus #
!Title
!Pages
!ISBN
!Notes
|-
|Volume 14
|''The Beast of the Rails''
|128
|
Paperback: {{ISBN|978-1-890856-61-8}}, hardcover: {{ISBN|978-1-890856-62-5}}
|
|-
|Volume 15
|''City of Lightning''
|128
|Paperback: {{ISBN|978-1-890856-63-2}}
|
|-
|Volume 16
|''The Incorruptible Library''
|122
|Paperback: {{ISBN|978-1-890856-65-6}}
|
|-
|Volume 17
|''Kings and Wizards''
|120
|Paperback: {{ISBN|978-1-890856-67-0}}
|
|-
|Volume 18
|''Queens and Pirates''
|128
|Paperback: {{ISBN|978-1890856-69-4}}
|
|-
|Volume 19
|''Sparks and Monsters''
|128
|Paperback: {{ISBN|978-1890856-71-7}}, hardcover: {{ISBN|978-1890856-72-4}}
|
|-
|Volume 20
|''The Exorcism Engines''
|122
|Hardcover:<ref>''[https://forbiddenplanet.com/364863-girl-genius-second-journey-volume-7-exorcism-engines-hardcover/ Girl Genius: Second Journey: Volume 7: Exorcism Engines (Hardcover)]'' on forbiddenplanet.com (Accessed October 13, 2022).</ref> {{ISBN|978-1890856-74-8}}
|-
|Volume 21
|''An Entertainment in Londinium''
|122
|
|
|-
|Volume 22
|''The Chronometric Lantern Expedition''
|121
|
|
|-
|Volume 23
|''Escape from the Island of the Rat Queen''
|120
|
|
|-
|}


==''Girl Genius'' in other media ==
The Spark is the center of the fictional Girl Genius universe. It is what makes the [[mad scientists]] of the story what they are; people say someone ''is'' a Spark if he or she ''has'' the Spark.[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/info/glossary.php] It is a rare [[hereditary]] trait found mostly within a small number of families - most of the common population that "break through" are either relatively weak or unknowingly related to one or more of these families.
''Girl Genius'' has been adapted, or proposed for adaptation, for other media:


=== Novels ===
Most of the time those who carry the Spark seem no different from anyone else, but they are capable of entering a state of [[hyperfocus]] (sometimes called "the madness place"[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20051005]) that greatly enhances their [[charisma]], [[comprehension]] and [[intuition]] – at the cost of all their [[rationality]].[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030625] In short, they can become [[fanatic]]ally [[obsession|obsessive]] [[savant]]s at the drop of a hat (though [[stimulant]]s can easily induce it[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070525]) – and it is not at all uncommon for some to act as such almost constantly.
{{Unreferenced section|date=September 2020}}
The Foglios have written four Girl Genius prose novels, which follow the same story as the comics:


*''Agatha H. and the Airship City'', covering volumes 1–3 of the comic;
On top of that, the first time a Spark enters hyperfocus is (with only one exception) always traumatic. Most are almost immediately killed by their breakthrough creations, or by rioting townsfolk. A fair number become incurably insane. This period is especially dangerous for females, which is one of the reasons why most adult sparks are male.[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040723]
*''Agatha H. and the Clockwork Princess'', covering volumes 4–6;
*''Agatha H. and the Voice of the Castle'', covering volumes 7–9; and
*''Agatha H. and the Siege of Mechanicsburg'' covering volumes 10–13.


The prose novels are published by [[Night Shade Books]].
Most of those who survive quickly gain followers (commonly known as [[henchman|minion]]s) through sheer [[animal magnetism|magnetism]], and eventually gather [[Cult of personality|tremendous support]] unless killed by rival Sparks. Those that survive this process of attrition become the power players of their fictional world, and if they successfully reproduce they begin lineages that are nothing less than [[royalty]] – right down to personal [[heraldry|heraldic]] sigils; the Heterodyne Trilobite[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070321], the Aaronev Sword-and-Gear[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20051031], and the Wulfenbach Winged Rook[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021209], for example. (Those who accept the Baron's Peace wear winged versions of their sigils[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20051014], though their underlings wear theirs). Of course, this does nothing to satisfy their obsessions, and they spend most of their time dueling rivals when not engaging in dangerous experiments. The world of Girl Genius is one of unending conflict and cataclysm.


===Games===
Though a Spark requires tools and materials to work, there seems to be nothing beyond their capabilities if they desire it enough. Every stereotype accredited to mad scientists is possible for them; from resurrecting the dead to changing animals into people to creating life from scratch. Mechanisms of astounding complexity and capability are common, many beyond the reach of modern science. Foremost among these creations are weapons of unbelievable power. However, when these capabilities are paired with their lack of rational thought, the results are devastating. Though the average Spark is smart enough to make the impossible possible, they are also dumb enough to rarely understand the consequences of their actions. It's noted on at least one occasion that many Sparks meet their doom owing to the fact that "they're smart enough to build Death-Rays and dumb enough to turn them on armies all by themselves."[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070219] This suggests a dichotomy in the brain of the spark, since many seem to be more than willing to conduct experiments of questionable morality whilst under hyperfocus[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20071005]and yet still be willing to sacrifice themselves in a heartbeat to save others.
*Agatha Heterodyne appeared in two illustrations and by name in the 1995 [[role-playing game]] supplement [[GURPS Illuminati University]]. This sourcebook for [[GURPS]] was illustrated by the Foglios and predates the release of the comic.<ref name=IOU/>
*''[[Girl Genius: The Works]]'' is a card game designed by Phil Foglio and [[James Ernest]], published in 2001.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Girl Genius: The Works|url=https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1463/girl-genius-works|access-date=2020-09-17|website=BoardGameGeek|language=en-US}}</ref> This game was an adaptation of an earlier game involving the Foglios called ''XXXenophile.''<ref>{{Cite web|last=Robinson|first=Tasha|date=2001|title=Girl Genius: The Works|url=http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue219/games.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010718155314/http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue219/games.html|archive-date=2001-07-18|access-date=2020-10-26|website=SciFi.com}}</ref>
*''Girl Genius and the Rats of Mechanicsburg'' is a mobile game released in 2014 following a [[Kickstarter]] in 2012.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Girl Genius and the Rats of Mechanicsburg|url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stephenbeeman/girl-genius-and-the-rats-of-mechanicsburg|access-date=2020-09-05|website=Kickstarter|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Rats of Mechanicsburg: A Girl Genius® Game|url=https://www.amazon.com/Rats-Mechanicsburg-Girl-Genius%C2%AE-Game/dp/B00J72JTEU|access-date=2020-09-05|website=Amazon}}</ref>
*A role-playing game, ''Girl Genius Sourcebook and Role-playing Game'', was released in 2021 by [[Steve Jackson Games]].<ref>{{cite web |title=DriveThruRPG Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game |url=https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/368854/Girl-Genius-Sourcebook-and-Roleplaying-Game |website=drivethrurpg.com |quote=Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game is copyright © 2021, 2022 by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated.}}</ref> A role-playing game had been first announced as early as 2004.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Girl Genius RPG|url=http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/girlgenius/|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040405004336/http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/girlgenius/|archive-date=2004-04-05|website=SJgames.com|quote=Written by Kaja Foglio (assisted by Michelle Barrett on the crunchy bits), and illustrated by Phil and Kaja Foglio, the Girl Genius RPG will be a complete, self-contained gamebook using the Fourth Edition GURPS rules.}}</ref>
*A video game, ''Girl Genius: Adventures In Castle Heterodyne'', was released in 2023 after a Kickstarter in 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Girl Genius - Adventures In Castle Heterodyne|url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ggadventures/girl-genius-adventures-in-castle-heterodyne|access-date=2020-09-05|website=Kickstarter|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-09-06 |title=Girl Genius: Adventures In Castle Heterodyne is out now |url=https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/09/girl-genius-adventures-in-castle-heterodyne-is-out-now/ |access-date=2023-09-09 |website=GamingOnLinux |language=en}}</ref>
=== Movie ===
In 2010 it was reported that [[Felicia D. Henderson]] had optioned the rights to ''Girl Genius'' and was adapting it into a movie.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Renaud|first=Jeffrey|date=2010-09-13|title=Henderson On "Titans," "Static" & "Girl Genius"|url=https://www.cbr.com/henderson-on-titans-static-girl-genius/|access-date=2020-09-09|website=CBR|language=en-US}}</ref> However, {{As of|2020||lc=y}} no movie had been produced.


