#69 Phil Foglio, Kaja Foglio: Girl Genius #1: Agatha Heterodyne and the Beetleburg Clank

[bellinghman]

Phil Foglio, Kaja Foglio: Girl Genius #1: Agatha Heterodyne and the Beetleburg Clank

Paperback: 96 pages
Publisher: Studio Foglio (1 Jul 2002)
ISBN-10: 1890856193
Category(ies): Science Fiction (Graphic Novel)

The first volume of the collected Agatha Heterodyne adventures, this is a fairly slim (but consequently relatively cheap) volume. It's also all in monochrome, except the bonus story at the end. The Agatha Heterodyne adventures are set in a weird steam-punk Mittel Europe which seems to be recovering from some (as yet unspecified) disaster. Agatha Clay is a Spark - a scientist genius type - though she doesn't know it yet. And she's also the heir of the famous Heterodynes, though again, she doesn't know that. Indeed, by the end of this volume, no-one is yet aware of who she is, though Gilgamesh Wulfenbach may have a suspicion.

The Foglios' style is madcap - there's a richness in the drawings and the writing that really brings this world to life. They're currently working on volume 6 - I'm currently working on getting all the preceding volumes.

Where Agatha starts. And where you should, too. (But see also Girl Genius 101 Online to get a flavour.)