Notes on Girl Genius

A listing of various things I find noteworthy in Phil Foglio's comic Girl Genius, hopefully avoiding the more obvious stuff (such as "Know Enough To Be Afraid").

Comments from KG.

Secret Blueprints for Volume One

1. Dr. Beetle is holding a trilobite in a bell jar. Spare locket?
2. Last page... is that an amalgam of Girl Genius symbols, or a Heterodyne pastiche? Trilobite on top, Jagermonster symbol on bottom, lots of gears.

Volume One #1

1. page 2: The Storyteller sits at the "Kaja" storefront. Makes sense, if the Storyteller is Phil. We can also see "LONG LIVE THE TYRANT".
2. page 5: note the snail(?) Agatha nearly kills by accident. Also the embroidery on Omar's right leg is nearly gone. And the poster says "Report All Revenants."
3. page 6: Moloch is drinking "Old Electroplate". Yeesh!
4. page 9: Hey, she's having a headache from intensity without her locket being attached.
5. page 10: Don't those bell jars look nice? Remember, Dr. Beetle is a "Hero". The Game says so! Also a reference to Prof. Vogel's Americas attempts.
6. Note the beetle symbol almost everywhere.
7. 16: The Jagermonster has a birdwinged tower on his cap, as with other Wulfenbach retainers. The clanks have a cruder version, and the right one has a monster half-skull on its shoulder.
8. page 17: Klaus seems to forget about the whole electrical incident.
9. page 19: I thought it was obvious, but clueless reviews on the net disabused me: allegedly clueless, bumbling, Agatha is already picking up on the flaws in what Klaus is telling Gilgamesh -- stuff Glassvitch and Merlot didn't catch in three months. -- Also, the Jagermonster now has a batwinged tower.
10. page 21: Note the goldfish, on this page and for the rest of the issue. It'll have an expression or two in #2, but isn't as interesting. Also, that looks like a baby saguaro cactus. Like the ones in Arizona. What's it doing here?
11. page 22: "How I do it". "Phlogysten". "Have these people--" What? What was Klaus going to say? "Killed"? "Punished"? "Kept away from anything I've paid for"? This would have said a lot about his character.
12. page 23: "You will receive new assignments tomorrow." But Beetleburg is supposed to be independent... why are they necessarily taking assignments from him? Besides his being about to occupy the city, of course.

Volume One #2

1. page 27: How did Tock know to intervene?
2. page 31: "the best... machines on the planet". On the whole planet? Cool. Also: "The Switch".
3. page 33: Was he really aiming for Gilgamesh (and Agatha)? Oh! People have asked why he was aiming for Gilgamesh. Maybe he was aiming for Agatha!
4. page 35: "You killed him!" "Permanently. A pity, that." I like some aspects of this world.
5. page 37: Is Castle Heterodyne a place of punishment because Klaus is vindictive? Or because the Other trashed it so much? Or because generations of Heterodynes left behind Europe's best torture chambers? Alternately, maybe it's just the construct recycling labs for Klaus, with 'punishment' being a side-effect of "you screwed up, let's make something useful out of you."
6. page 39: "Petty." A comment on Agatha, like the earlier "Pathetic", or a comment on Merlot? Note the Jagermonsters have jagged word balloons. Note the Jagermonster looking proud on Mr. Tock's remains.
7. page 41: Socialist Realist Adam.
8. page 46: Nice bedroom for a science kid. Prime numbers near the ceiling, skeletal fish, lots of diagrams, things flanking the bed which look kind of like Beetle's clanks, hand skeletons from different ages...
9. page 51: the thing by the lamp definitely looks like the head of a Beetle-clank.
10. page 53: Look! A bird! And "Turnips 'R' Us". Toto, I think we're in Eastern Europe.

Volume One #3

1. page 53: "Pierogies". Toto, did I mention we're in Eastern Europe?
2. page 57-59: Gil's damn quick and agile. "Faster than a speeding locomotive", or least speeding clank arm.
3. page 63: "Ve hunt!" Those poor, knitting, Jagermonsters. Finally some action!
4. page 66: Detailed linework, yet blurred and speedy. This is a good inker!
5. page 73: The Jagermonster seems to be smelling the smell of poorly made constructs. And then he smells a Heterodyne. -- Also, one's lifting a wagon single-handedly.
6. page 71: "I caught my father in a mistake!" BTW, note that Gil isn't wearing a Wulfenbach locket; he's wearing one of my doodles, coincidentally.