== Awards ==
They are thus almost always generally despised. Many dub them "madboys" (but never when one is within earshot).
[[File:The Foglios' acceptance speech.jpg|250px|thumb|right|The Foglios' acceptance speech at the Hugo Awards ceremony in 2010]]''Girl Genius'' and its creators have won multiple [[Hugo Award]]s and [[Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards]] (WCCAs). They have also been nominated for further Hugo awards, WCCA awards, and [[Eisner Award]]s.


{| class="wikitable sortable"
==Characters==
|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"
===Agatha Clay/Heterodyne===
! scope="col" | Year
[[Image:Agatha.02.jpg|thumb|left|Agatha Clay/Heterodyne.]]
! scope="col" | Organization
; ''Agatha Clay'', also known as ''Agatha Heterodyne'': Agatha is the main character of Girl Genius. Agatha is a "Spark", or mad scientist. She is especially good at creating and repairing electrical and mechanical devices like "clanks" (impossibly advanced steampunk [[robot]]s) and engines. Her most impressive creation is her ever-present Dingbot, a highly versatile [[coaster]]-sized Clank. Not only is it capable of assisting Agatha with any task she happens to be performing, it can also perform complex tasks without her supervision, and [[Self-replicating machine|building as many copies of itself]] as necessary to complete a task as fast as possible. Though each generation of Dingbot is slightly less well-made than its predecessor[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040405] (ensuring it does not [[grey goo|replicate endlessly]]), together they are capable of truly amazing feats of engineering &mdash; such as secretly converting Master Payne's Circus of Adventure into an army capable of repelling an entire division of Wulfenbach's troops.[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20061225]
! scope="col" | Award
! scope="col" | Recipient / Book
! scope="col" | Outcome
!Citation
|-
| rowspan="1" |'''2014'''
|[[Hugo Award]]s
|[[Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story|Best Graphic Story]]
|''Girl Genius, Volume 13: Agatha Heterodyne and the Sleeping City''
| {{Nom}}
|<ref>{{cite web|date=17 August 2014|title=2014 Hugo Award Winners|url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/2014/08/2014-hugo-award-winners/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819083711/http://www.thehugoawards.org/2014/08/2014-hugo-award-winners/|archive-date=19 August 2014|access-date=28 August 2014}}</ref>
|-
| rowspan="1" |'''2011'''
| Hugo Awards
| Best Graphic Story
|''Girl Genius, Volume 10: Agatha Heterodyne and the Guardian Muse''
| {{Won}}
|<ref>{{cite web|date=21 August 2011|title=2011 Hugo Award Winners|url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/2011/08/2011-hugo-award-winners/}}</ref>
|-
| rowspan="1" |'''2010'''
| Hugo Awards
| Best Graphic Story
|''Girl Genius, Volume 9: Agatha Heterodyne and the Heirs of the Storm''
| {{Won}}
|<ref name="wp100905" />
|-
| rowspan="1" |'''2009'''
| Hugo Awards
| Best Graphic Story
|''Girl Genius, Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones''
| {{Won}}
|<ref name="hugo09" />
|-
| rowspan="8" |'''2008'''
| Hugo Awards
|[[Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist|Best Professional Artist]]
| Phil Foglio
| {{Nom}}
|<ref name="hugo08" />
|-
| rowspan="7" |[[Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards]]
| Outstanding Comic
!
| {{Won}}
| rowspan="7" |<ref>{{Cite web|title=Here are you 2008 WCCA Winners!|url=http://ccawards.com/2008finalists.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110731154758/http://ccawards.com/2008finalists.html|archive-date=2011-07-31|access-date=14 September 2020|website=Web Cartoonist Choice Awards}}</ref>
|-
| Outstanding Writer
!
| {{Won}}
|-
| Outstanding Environment Design
!
| {{Won}}
|-
| Outstanding Artist
!
| {{Nom}}
|-
| Outstanding Character Writing
!
| {{Nom}}
|-
| Outstanding Long Form Comic
!
| {{Nom}}
|-
| Outstanding Use of Color
|Phil and Kaja Foglio (and Cheyenne Wright)
| {{Nom}}
|-
| rowspan="4" |'''2007'''
| rowspan="3" | Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards
| Outstanding Science Fiction Comic
!
| {{Won}}
|<ref>{{Cite web|title=Outstanding Science Fiction Comic|url=http://ryanestrada.com/wcca07/ceremony/scifi.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716135232/http://ryanestrada.com/wcca07/ceremony/scifi.htm|archive-date=2011-07-16|access-date=14 September 2020}}</ref>
|-
| Outstanding Comic
!
| {{Nom}}
|<ref>{{Cite web|title=WCCA 2007: Outstanding Comic|url=http://ryanestrada.com/wcca07/ceremony/comic.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716134857/http://ryanestrada.com/wcca07/ceremony/comic.htm|archive-date=2011-07-16|access-date=14 September 2020}}</ref>
|-
| Outstanding Long Form Comic
!
| {{Nom}}
|<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Outstanding Mystery of the Long Form Comic|url=http://ryanestrada.com/wcca07/ceremony/longform.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716135105/http://ryanestrada.com/wcca07/ceremony/longform.htm|archive-date=2011-07-16|access-date=14 September 2020}}</ref>
|-
|[[Eisner Award]]s
| [[Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic|Best Digital Comic]]
!
| {{Nom}}
|<ref name="eisner07">{{cite web|title=The 2007 Eisner Awards: 2007 Master Nominations List|url=http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_07nom.shtml|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808201201/http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_07nom.shtml|archive-date=8 August 2007|access-date=3 December 2008|publisher=[[San Diego Comic-Con International|Comic-Con]]|df=dmy}}</ref>
|-
| rowspan="3" |'''2006'''
| rowspan="3" | Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards
| Outstanding Story Concept
!
| {{Won}}
|<ref>{{Cite web|title=Outstanding Story Concept|url=http://ryanestrada.com/wcca/ceremony/storyconcept.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523213311/http://ryanestrada.com/wcca/ceremony/storyconcept.htm|archive-date=2011-05-23|access-date=14 September 2020}}</ref>
|-
| Outstanding Comic
!
| {{Nom}}
|<ref>{{Cite web|title=WCAA 2006 – Outstanding Comic|url=http://ryanestrada.com/wcca/ceremony/comic.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523220746/http://ryanestrada.com/wcca/ceremony/comic.htm|archive-date=2011-05-23|access-date=14 September 2020}}</ref>
|-
| Outstanding Science Fiction Comic
!
| {{Nom}}
|<ref>{{Cite web|title=Outstanding Science Fiction Comic|url=http://ryanestrada.com/wcca/ceremony/scifi.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716134606/http://ryanestrada.com/wcca/ceremony/scifi.htm|archive-date=2011-07-16|access-date=14 September 2020}}</ref>
|-
|'''2005'''
| Eisner Awards
| Best Writer/Artist—Humor
| Phil Foglio
| {{Nom}}
|<ref>{{cite web|title=The 2005 Eisner Awards: Nominees|url=http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_05nom.shtml|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090219141046/http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_05nom.shtml|archive-date=19 February 2009|access-date=3 December 2008|publisher=[[San Diego Comic-Con International|Comic-Con]]|df=dmy}}</ref>
|}


