InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "breakup lines ftw"

neuhallidae (neuhallidae) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-08-10 11:50:00

Entry tags:

creator: kaja foglio, creator: phil foglio, medium: webcomic, title: girl genius

That's not how it went.
Girl Genius' eighth book, Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones, won a Hugo Award in the brand shiny new category of "Best Graphic Story". Huzzah! So, to celebrate, 18 of my favorite pages out of the approx. 126 pages of main story that'll be in that volume.

Since it is the eighth book, there are spoilers of course, and apologies to the dialuppers.

Enjoy!

(Post a new comment)

	comicoz 2009-08-10 04:16 pm UTC (link)
	Is this by the same artist who did that XXX comic we had on old SD on Halloween? Trying to remember the name. It was some cat that got turned into a human and his master hit herself with her lust spell or something. The art looks similar to what I remember. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	neuhallidae 2009-08-10 04:24 pm UTC (link)
	Same creator, yeah. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	aaron_bourque 2009-08-10 06:18 pm UTC (link)
	XXXenophile. By Phil Foglio. Yes. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	liarashadowsong 2009-08-10 04:24 pm UTC (link)
	I love Girl Genius!!! ^___^ Wheeeee! (Reply to this)

	mullon 2009-08-10 04:25 pm UTC (link)
	As much as I love Girl Genius, this particular storyline has been going on for too long now. And that brief almost-naked shot of Zeetha was so unfair. Still, at least we got to see the Nice Hat. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	neuhallidae 2009-08-10 04:29 pm UTC (link)
	The fan comms have decided that volumes 8 and 9 are the "Ladies" editions, considering how much time both Gil and Tarvek are spending shirtless or with only strategic bedsheets. Zeetha was probably an offset this time. XD (Reply to this) (Parent)

	caeliluminar 2009-08-10 04:54 pm UTC (link)
	It wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have to follow it at the pace of three pages a week. And if there weren't those damn interludes. At least they can't torture me with the possibility of Agatha and Gil's reunion anymore. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2009-08-10 05:10 pm UTC (link)
	Want to bet? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	aaron_bourque 2009-08-10 06:19 pm UTC (link)
	They've BEEN reunited! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	ulf_boehnke 2009-08-10 04:54 pm UTC (link)
	NICE HAT! (Reply to this)

Noirsensei wonders...
(Anonymous)
2009-08-10 05:07 pm UTC (link)

The story here is incomprehensible since I don't know who any of these folks are or what fantasy this-n-that they refer to... but the art is hideous on everything except that neat robot.

Context for the series would help, and is there a particular reason the faces look like Amerimanga crossed with the Smurfs (i.e. are they all elven or something?) or is it just the style?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Re: Noirsensei wonders...

neuhallidae
2009-08-10 05:18 pm UTC (link)

The story's also incomprehensible because I only picked funny pages. The gaps between sections are where other pages go. And again, this is several years into the story. The comic's been running since around 2000.

Short context is that in this universe, "Mad Scientists rule the world. Badly." Our heroine, Agatha, is the scion of a very important family of Sparks (the ability to be a mad scientist, or "spark", is a genetic trait, and the Heterodyne clan have produced some of the most notable in history), and in this chapter, she's working to reclaim control of her sentient family home, while outside forces get in the way.

And it's just the creator's art style. He's done other series with a similar look like Buck Godot</i>, Xxxenophile, and What's New With Phil and Dixie.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Noirsensei wonders... thokstar 2009-08-10 05:44 pm UTC (link)
	Also, a significant number of the characters in the above scans are Jaegers (basically, anybody with pointed teeth and off-color skin), who are supposed to look monstrous because they are monsters (who like hats.) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	Re: Noirsensei wonders... ex_zemo315 2009-08-10 05:46 pm UTC (link)
	Funny thing about the art: this webcomic is considered one of the best out there regarding art and story. You can close your eyes and pick any of he longer running other webcomics out there, and at some point the creator(s) will have praised Girl Genius under guarantee, which is supported by the continuous waves of prizes it wins. :D (Reply to this) (Parent)

Re: Noirsensei wonders...

nagaoka
2009-08-10 06:34 pm UTC (link)

I wouldn't call it Amerimanga except in a few places where it seems to really channel it, particularly with that green haired girl at times. It doesn't help that the main example of this is the very first panel of the page. Eeew...
Anyways other than that it seems to have a wonderfully exaggerated style and the linework is pretty darn fantastic, as is the color.

Still though I gotta believe that this can't be the best example of the art of Girl Genius...the faces and proportions go WAY off about every other panel (comparing it mainly to Agatha, who is drawn consistently well save for a minor panel or two.) I like the style, but it's just too inconsistent here.

The art REALLY shines with anything big, complex, and inorganic though. That's just beautiful.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Noirsensei wonders... neuhallidae 2009-08-10 06:41 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, this is by far not the best art GG has to offer. Like I said before, I just picked funny bits. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Noirsensei wonders... nagaoka 2009-08-10 06:53 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah, it just provides the problem of making the series look rather...awful for anyone who isn't into it already. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Noirsensei wonders... neuhallidae 2009-08-10 07:08 pm UTC (link)
	Well, the problem with the art is that some of the action shots do look extremely wonky, with less attention paid to consistency and more on just getting the point across. Big epic scenery pages and pretty architechture and machinery are where it really shines. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	Re: Noirsensei wonders... arilou_skiff 2009-08-10 08:02 pm UTC (link)
	I think the art is actually pretty decent, but the coloring is pretty bad, it makes everything look way too shiny and plastic, which doesen't mesh with the soft/curvy art style. (Reply to this) (Parent)

Re: Noirsensei wonders...
(Anonymous)
2009-08-12 04:27 pm UTC (link)

I completely agree re: the art. The story may be wholly passable (I wouldn't know), but it looks like there's problems with about half the faces this guy draws. Some of the drawings are really cute, but that contrasts with the apparently-not-rare occasion where someone tries to make a facial expression and suddenly looks developmentally disabled.

I don't like the whole dude-looks-like-a-lady effect coming from the females' proportions. It's like well-colored David Gonterman here.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	dorksidefiker 2009-08-10 07:30 pm UTC (link)
	Oh god, the hat. All hail the hat! (Reply to this)

	midnightvoyager 2009-08-10 09:10 pm UTC (link)
	The last panel is possibly one of the best things in the universe. (Reply to this)

	ashtoreth 2009-08-11 12:02 am UTC (link)
	You're not an important guy until you have a Big Hat. (Reply to this)

	freeman333 2009-08-11 03:57 am UTC (link)
	Yee gads, how I love this comic. I'm particularly fond of the little sequence between Baron Wulfenbach and Dr. Sun--I don't know exactly what Sun was preparing to do to that robot, but even Klaus seems worried about it, and not much worries Klaus. Good stuff. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	cmdr_zoom 2009-08-11 02:59 pm UTC (link)
	Take it apart with his bare hands (fists), I'd say. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	psion-x.livejournal.com 2009-08-11 06:31 pm UTC (link)
	The problem with reading it on an MWF basis is I often forget just how funny this is a lot of the time. I really need to either a: re-read this from the beginnning online one of these weekends, or b: Buy the Collected editions. Probably both. (Reply to this)