Volume One #4

1. Hey look, no page numbers. I'll pretend Agatha going "yawn" is #1.
2. page 3: I suspect it's safer to tell the Baron he made a mistake than to lie to the Baron.
3. page 4: "Advanced Mechanics for the Mad"
4. page 6: waxworks? What waxworks?
5. page 8: And there's Krosp, hiding under the bed. Or so Kaja tells me.
6. page 11: "Welcome to the bottom of the heap". Hoo boy, we can anticipate that getting overturned. Heterodyne, and so sparky she needed an inhibitor at age 5.
7. page 12: The Baron hid Gil's spark? Aha! Foreshadowing for Agatha, for those readers who don't know her real heritage yet. -- Look, a mimmoth. And "oil of olay".
8. page 13: Turnip paste. Gator sauce. Ant gravy. Eel juice seems normal to me, somehow.
9. page 15: Look at the guy in blue jeans. Wonder at the guy in blue jeans. Also note the identical guys in purple, who are probably the footmen we will see next issue.
10. page 19: Note you can see Agatha _and_ Zoing looking in shock back up at us.
11. page 22: ... I should calculate the minimum size for a useful blimp, and compare the little bitty ones with the behemothaur. I'm betting it's a few kilometers long. -- I wonder about the figuremask up front; the original Wulfenbach symbol, perhaps? -- Konrad notes the gunship labelled "PEACE?" -- Klaus is interested in intelligence, enforces peace through stomping and doesn't censor people, and raised his son in a houseblimp. Er, zeppelin. He's my hero.
12. page 26: I didn't know the Jagermonsters were supposed to be green. Not sure I like it. Of course Khrizhan seems a lot larger than the grunts we've seen so far, so maybe I should wait. Can I be sure he's a Jagermonster? Yes: voice baloon, the smelling good, the belt buckle on page 27 and the knee buckle on page 26.
13. page 30: Look, von Pinn wears a chastity corset. Or something.
14. Ah good, explication of the Americas issue. Very good analysis, too.

Volume One #5

1. cover: Note Lucrezia is wearing a trilobite locket.
2. page 112: She's already heard about Agatha?
3. page 113: von Pinn's holding Agatha were her right hand.
4. 114: left hand now.
5. 115: Note von Pinn looks surprised. Either Phil screwed up, or Agatha managed to give von Pinn a command.
6. 116: Agatha bawled like a baby when the Jagermonster came for her. Why is she so fearless of von Pinn? And why does one boy have a clock in his forehead?
7. 117: Note Lucrezia's nephew is wearing a trilobite. -- Now now Agatha, don't fall for your cousin. Well, maybe it's okay.
8. 118: This is a good story. I was believing it was genuine for a while.
9. 120: Above Klaus is a head which bears some resemblance, including tusks, to the figurehead of Castle Wulfenbach. The main difference is the ears which are much more obvious on this one.
10. 123: Barry doesn't wear a trilobite locket.
11. 124: the double fish decor on the big fish matches von Pinn's watch. -- Klaus doesn't have a flying castle symbol yet, which is correct.
12. 126: "Portable claw. Use only for Good." -- Dr. Mongfish lacks a logo. Besides his own claw.
13. 129: Lucrezia is now wearing a trilobite locket. It wasn't obvious when she first appeared.
14. 131: Theo doesn't endorse the Lucrezia-von Pinn theory.
15. 132: Are Punch and Judy the popular names of Adam and Lilith? I can see where "really hated" would come from.
16. 133: Gil got to Agatha about Dr. Beetle.
17. 135: Zulenna also wears trousers. Also, she's pretty good with small kids.
18. 137: I hadn't thought of the possibility of it being brand new myself. -- I think this exchange also indicates that Klaus didn't go off and pretend to be the Other and then come back.
19. 138: I assume this is Krosp again.
20. 140: Klaus's initial reaction is "Are you all right?" This says good things about him. Also, he's unfazed by a runaway hive engine. -- the footman's eyes are green. They aren't in the next two pages.
21. 142: More solid evidence that von Pinn is not, in fact, Lucrezia. Assuming Klaus knows her origin. -- I like his surprise at "Dragon from Mars" and his wanting to hear the story...
22. 143: More mimmoths up top. -- Intrigue! Someone lied to von Pinn? von Pinn is lying to the students? -- The fishbowl from Beetle's lab is here. Apparently equipped with tank treads, and either a trilobitic friend or controls for the fish to move around with.
23. 144: "Potable ballast." Like water?
24. 146: Othar Trygvasson, I presume. Held prisoner? With a bomb between his ankles? Best not to speculate, I won't get anywhere...