==References==
When she was five years old, Agatha's uncle Barry Heterodyne gave her a locket containing pictures of her parents, instructing her to never remove it.[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20031119] The locket secretly contained a mechanism that prevented her from realizing she was a Spark, by neutralizing her attempts to hyperfocus with excruciatingly painful [[migraine]]s[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021122]. Punch and Judy &mdash; who took care of her under the names Adam and Lilith Clay &mdash; continued to ensure she always wore it. Less than a day after the locket was stolen, Agatha "broke through" &mdash; by building her first Clank in her sleep, a quirk she continued to display for some time. (Incidentally, the breakthrough of every other Spark of record has been extremely destructive. Agatha has not so much broken through as eased through - the fairly benign nature of her first creation is unprecedented.[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040409] This may be due to the locket suppressing her earlier attempts to hyperfocus, which she began doing at the age of five.[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030228] In theory, as she has been hyperfocusing for some time, she has avoided the initial trauma.)
{{Reflist|2|refs=
<ref name="wp100905">{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Cavna |work=Comic Riffs |publisher=[[Washington Post]] |title='GIRL GENIUS' wins Hugo Award for best graphic story |url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/comic-riffs/2010/09/girl_genius_wins_hugo_award_fo.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006025146/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/comic-riffs/2010/09/girl_genius_wins_hugo_award_fo.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 6, 2012 |date=5 September 2010 |access-date=9 September 2010}}</ref>
<ref name="hugo09">{{cite web | title = 2009 Hugo Award Winners | work = thehugoawards.com | date = 9 August 2009 | url = http://www.thehugoawards.org/2009/08/2009-hugo-award-winners/ | access-date =21 January 2010}}</ref>
<ref name="hugo08">{{cite web |url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/?p=142 |title=2008 Hugo Award Nominees |access-date=6 August 2008 |date=21 March 2008 |publisher=[[World Science Fiction Society]] }}</ref>
}}


===Primary sources===
She has an impressive heritage as the daughter of the heroic Bill Heterodyne and Lucrezia Mongfish, whose shady past has been hinted at, but who was believed to have gone straight. She has inherited both the legendary Heterodyne charismatic genius and Lucrezia's irrepressible attitude (not to mention temper). Due to this, she is pursued by many other Sparks. Sparks are the power players of her world, and as one currently without an empire of her own to protect her, she is a potential asset &mdash; or enemy. [[Girl Genius#Baron Klaus Wulfenbach|Baron Klaus Wulfenbach]] wishes to imprison her, believing her to be a source of potential discord. [[Girl Genius#Othar Tryggvasen|Othar Tryggvasen]] at first wished to kill her as part of his crusade against the Spark, but once he realizes that she is the Heterodyne heir, he decides he would prefer to ally with her.
In the text, these references are marked with a double dagger: ‡

{{Reflist|group="‡"}}
This pursuit is also often of a romantic nature, but make no mistake: Agatha has realized that, as a Spark, she has options for romance denied most women in her world. Though not averse to being romanced, she has formed no unbreakable attachments. She seems fated to follow in her mother's footsteps as a woman of power, enjoying the attentions of numerous equally willful, powerful men.
*The Baron's son, Gilgamesh, is devout in his pursuit of her; she may share feelings for him, or she may simply enjoy arguing with a fellow Spark who does not wish to dominate or kill her. Especially since when he enters hyperfocus, she finds him quite disturbing. However, the misfit is still rarely far from her thoughts, as he was the first person she ever met who appreciated her as a scientist.
*A dashing young man by the name of Lars, a fellow actor in Payne's circus, also had his eye on her. She was appreciative of the attention and was deeply moved by his devotion, but tragically, this relationship came to an end at Baron Wulfenbach's hand. Lars took a sword blow meant for her, and died just minutes later in her arms.
*Tarvek Sturmvoraus, son of Wilhelm Sturmvoraus, the seventh Prince Aaronev[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060206] and another prominent Spark, is her most recent accidental conquest. Aaronev VII is the very picture of a storybook prince: polite, charming and refined. He and Agatha hit it off from the start, and their relationship might be considered far more amicable than the one she shares with the Wulfenbach heir &mdash; if he did not happen to be a devious, manipulative opportunist &mdash; and somewhat responsible for her [[thorn in the flesh]]: Her [[demonic possession|possession]] by the dreaded force known to most only as The Other, but may be in fact her own mother, Lucrezia Mongfish.

Lucrezia created a machine that would [[Mind uploading|imprint her mind]] onto a suitable subject in the event of her demise, the protection and maintenance of which she entrusted to her most devout follower: Wilhelm Sturmvoraus, the sixth Prince Aaronev. Mongfish also created a suitable subject &mdash; Agatha. Given Agatha's age, she must have been conceived almost immediately before the first attack[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060322] &mdash; in which Agatha's brother died at only a year old.[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070810] Thus, Lucrezia's betrayal was carefully planned in advance &mdash; the son abandoned in favor of Agatha. When Agatha was born, Lucrezia entrusted what she intended to be her future body to her family servants, the Geisterdamen.

However, though Aaronev VI successfully protected the machine, her servants failed to do the same with their holy child. Furious, Lucrezia ordered the Geisterdamen to scour the world for her. [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20051230] Despite their efforts, Barry Heterodyne, and later the constructs Punch and Judy, were able to keep Agatha safely hidden &mdash; at least until Agatha discovered she was a Spark.

On the way to her ancestral home of Mechanicsburg, Agatha visited Aaronev's province, Sturmhalten. There, she was ordered to the castle by the prince and imprinted, resurrecting Europe's deadliest enemy. However, Lucrezia's plan failed to take into account Agatha's Heterodyne blood. Through the use of her family trait &mdash; "Heterodyning" &mdash; she was able to suppress Lucrezia's consciousness for limited periods of time, during which she did all she could to foil her mother's plans. Eventually she managed to fully suppress her mother &mdash; but only while once more wearing the locket that once painfully suppressed her Spark.

Agatha hates the locket, a symbol of how bad her life was before she discovered her Spark &mdash; the agonizing headaches every time she attempted to use her Spark, self-hatred because of the inventions that never worked, the humiliation of her peers, and the lies her adoptive parents told her &mdash; but she must wear it to keep the Other from possessing her again. The locket easily defeats the Other's efforts to manifest, but Agatha, having used her Spark uninhibited for so long, has grown too strong for the locket's control. Therefore Agatha also considers the locket a symbol of all she has and will overcome.

There exist hints that Agatha will in the future outshine even her father and uncle. The series begins with her running from a terrifying image (which bears similarities to the figure that gave the Geisterdamen their quest)[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021111], which causes her to lose her locket to Moloch von Zinzer and set the stage for her life as a Heterodyne heir. Later, Bangladesh DuPree encounters a series of similar images[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040126] that Baron Wulfenbach speculates are windows into the future.[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060322] If this is true, Agatha will one day have access to a time machine (''not'' as some speculate, merely a viewer, as sound, and therefore air, can pass through the apertures it generates) &mdash; a technology far more advanced than the clockwork robots, patchwork humanoids and bizarre mutants created by her fellow Sparks. And as her already-impressive abilities are all but completely untrained, it is easy to assume that once she gains more experience, she may be capable of inventing such works. This would also mean that other events hinted in these windows may come to pass &mdash; she is using the viewer to search for Moloch's comrades, who is wearing a Heterodyne trilobite marking him as her vassal &mdash; like she said, she's a Spark and gets her own sidekicks[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040920]. She also commands the Geisterdamen, the former servants of her mother, Lucrezia Mongfish &mdash; she may one day overcome her mother's influence and live free. Finally, her own Heterodyne trilobite is winged, signifying an allegiance to the Baron's Peace &mdash; she may one day gain Wulfenbach's acceptance and live in peace. And as Gilgamesh is also present wearing Geisterdamen clothing, she may gain it by marrying him.

===The Heterodyne Boys===
[[Image:Hboysbill.jpg|thumb|left|Bill Heterodyne, father to Agatha Heterodyne.]]
[[Image:Hboysbarry.jpg|thumb|right|Barry Heterodyne, uncle to Agatha Heterodyne.]]
; Bill and Barry Heterodyne: "The Heterodyne Boys" are Agatha's father and uncle. Unlike their ancestors, they were heroic and fought evil to establish a brief golden age in Europe, predating the comic. An early version of the pair appeared in a light-hearted [[Munden's Bar]] story in the comic book ''[[Grimjack]]'', where they were parodies of early-twentieth-century [[Edisonade]]s.

There is little canon knowledge of the Heterodynes, other than that Bill Heterodyne romanced the evil Spark Lucrezia Mongfish into heroism[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/cgi-bin/ggmain.cgi?date=20050318], eventually stealing her from Baron Wulfenbach and marrying her[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/cgi-bin/ggmain.cgi?date=20041206], a union that produced the main character, Agatha Heterodyne. At the time of the series Bill and Barry have been missing since the war against The Other, mysteriously gone and their ancestral castle home in ruins. Barry Heterodyne did secretly return, caring for Agatha until he disappeared again when she was seven.

Since their disappearance, they have become the stuff of legend, inspiring a series of books of dubious accuracy chronicling their adventures, including "The Heterodyne Boys and the Pneumatic Oyster", "The Heterodyne Boys and the Race to the West Pole", and "The Heterodyne Boys and the Turbines of [[Atlantis]]". Soon after escaping Castle Wulfenbach, Agatha encounters and joins a travelling troupe of players who perform plays about the Heterodyne Boys' adventures.

Though some of these stories may be factual, the accuracy of most is quite dubious and many are wildly exaggerated if not entirely fictional; Agatha's personal favorite, "The Race to the West Pole", details the beginning of her parents' relationship and is acknowledged as fact by many credible people. However, one character told a Heterodyne Boys story titled "The Heterodyne Boys and the Dragon from [[Mars]]", but admitted to making it up on the spot, and another published story ("The Turbines of Atlantis") was told as a parody of [[Mary Sue]] [[fanfiction]] [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20051216].

===Baron Klaus Wulfenbach===
[[Image:KlausWolfenbach.jpg|thumb|left|Baron Klaus Wulfenbach, ruler of much of Europe.]]
'''Baron Klaus Wulfenbach''' is a Spark with a particular interest in the workings, origins and nature of the Spark. When the Heterodynes began their heroic crusades, he was among the first to ally with them, moved by their idealism and hoping to bring an end to the constant battles between Europe's Sparks, eventually becoming close friends with Bill Heterodyne.

Thus he first met the figure that would haunt him for the rest of his life: Lucrezia Mongfish. After she was turned from conquest by the Heterodynes' ideals, a romantic triangle formed between Klaus, Lucrezia, and Bill Heterodyne. Lucrezia, being used to doing as she pleased, moved from one to the other as her whim suited her, until finally settling on Bill (though not before spending one last night with Klaus and drugging him to prevent any disturbances during the wedding[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20041210]).

He then disappeared. Three years later, The Other appeared, waging a war to annihilate Europe's Sparks that only ended with the disappearance of the Heterodynes. When he returned with his son, Gilgamesh, they had already been gone for several years &mdash; and Europe was in chaos. Without their charismatic presence to keep the peace, rampaging conflicts between rival Sparks had reduced society to ruins. Disgusted with what he saw, and less suited to diplomacy than the more charismatic Heterodynes, he adopted a simpler plan.

He drew a circle on a map, claimed it as his territory and imposed one simple rule: no more fighting. He was not taken seriously, at first; but as each outbreak of violence was met with the swift removal of the aggressors, and those who followed the rule were left to govern their lands as they saw fit, more and more began to grudgingly accept the "Baron's Peace". The circle grows with each passing year, and he is currently the uncontested ruler of much of Europe.[http://community.livejournal.com/haus_of_klaus/9295.html#cutid1]

The Baron's numerous employees come from a wide array of backgrounds, as they were all once the staffs of conquered Sparks. Though there are a number of minor Sparks who perform minor research for him, his organization consists primarily of various types of "constructs" (artificial people), and "clanks" (steampunk-styled [[robot]]s). He abandoned his ancestral home in favor of a headquarters with far more security, privacy and mobility: the city-sized [[airship]], Castle Wulfenbach. During his adventures with the Heterodynes, the Baron may have died and been revived as a construct; this is suggested by the stitching on his torso and limbs, which was evident even before Lucrezia married Bill.[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20041206]

While he is publicly considered a ruthless tyrant, his motives are more complex. Unlike the more maniacal Sparks, he does not seem obsessed with power for its own sake. He is not given to ostentation or reveling in power, and states frankly that he despises politics, considering his job (which consists solely of enforcing a single rule) to be more like babysitting than anything else. He fondly remembers his days when he adventured with the Heterodynes, and had time to pursue his own research. However, he is completely convinced that, without someone to enforce the peace, Europe (or even the world) would once more descend into chaos &mdash; and though he has high hopes in his son, Gilgamesh, he can find no one more capable than himself to fill the role. Thus, he will brook no chance he or his heir will lose that position.

His subjects do not note the discrepancy between their perception of him and his actual actions &mdash; among other things, he does not do anything to prevent portrayals of him as a ruthless villain in popular entertainment. In private, he is actually quite even-tempered (his obsession with brain surgery on particularly troublesome rival Sparks notwithstanding), and loves Heterodyne stories, especially the more outrageous and comedic ones that have been made up in recent years. He appears to simply lack the charisma (and patience) to rule by any means save military force &mdash; which he utilizes in a coldly rational manner. He states frankly that he can be a ruthless tyrant &mdash; but he tries to be fair.

He is obsessed with the pursuit of Agatha, because he knows she possesses in great quantity the critical factors that made Heterodynes formidable &mdash; not her intelligence (although it is among the greatest known), but her charisma. She wins allies easily, and the loyalty she shows them is almost always returned &mdash; though she currently has little support, what she has is devoted and growing quickly &mdash; exactly like her father, but like few or any other Sparks the world has ever seen. Wulfenbach has proven to be ruthless in his pursuit of her, but is sympathetic to her plight as well as his son's feelings for her.[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20061129]

Another motivation for his desire to capture Agatha is his hatred – and fear – of her mother, Lucrezia, due to his (seemingly correct) belief that she was The Other, the force that devastated much of Europe and apparently responsible for the disappearance of Bill and Barry. His son Gilgamesh's romantic attachment to her fuels his distrust and, on the other hand, some hope that she may be trustworthy. However, he appears to regard Agatha as more Lucrezia's heir than Bill's, and believes that she &mdash; not Lucrezia &mdash; may somehow actually ''be'' the Other &mdash; especially since she apparently attempted to enslave him![http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20061206]

===Gilgamesh Wulfenbach===
[[Image:GilWulfenbach.jpg|thumb|left|Gilgamesh Wolfenbach, son and heir to the Baron Klaus Wulfenbach.]]
Gilgamesh Wulfenbach ("Gil" to his friends) is the son of Baron Klaus Wulfenbach. He is a rather likable fellow, more interested in building aircraft and constructs than designing weapons or defending his father's empire. Despite being something of a slacker with a tendency to put his foot in his mouth when discussing non-technical subjects, he is in some ways superior to his father; for example, having acquired a Heterodyne artifact whose purpose stymies him, he's reluctant to "break it just to find out what it ''could'' have done".[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040211] His father's research into the Spark, in comparison, consists mainly of surgery upon captured rivals in which he "destroy(s) parts of your brain until you no longer ''are'' a Spark".[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040107]

His Spark is particularly powerful; he built his breakthrough creation (a knee-high insectoid construct named Zoing) at the age of eight. He has become increasingly infatuated with Agatha since discovering she was a fellow Spark, as he realized that she was the first woman he had ever met who could understand his love of science. She seemed somewhat taken with him as well, at least until she witnessed him brutally subduing Othar Tryggvassen (though when the self-proclaimed hero tried to kill her after she helped him escape, she decided she owed Gil an apology).

After being led to believe that Agatha died defending a traveling Heterodyne show from a rogue Clank, he spent his time resuscitating Agatha's surrogate parents Adam and Lilith Clay (otherwise known as Punch and Judy, assistants to the Heterodyne Brothers), and taking out his frustrations upon captured rogue Clanks.

However, upon learning that Agatha's demise had been greatly exaggerated, he seems to have undergone an impressive transformation. He sent his butler and friend, Wooster (in truth a spy for the British Empire), to find Agatha and bring her to London for protection. He pointedly demanded that she be kept free as well as safe &mdash; or he would focus all his abilities upon destroying England. [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060306]

The identity of Gil's mother has not been revealed, but the Baron has seen fit to warn his son that he may be targeted for assassination by [[Girl Genius#Zeetha|Zeetha]] because: "I kept you alive."[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070716]

===Othar Tryggvassen===
[[Image:OtharTryggvassen.jpg|thumb|left|Othar Tryggvassen, Gentleman Adventurer.]]
A Spark, Gentleman Adventurer and self-proclaimed hero whose sworn mission is the destruction of all the world's Sparks, including, eventually, himself. He regards them as a dangerous menace to society (a point of view shared by many, giving him a reputation as a hero; but not by all, to whom he has the opposite reputation). Besides being a Spark, Othar seems to be unusually resilient, surviving several incidents that would lead to certain death for anyone else (including a fall from the airship Castle Wulfenbach). Othar concedes that the Great Wall of [[Norway]] was a mistake.