Volume One, #6

1. Othar looks big. Is he supposed to be superhuman in size, or is it just weird perspective?
2. Othar "I'm from the Star Trek universe" Tryggvasson appeals to sentient rights. Agatha, a good Spark, seems less than impressed.
3. Some Jagermonsters -- excuse me, Jagerkin -- are smarter than others. Much smarter.
4. Jagergenerals are much bigger. Made to intimidate the enemy? Or keep the Jagerkin in line? Or just so that it'd be hard to take out the commanders? Can they take Von Pinn?
5. They seem to have guessed she's a Heterodyne. At least one of them probably think their lives will be simpler if she'd hook up with Gil; then they wouldn't have a divided loyalties problem. Kirzhan I guess has some idea of delicacy. Note they were able to get Agatha comfortably chatty in short order -- natural charm, or her own adaptability?
6. Ron Martino thinks the "kestle" is 'castle' in English, which makes sense. Castle Heterodyne. As he says, maybe that's why being sent there is a punishment -- a mad, sentient building as your prison.
7. Moloch thinks he'll be sent to Castle Heterodyne. Seems harsh for not being a Spark. Did Dr. Dimitri come from there? ... he's pretty chilling. Gil's smiles to Moloch look pretty evil too.

Volume One, #7

1. Is this still Volume One? Doesn't say anywhere. No page numbers either, I'll have to make them up.
2. 4. Oops, maybe we've found Klaus's evil streak. Then again, maybe he only does this to Evil Overlords, Disobedient Underlords, and People Who Try To Blow Up His Dirigible. But Krosp's creator won't obviously fit into that. Unless it was the creator who ordered Krosp destroyed, and Klaus didn't like that. Note, though, that Klaus does seem to try to do something for his victims -- as opposed to the abandoned constructs we've seen in Issue One and in "Agatha Heterodyne and the Electric Coffin". There's a sense of responsibility here.
3. Probably we've found out what Beetle feared.
4. 7. Look, I was right. Klaus is doing this Pax thing because he feels he has to, not because he enjoys it. No surprise, really -- "Damnit Jim, I'm a scientist, not an administrator!"
5. Wife?
6. Hmm. He refers to the adventures and fights with the Heterodynes, not the Doing Good.
7. 8. Hey, Klaus, there are these neat things called doorlocks...
8. 9. "Work with Dumedd." Hmm.
9. 10. On my re-read I saw Othar looking at the knife.
10. 13. Hey, all this meant something to Klaus. And he was about to share it with Othar.
11. 23. Gil is a good fencer. Agatha is a good shot.
12. 26. Klaus has construct Franken-stitches. Hello! And is capable of beating up Othar confidently. Well, makes sense if he's a construct.
13. 27. Gil can also beat up Othar.
14. 28. Gil really hates Othar. Some incident from college?
15. 30. He, Zoink can speak, sort of. I know, it said "Make tea whew" earlier too.
16. 32. "Yes mistress" ?
17. 37. "The Baron sees a bigger picture"? Sure, but what? -- last page, here. Can't complain about the size of the issue.

Yahoo club

1. Someone on the Yahoo! club speculates that even if von Pinn isn't Lucrezia, there could still be some connection between her and the Mongfishes -- and then notes that Agatha could be the Mongfish heir, not just the Heterodyne heir. Between her and the Jagermonsters Klaus may have surrounded himself with powerful constructs who'll switch loyalties to Agatha.
2. I speculate that Klaus is trying to be a good minimalist ruler, and testing Gil not for the Spark, but for being a decent ruler. Imagine his horror at this immature 18 year old suddenly developing a massive powerbase of Sparkiness and killer constructs. Sure, we like Agatha, but do we really think she's ready for power?
3. This speculation also means that all of the powerful constructs around Klaus, with the possible exception of Gil and himself, weren't constructed by him. He's the Clank and Airship master instead. Is he not good at constructs? Does he not like messing with life that much? Of course, supposedly Krosp was a sponsored experiment, with sponsored termination. Oh wait, and there are all those identical footmen. So yes, constructs. But not ubercool ones.
4. Someone speculates that the Heterodyne family Spark is the ability to work with other Sparks. Seems odd for a bunch of evil overlords, but it certainly sounds cool.
5. Someone says the Castle should have a massive secretarial pool and library. I note that Boris has an eidetic memory, solving at least the latter problem.
6. On the religion front, the Jagermonsters were created by Vlad the Blasphemous, implying a concept of blasphemy. Note how much punishment the blasphemy seems to have attracted. Right, none. Maybe that's part of what happened to religion.