===Krosp I===
[[Image:KrospI.jpg|thumb|right|Krosp I, Emperor of All Cats.]]
The Emperor of all cats. He is a construct, a [[bipedal]] [[polydactyl cat]] with the brain of a military genius (who is apparently no longer using it). He was designed to lead the cats of the world as an ever-present army of spies, messengers and saboteurs.[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040315] In principle, he is capable of this, being both extremely intelligent and capable of communicating with both cats and humans with equal proficiency. In practice, it is proven to be an incredibly stupid idea. He is no more capable of compelling the obedience of a cat than humans are![http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040317]

Krosp is currently Agatha's most loyal follower, although he affects regarding her as his [[fealty|vassal]] &ndash; making him not all that different from a normal cat.

===Zeetha===
[[Image:Zeetha.jpg|thumb|left|Zeetha.]]
A green-haired swordsmistress and the lost princess of the lost city of Skifander. She left the city as an envoy to the outer world. However, a complex chain of events (involving her slaughtering an entire fleet of sky pirates that kidnapped her) leaves her with no idea how to get home. Zeetha has declared she and Agatha are "kolee-dok-zumil"; a complex Skifandran term that might be compared to an [[apprenticeship]]. In practice however, it is more like "grindstone and knife": she regularly trains, drills and bludgeons Agatha to exhaustion. <ref>[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050218 Girl Genius Online Comics!<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

Most people, with the exception of Agatha and, it appears, Klaus, have never even heard of Skifander. Agatha knew of it from stories told by her Uncle Barry. Klaus's contact with Skifander has not been revealed, but he advised his son that Zeetha may have been sent to kill him. When Gilgamesh asks what he did, Klaus only stated that he "kept [Gilgamesh] alive."

===Ardsley Wooster===
[[Image:ArdsleyWooster.jpg|thumb|right|Ardsley Wooster, Secret Agent for British Intelligence.]]
Wooster is an agent of the British Queen (Albia), sent to spy on Gilgamesh Wulfenbach by posing as his manservant. Gilgamesh is aware of Wooster's true allegiance but says nothing.

When Gilgamesh discovers that his father is pursuing Agatha at a time when he himself is unable to rescue her, he sends Wooster to aid her. Gilgamesh reveals that he knows Wooster's role as a double agent and that he wants Wooster to take Agatha to England. He also warns Wooster that if she is not free and alive when he comes for her, he will destroy England.

Wooster is currently traveling with Agatha, Zeetha, and Krosp.

===The Jägermonsters/Jägerkin===
[[Image:Jagers.jpg|thumb|left|A Jägermonster.]]
This army of monsters, created by one of the earlier Heterodyne family members, is known for loyalty to house Heterodyne and a taste for bloody combat. The majority currently serve Baron Wulfenbach. They are nearly impossible to kill, talk in heavy German-like accents, have superhuman physical abilities, and make flippant remarks in even the direst of circumstances. Jägermonster may be [[pidgin]] German for "Hunter Monster" or a play on the [[Jägermeister]] alcoholic drink brand name. Alternatively it could refer to [[Germany|German]] or [[Austria]]n [[jaeger|soldiers]]. Jägermonsters appear very fond of ornate hats, and are rarely seen with their heads uncovered; a Jägermonster maxim holds that "any plan where you lose your hat is a bad plan."[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20031017]

Jägers are evidently long-lived: they remember events of more than a century ago.[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060712]

Jägers are presumably altered humans, created by drinking a broth known as "Jägerbrau." Jägers have innate loyalty to Heterodynes, apparently based on the pheromones that Heterodynes emit. As a result, Jägers are able to tell Agatha is a Heterodyne on immediate contact and are even able to determine that a burnt corpse could not have been a Heterodyne due to the lack of smell. It is unknown if Jägers are susceptible to cloned Heterodyne tissue. Jägers are typically male, although one female Jäger is known, Jenka.[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050624]

It is possible (although extremely unlikely) for Jägers to overcome their innate loyalty to the Heterodynes. Captain Vole [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070613] has renounced the Jagertroth, for reasons that are as yet unclear, and hates the Heterodynes.

===Bangladesh Dupree===
[[Image:BangladeshDupree.jpg|thumb|left|Commander Bangladesh Dupree.]]
This friendly and cheerful commander of Wulfenbach's airship fleet also happens to be a bloodthirsty and sociopathic former air pirate queen. After her pirate fleet was mysteriously slaughtered in her absence, Dupree joined Wulfenbach to satisfy her love of violence. Her mouth is currently wired shut after she broke her jaw.

===More Cast===
[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/info/cast/everybody.php Absolutely Everybody]

==Awards==
Girl Genius has won the following awards:
*[[2007 Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards]]<ref>{{cite web| url=http://ryanestrada.com/wcca07| title=Web Cartoonist Choice Awards 2007| accessdate=2008-02-06}}</ref> for Outstanding Science Fiction Comic].<ref>{{cite web| url=http://ryanestrada.com/wcca07/ceremony/scifi.htm| title=Outstanding Science Fiction Comic| publisher=ryanestrada.com| accessdate=2008-02-06}}</ref>
*[[2006 Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards]]<ref>{{cite web| url=http://ryanestrada.com/wcca06| title=Web Cartoonist Choice Awards 2006| accessdate=2008-02-06}}</ref> for Outstanding Story Concept.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://ryanestrada.com/wcca/ceremony/storyconcept.htm| title=Outstanding Story Concept| publisher=ryanestrada.com| accessdate=2008-02-06}}</ref>

The character of Agatha Clay was nominated for the [[Squiddy Award]] for Best Comics Character in 2002.

In 2005, Phil Foglio was nominated for an [[Eisner Award]] in the Best Writer/Artist—Humor category for his work on Girl Genius.

In 2007, Girl Genius was nominated for an Eisner Award in the Best Digital Comic category.<ref name="2007 Eisner nomination">{{cite web |url=http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_main.shtml |title=The 2007 Eisner Awards: 2007 Master Nominations List |accessdate=2007-04-30 |author= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |year= |month= |format= |work= |publisher=[[Comic-Con]] |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= }}</ref>

==Published collections==
*Volume 1: ''Agatha Heterodyne and the Beetleburg Clank'' (96 pp) (reprints #1–3)
**Paperback: ISBN 1-890856-19-3
**Hardcover: ISBN 1-890856-20-7
*Volume 2: ''Agatha Heterodyne and the Airship City'' (112 pp) (reprints #4–6)
**Paperback: ISBN 1-890856-30-4
**Hardcover: ISBN 1-890856-31-2
*Volume 3: ''Agatha Heterodyne and the Monster Engine'' (128 pp) (reprints #7–9)
**Paperback: ISBN 1-890856-32-0
**Hardcover: ISBN 1-890856-33-9
*Volume 4: ''Agatha Heterodyne and the Circus Of Dreams'' (128 pp) (reprints #10–13 + April-June 2005 webcomic)
**Paperback: ISBN 1-890856-36-3
**Hardcover: ISBN 1-890856-37-1
*Volume 5: ''Agatha Heterodyne and the Clockwork Princess'' (112 pp) (reprints webcomic)
**Paperback: ISBN 1-890856-39-8
**Hardcover: ISBN 1-890856-38-X
*Volume 6: ''Agatha Heterodyne and the Golden Trilobite'' (150 pp) (reprints webcomic)
**Paperback: ISBN 1-890856-42-8
**Hardcover: ISBN 1-890856-41-X

*Girl Genius Omnibus Edition Vol 1 (reprints v.1–3 in smaller, black & white edition)
**ISBN 1-890856-40-1

Volume 5 as well as all future collections reprint the website content from where the comic series was discontinued.

==Connections to other works==
*Agatha is visible throughout the [[GURPS]] [[GURPS Illuminati University|Illuminati University]] sourcebook, which was illustrated by the Foglios, and she is even identified by name on page 11. A GURPS [http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/girlgenius Girl Genius Sourcebook] is also in development.
* The comic has made references to other webcomics, such as ''[[Girls with Slingshots]]'', ''[[Wapsi Square]]'', ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'', ''[[Arcane Times]]'', ''[[Something Positive]]'', ''[[Dominic Deegan: Oracle For Hire]]'', ''[[Home on the Strange]]'', ''[[The Devil's Panties]]'' and Studio Foglio's own ''[[Buck Godot]]'' [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070319]; as well as ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'', Terry Pratchett's ''[[The Luggage (Discworld)|Luggage]]'', ''[[Namir Deiter]]'', ''[[Digger (webcomic)|Digger]]'', ''[[Freefall (webcomic)|Freefall]]'', ''[[Questionable Content]]'', ''[[Lackadaisy]]'' and ''[[Bob the Angry Flower]]'' [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070321 the next day].
* [http://twitter.com/Othar '''Othar's Twitter'''] is ostensibly a blog by Othar Tryggvasen.

==See also==
*''[[Girl Genius: The Works]]'', a card game based on the comic
*''[[Heterodyning]]'', the concept on which Agatha's family name is based

==References==
{{Reflist}}


==External links==
==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{wikiquote}}
*[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/index.php ''Girl Genius'' website]
*{{Official website|http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/}}

*[http://groups.yahoo.com/group/girlgenius/ Girl Genius Yahoo Group]
{{Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story}}
*[http://www.jagerkin.tk Girl Genius Forum]
{{Hiveworks}}
*[http://studiofoglio.livejournal.com/ Studio Foglio News]
*[http://kajafoglio.livejournal.com/ Kaja Foglio's Live Journal]
*[http://community.livejournal.com/girlgenius_lab/ Agatha's Minions]
*[http://twitter.com/Othar Othar's Twitter]
*[http://community.livejournal.com/haus_of_klaus/ Haus of Klaus]


[[Category:2001 comics debuts]]
[[Category:2005 webcomic debuts]]
[[Category:American comedy webcomics]]
[[Category:Comics about women]]
[[Category:Drama webcomics]]
[[Category:Feminist webcomics]]
[[Category:GURPS]]
[[Category:Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story–winning works]]
[[Category:Long-form webcomics]]
[[Category:Science fantasy webcomics]]
[[Category:Steampunk novels]]
[[Category:Steampunk webcomics]]
[[Category:Steampunk webcomics]]
[[Category:Comic book titles]]
[[Category:Studio Foglio titles]]
[[Category:Web Cartoonists' Choice Award winners]]
[[Category:Webcomics in print]]
[[Category:Webcomics in print]]
[[Category:Webcomics from print]]
[[Category:Webcomics from print]]
[[Category:Studio Foglio]]
[[Category:Science fiction webcomics]]

[[nn:Girl Genius]]
[[sv:Girl Genius]]

Latest revision as of 20:28, 2 November 2024

For the general term, see Child prodigy.

Girl Genius
Agatha, main character of Girl Genius
Author(s)Phil & Kaja Foglio
Illustrator(s)Phil & Kaja Foglio
Websitewww.girlgeniusonline.com
Current status/scheduleUpdates on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays.
Launch dateJanuary 2001 (2001-01) (Secret Blueprints, Vol. I preview issue)
February 21, 2005 (web publication)
Genre(s)Fantasy, humor, science fiction, steampunk, gaslamp fantasy

Girl Genius is an ongoing comic book series turned webcomic, written and drawn by Phil and Kaja Foglio and published by their company Studio Foglio LLC under the imprint Airship Entertainment. The comic won the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story three times, has been nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist and twice for Eisner Awards, and won multiple WCCA awards.

Girl Genius has the tagline of "Adventure, Romance, Mad Science!". It follows the main character Agatha Heterodyne (introduced in 1995[1]) through an alternate-history Victorian-style "steampunk" setting, although elements veer from what is usually thought of as steampunk. Kaja Foglio describes it as "gaslamp fantasy" instead to suggest its more fantastic style.

As well as the comics, the Foglios have also written four Girl Genius novels, all published by Night Shade Books, and two games based on the world have been made.

Overview

[edit]

Setting

[edit]

The setting has been described as steampunk,[2][3][4][5] with reviewers for Wired describing it as a "mosh of Victorian era, magic and emerging technology"[4] and "steampunk to the core",[2] but co-creator Kaja Foglio dislikes the term and instead coined the term "gaslamp fantasy" to describe the work. Kaja said in a blog post that when Girl Genius was first coming out, there was a comic called Steampunk and she wanted to avoid confusion. She added that "we have no punk, and we have more than just steam, [so] using a different name seemed appropriate."[‡ 1] Girl Genius differs from classic steampunk in that technology is not just limited to machines but also encompasses biology such as "constructs" – biological creations which range from Frankenstein-style creatures[‡ 2] to talking cats[‡ 3] and mouse-sized mammoths.[‡ 4]

Girl Genius is set in an alternate-universe Europe[5] with Industrial Revolution-like surroundings, airships, and mad scientists called Sparks.[2] These Sparks, who have incredible powers of invention,[3] turned the Age of Enlightenment into a full-scale war that ravaged the continent, until Baron Wulfenbach brought an uneasy peace through force.[‡ 5]

Plot

[edit]

Girl Genius tells the story of Agatha Clay, a student and apprentice at Transylvania Polygnostic University, whose experiments never work until she encounters an electromagnetic pulse and is robbed of her locket.[3][4][5] This leads her to break free of an attempt to suppress her powers as a Spark and to hide that she is the long-lost daughter of legendary figures William "Bill" Heterodyne and Lucrezia Mongfish,[‡ 6] and thus is the last of the prestigious and dreaded House of Heterodyne.[‡ 7] Agatha Heterodyne learns to mix scientific genius, a streak of heroism, and an obsessive possessiveness for what she considers her own in order to claim her heritage and birthright while trying to remain safe from the many European powers trying to use her for their own ends.[‡ 8]

Major characters

[edit]

The main and recurring characters of Girl Genius include:

  • Agatha Heterodyne: She was raised under the name of Agatha Clay and was kept ignorant of her true identity growing up. It is when her locket is stolen that Agatha "breaks through" as a Spark, leading her to learn that she is the last of the Heterodyne family. She spends the story trying to reclaim her family heritage and defend it from the many threats to its safety.[‡ 8][‡ 6][‡ 7]
  • The Heterodyne Boys: Two legendary brothers and heroes, Bill and Barry Heterodyne, who are Agatha's father and uncle respectively. Bill's wife Lucrezia Mongfish went missing one day, prompting the Heterodyne Boys to fight in a war from which they became missing in action.[‡ 9]
  • The Other: A malevolent, enigmatic entity who almost destroyed Europa twenty years before the story's start,[‡ 8] and whom the Heterodyne Boys went missing when going off to fight. Over the course of the story, Agatha comes to believe that the Other was Lucrezia Mongfish, her long-lost mother.[‡ 10]
  • Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: A pan-European leader.[‡ 8][‡ 11] Klaus was once a sidekick of the Heterodyne Boys, but when they disappeared, he chose to bring peace to Europe through force. He suspects Agatha Heterodyne to be the Other.
  • Gilgamesh "Gil" Wulfenbach: The only son of Klaus Wulfenbach,[‡ 12] who is raising him as a successor, and one of Agatha's love interests. He is torn between his loyalty to his father and his love for Agatha.
  • Tarvek Sturmvoraus: A prince from Sturmhalten,[‡ 13] who is the direct descendant of the legendary 17th century "Storm King" Andronicus Valois.[‡ 7] Though only introduced in Volume 6 (after it moved to webcomic format),[‡ 14] Tarvek later became one of Agatha's love interests.
  • The Jägermonsters or Jägers: A type of super-soldiers serving House Heterodyne.[‡ 15]
  • Zeetha: A lost warrior-princess from a faraway land known as Skifander.[‡ 6][‡ 16] She volunteers to mentor Agatha.
  • Krosp: An artificially-made cat with human intelligence[‡ 17] and one of Agatha's sidekicks.
  • Othar Tryggvassen: A self-styled "Gentleman Adventurer" and a Spark who seeks to kill all the Sparks in the world, ending with himself.[‡ 18]

Publication history

[edit]
Kaja and Phil Foglio in 2007

The idea for the style of Girl Genius came about when Kaja Foglio went through some of Phil's loose drawings, saying in an interview: "I was going through all of Phil's old files and I was filing all of the old sketches, and I was coming across weird airships and cats in tophats with walking canes, and all of this wonderful... Victoriana sci-fi stuff... it was like 'Oh, this is everything I love!'"[6] Phil Foglio said, "We wanted to do something with a strong female lead character. We both like the tropes associated with mad science, and I really enjoy drawing fiddly Victorian-style gizmos".[7]

Agatha Heterodyne first appeared in print in 1995 in a GURPS sourcebook that the Foglios illustrated.[1] Phil Foglio states that plotting for Girl Genius started in 1993, and it was first published in 2000.[8] Girl Genius: The Secret Blueprints Vol. I was printed in January 2001, followed closely by the monochrome Issue 1 in February.[citation needed] In 2005 Girl Genius became a webcomic, and quarterly print publication of the comic ceased.[8]

The first three printed issues (which make up Volume 1) were in black and white. Subsequent printed and web comics were in color. Volume 1 was inked by Brian Snoddy, Volumes 2 and 3 by Mark McNabb. Volume 4 by Laurie E. Smith, and all subsequent volumes by Cheyenne Wright.[‡ 19] Wright also colored the comics of Volume 1; these colored versions were used for a new print edition of Volume 1 and have replaced the original comics on the website.[‡ 20]

In an interview recorded in January 2008, shortly before they began releasing pages of volume 8 of Girl Genius on their web site, the Foglios stated that they expected the climax of Volume 8 to be the rough equivalent of "the end of the first season," and that it would provide a logical break in case of author catastrophe and a fresh jumping-on point for new readers.[9] However, this was an underestimate of the length of the remaining "first season": the end of Volume 13 turned out to be approximately halfway through the planned overall story arc.[‡ 21] The "second season" of the series began March 3, 2014, with "Act 2, Volume 1,"[‡ 22] after a two-month hiatus of the main story.

Published collections

[edit]

The webcomic, as well as the initial printed issues, have been collected into printed volumes, and in some cases those volumes have been collected into printed omnibuses. Unless stated in the notes below, the books reprint works first published as the webcomic.

The First Journey of Agatha Heterodyne (also called "Act 1")

[edit]
Vol / Omnibus # Title Pages ISBN Notes
Volume 1 Agatha Heterodyne and the Beetleburg Clank 96

Paperback: ISBN 1-890856-19-3, full color paperback: ISBN 1-890856-50-9, hardcover: ISBN 1-890856-20-7

Reprints issues #1–3
Volume 2 Agatha Heterodyne and the Airship City 112

Paperback: ISBN 1-890856-30-4, hardcover: ISBN 1-890856-31-2

Reprints issues #4–6
Volume 3 Agatha Heterodyne and the Monster Engine 128

Paperback: ISBN 1-890856-32-0, hardcover: ISBN 1-890856-33-9

Reprints issues #7–10
Volume 4 Agatha Heterodyne and the Circus Of Dreams 128

Paperback: ISBN 1-890856-36-3, hardcover: ISBN 1-890856-37-1

Reprints issues #11–13 and webcomic from April to June 2005
Volume 5 Agatha Heterodyne and the Clockwork Princess 112

Paperback: ISBN 1-890856-39-8, hardcover: ISBN 1-890856-38-X

Volume 6 Agatha Heterodyne and the Golden Trilobite 150

Paperback: ISBN 1-890856-42-8, hardcover: ISBN 1-890856-41-X

Volume 7 Agatha Heterodyne and the Voice of the Castle 128

Paperback: ISBN 978-1-890856-45-8, hardcover: ISBN 978-1-890856-46-5

Volume 8 Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones 144

Paperback: ISBN 978-1-890856-47-2, hardcover: ISBN 978-1-890856-48-9

Volume 9 Agatha Heterodyne and the Heirs of the Storm 144

Paperback: ISBN 978-1-890856-52-6, hardcover: ISBN 978-1-890856-51-9

Volume 10 Agatha Heterodyne and the Guardian Muse 152

Paperback: ISBN 978-1-890856-53-3, hardcover: ISBN 978-1-890856-54-0

Volume 11 Agatha Heterodyne and the Hammerless Bell 168

Paperback: ISBN 978-1-890856-55-7, hardcover: ISBN 978-1-890856-56-4

Volume 12 Agatha Heterodyne and the Siege of Mechanicsburg 192

Paperback: ISBN 978-1-890856-57-1, hardcover: ISBN 978-1-890856-58-8

Volume 13 Agatha Heterodyne and the Sleeping City 160

Paperback: ISBN 978-1-890856-59-5, hardcover: ISBN 978-1-890856-60-1

Omnibus 1 Girl Genius Omnibus Edition Vol 1 Paperback: ISBN 978-1-890856-40-3 Reprints Volumes 1–3, in a smaller, black & white edition
Omnibus 1 Girl Genius Omnibus Vol 1: Agatha Awakens Hardcover: ISBN 978-0-7653-3132-8 Reprints Volumes 1–3 in color and new lettering[2]

The Second Journey of Agatha Heterodyne (also called "Act 2")

[edit]
Vol / Omnibus # Title Pages ISBN Notes
Volume 14 The Beast of the Rails 128

Paperback: ISBN 978-1-890856-61-8, hardcover: ISBN 978-1-890856-62-5

Volume 15 City of Lightning 128 Paperback: ISBN 978-1-890856-63-2
Volume 16 The Incorruptible Library 122 Paperback: ISBN 978-1-890856-65-6
Volume 17 Kings and Wizards 120 Paperback: ISBN 978-1-890856-67-0
Volume 18 Queens and Pirates 128 Paperback: ISBN 978-1890856-69-4
Volume 19 Sparks and Monsters 128 Paperback: ISBN 978-1890856-71-7, hardcover: ISBN 978-1890856-72-4
Volume 20 The Exorcism Engines 122 Hardcover:[10] ISBN 978-1890856-74-8
Volume 21 An Entertainment in Londinium 122
Volume 22 The Chronometric Lantern Expedition 121
Volume 23 Escape from the Island of the Rat Queen 120

Girl Genius in other media

[edit]

Girl Genius has been adapted, or proposed for adaptation, for other media:

Novels

[edit]

The Foglios have written four Girl Genius prose novels, which follow the same story as the comics:

  • Agatha H. and the Airship City, covering volumes 1–3 of the comic;
  • Agatha H. and the Clockwork Princess, covering volumes 4–6;
  • Agatha H. and the Voice of the Castle, covering volumes 7–9; and
  • Agatha H. and the Siege of Mechanicsburg covering volumes 10–13.

The prose novels are published by Night Shade Books.

Games

[edit]
  • Agatha Heterodyne appeared in two illustrations and by name in the 1995 role-playing game supplement GURPS Illuminati University. This sourcebook for GURPS was illustrated by the Foglios and predates the release of the comic.[1]
  • Girl Genius: The Works is a card game designed by Phil Foglio and James Ernest, published in 2001.[11] This game was an adaptation of an earlier game involving the Foglios called XXXenophile.[12]
  • Girl Genius and the Rats of Mechanicsburg is a mobile game released in 2014 following a Kickstarter in 2012.[13][14]
  • A role-playing game, Girl Genius Sourcebook and Role-playing Game, was released in 2021 by Steve Jackson Games.[15] A role-playing game had been first announced as early as 2004.[16]
  • A video game, Girl Genius: Adventures In Castle Heterodyne, was released in 2023 after a Kickstarter in 2020.[17][18]

Movie

[edit]

In 2010 it was reported that Felicia D. Henderson had optioned the rights to Girl Genius and was adapting it into a movie.[19] However, as of 2020 no movie had been produced.

Awards

[edit]
The Foglios' acceptance speech at the Hugo Awards ceremony in 2010

Girl Genius and its creators have won multiple Hugo Awards and Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards (WCCAs). They have also been nominated for further Hugo awards, WCCA awards, and Eisner Awards.

Year Organization Award Recipient / Book Outcome Citation
2014 Hugo Awards Best Graphic Story Girl Genius, Volume 13: Agatha Heterodyne and the Sleeping City Nominated [20]
2011 Hugo Awards Best Graphic Story Girl Genius, Volume 10: Agatha Heterodyne and the Guardian Muse Won [21]
2010 Hugo Awards Best Graphic Story Girl Genius, Volume 9: Agatha Heterodyne and the Heirs of the Storm Won [22]
2009 Hugo Awards Best Graphic Story Girl Genius, Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones Won [23]
2008 Hugo Awards Best Professional Artist Phil Foglio Nominated [24]
Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards Outstanding Comic Won [25]
Outstanding Writer Won
Outstanding Environment Design Won
Outstanding Artist Nominated
Outstanding Character Writing Nominated
Outstanding Long Form Comic Nominated
Outstanding Use of Color Phil and Kaja Foglio (and Cheyenne Wright) Nominated
2007 Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards Outstanding Science Fiction Comic Won [26]
Outstanding Comic Nominated [27]
Outstanding Long Form Comic Nominated [28]
Eisner Awards Best Digital Comic Nominated [29]
2006 Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards Outstanding Story Concept Won [30]
Outstanding Comic Nominated [31]
Outstanding Science Fiction Comic Nominated [32]
2005 Eisner Awards Best Writer/Artist—Humor Phil Foglio Nominated [33]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Foglio, Phil. GURPS IOU. p. 11. Agatha Hete.. Mad Scien..
  2. ^ a b c d Booth, John (May 31, 2012). "Girl Genius: Omnibus Volume One". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c Shockley, Cheyenne (July 16, 2015). "Review: 'Girl Genius' Volume #1". FangirlNation Magazine. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c Lawson, Corrina (March 30, 2011). "Comics Spotlight on Girl Genius". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
  5. ^ a b c Hogan, Robert (April 23, 2015). "Girl Genius Review". Over analysing. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
  6. ^ "Interview with Phil and Kaja Foglio, Part 2 of 2". The Biblio File. TalkShoe. January 27, 2008. 7m, 15s. Archived from the original (MP3) on July 20, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  7. ^ Jordan, Justin (February 12, 2007). "Getting Smarter: Phil Foglio Talks "Girl Genius"". CBR News. Archived from the original on November 18, 2008. Retrieved December 3, 2008.
  8. ^ a b Scheff, Meredith (March 9, 2008). "Meredith Scheff Interviews Phil Foglio". The Steampunk Workshop. Retrieved December 3, 2008.
  9. ^ "Interview with Phil and Kaja Foglio, Part 1 of 2, 33m:45s". The Biblio File. TalkShoe. 27 January 2008. Archived from the original (MP3) on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  10. ^ Girl Genius: Second Journey: Volume 7: Exorcism Engines (Hardcover) on forbiddenplanet.com (Accessed October 13, 2022).
  11. ^ "Girl Genius: The Works". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  12. ^ Robinson, Tasha (2001). "Girl Genius: The Works". SciFi.com. Archived from the original on July 18, 2001. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  13. ^ "Girl Genius and the Rats of Mechanicsburg". Kickstarter. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  14. ^ "The Rats of Mechanicsburg: A Girl Genius® Game". Amazon. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  15. ^ "DriveThruRPG Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game". drivethrurpg.com. Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game is copyright © 2021, 2022 by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated.
  16. ^ "The Girl Genius RPG". SJgames.com. Archived from the original on April 5, 2004. Written by Kaja Foglio (assisted by Michelle Barrett on the crunchy bits), and illustrated by Phil and Kaja Foglio, the Girl Genius RPG will be a complete, self-contained gamebook using the Fourth Edition GURPS rules.
  17. ^ "Girl Genius - Adventures In Castle Heterodyne". Kickstarter. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  18. ^ "Girl Genius: Adventures In Castle Heterodyne is out now". GamingOnLinux. September 6, 2023. Retrieved September 9, 2023.
  19. ^ Renaud, Jeffrey (September 13, 2010). "Henderson On "Titans," "Static" & "Girl Genius"". CBR. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  20. ^ "2014 Hugo Award Winners". August 17, 2014. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
  21. ^ "2011 Hugo Award Winners". August 21, 2011.
  22. ^ Cavna, Michael (September 5, 2010). "'GIRL GENIUS' wins Hugo Award for best graphic story". Comic Riffs. Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 6, 2012. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
  23. ^ "2009 Hugo Award Winners". thehugoawards.com. August 9, 2009. Retrieved January 21, 2010.
  24. ^ "2008 Hugo Award Nominees". World Science Fiction Society. March 21, 2008. Retrieved August 6, 2008.
  25. ^ "Here are you 2008 WCCA Winners!". Web Cartoonist Choice Awards. Archived from the original on July 31, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  26. ^ "Outstanding Science Fiction Comic". Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  27. ^ "WCCA 2007: Outstanding Comic". Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  28. ^ "The Outstanding Mystery of the Long Form Comic". Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  29. ^ "The 2007 Eisner Awards: 2007 Master Nominations List". Comic-Con. Archived from the original on 8 August 2007. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  30. ^ "Outstanding Story Concept". Archived from the original on May 23, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  31. ^ "WCAA 2006 – Outstanding Comic". Archived from the original on May 23, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  32. ^ "Outstanding Science Fiction Comic". Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  33. ^ "The 2005 Eisner Awards: Nominees". Comic-Con. Archived from the original on 19 February 2009. Retrieved 3 December 2008.

Primary sources

[edit]

In the text, these references are marked with a double dagger: ‡

  1. ^ Foglio, Kaja (26 April 2006). "Dirt, Collection Vol. 5, Furniture and Gaslamp Fantasy". Archived from the original on 13 March 2007. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  2. ^ Foglio (March 8, 2006). "Girl Genius". Girl Genius. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
  3. ^ Foglio (February 2, 2005). "Girl Genius". Girl Genius. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
  4. ^ "Girl Genius". Girl Genius. November 5, 2004. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
  5. ^ Foglio (August 6, 2004). "Girl Genius". Girl Genius. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
  6. ^ a b c Foglio, Kaja (2014). Agatha Heterodyne & the Clockwork Princess. Seattle, Washington: Airship Entertainment. p. vi. ISBN 978-1890856397.
  7. ^ a b c Foglio, Kaja (2014). Agatha Heterodyne & the Chapel of Bones. Seattle, Washington: Airship Entertainment. p. vi. ISBN 978-1890856472.
  8. ^ a b c d Foglio, Kaja (2014). Girl Genius Volume 13: Agatha Heterodyne and the Sleeping City. Seattle, Washington: Airship Entertainment. p. iv. ISBN 978-1-890856-60-1.
  9. ^ Foglio, Phil; Foglio, Kaja (2011). Agatha H. and the Airship City. San Francisco: Night Shade Books. pp. 1–7. ISBN 978-1597802123.
  10. ^ Foglio (January 16, 2006). "Girl Genius". Girl Genius. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  11. ^ Foglio, Phil; Foglio, Kaja (2011). Agatha H. and the Airship City. San Francisco: Night Shade Books. p. 26. ISBN 978-1597802123.
  12. ^ Foglio (December 16, 2002). "Girl Genius". Girl Genius. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  13. ^ Foglio, Phil; Foglio, Kaja (2012). Agatha H. and the Clockwork Princess. Portland, Oregon: Night Shade Books. p. 282. ISBN 978-1597802239.
  14. ^ Foglio (October 21, 2005). "Girl Genius". Girl Genius. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  15. ^ Foglio, Phil; Foglio, Kaja (2012). Agatha H. and the Clockwork Princess. Portland, Oregon: Night Shade Books. pp. 144–145. ISBN 978-1597802239.
  16. ^ Foglio (November 1, 2004). "Girl Genius". Girl Genius. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  17. ^ Foglio (March 15, 2004). "Girl Genius". Girl Genius. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  18. ^ Foglio, Phil; Foglio, Kaja (2012). Agatha H. and the Clockwork Princess. Portland, Oregon: Night Shade Books. p. 3. ISBN 978-1597802239.
  19. ^ "Girl Genius". www.girlgeniusonline.com. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  20. ^ "Girl Genius". www.girlgeniusonline.com. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  21. ^ "We are Kaja and Phil Foglio creators of Girl Genius". AMA. Reddit. May 30, 2013. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
  22. ^ "Girl Genius Comic for Monday, March 03, 2014". Livejournal. Girl Genius. March 2, 2014. Archived from the original on March 10, 2014.
[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to Girl Genius.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Girl_Genius&oldid=1255035836"