I've been enjoying this webcomic for some time now (I read it regularly on its web site here), and thought I'd pick up one of the books. This is the first collection of comics in softcover; I got it at The Comic Store in Nashua.

The story opens with young Agatha getting robbed - something that's upsetting enough in itself, but as the robbers took the locket that, it turns out, was keeping Agatha's natural Spark (aka "mad scientist/inventor ability") suppressed, the results are even more dramatic. There are lots of political machinations, rival claimants to power, plenty of machines large and small (and, usually, explosive), and mad scientists who actually say "BWA-HA-HA!"

Since I started following the web strip fairly recently, and never did go back to read all the archived strips, I enjoyed seeing Agatha's humble origins; let's just say she's changed {grin}.

There's an entertaining bonus story as well, a pure homage to mad scientists everywhere: Agatha's in a graveyard on a dark and stormy night, digging up a coffin! Hilarity ensues...

[There's an extensive and very entertaining TV Tropes page for this series, but do beware of spoilers!]

I'm adding this book to emmejo's Steampunk bookbox, which will soon be on its way to its next stop with angelface46 in Colorado. Enjoy!

I've seen ads for this webcomic all over the place, but the art never really enticed me to check it out. (Something about the facial expressions bothers me. They're anime-like, but not quite; extremely cartoonish, like a Looney Tunes cartoon, but placed on fairly 'normal' bodies.) But, with the graphic novel conveniently here on my doorstep, I thought I'd check it out.

I really felt like the first volume of the series offered little more than a taste. The story's too open-ended to stand alone, which is fine if you feel ready to invest in a multi-volume series...but I don't think I'm ready to take that step. The characters came across as rather one-dimensional and I already mentioned, I'm not crazy about the art. I can definitely see the potential in the series, which has nice world-building and some entertaining ideas, but ultimately I'm satisfied with simply walking away.

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The book enjoyed a brief stay in San Jose, California before continuing its travels in the Steampunk Bookbox!

This book arrived in my Steampunk Bookbox. I've heard a lot of good things about this webcomic, but I don't really like reading comics on-line. I find it hard to concentrate on the screen for very long. So this paperback version is right up my alley.

Agatha is a well-meaning but apparently talentless lab assistant who stubbornly continues create small, disastrous inventions. But when the locket given to her by her uncle is stolen, strange things begin to occur around her.

I kept going back and forth in my opinions on this comic. On the one hand, there are clearly talented artists at work here. The line art is well done, with enough variation to provide 3-dimensionality without being obvious or looking lumpy, and the coloring is precise and coherent. But I couldn't get into the style and was bothered by the highly exaggerated and distorted facial expressions, particularly when they were being used in an otherwise sedate scene or didn't seem to match up with the phonetics of what was being said (possibly text changes after the art had been done?).

The writing is often well done, and certainly has an appealingly playful and witty tone, but the pacing is wobbly, sometimes the scene transitions are jolting and the pages are often cramped. The plot also feels uncrafted and wandering, at least at this early point, with little sense of what kind of story this is going to be.

This book is heading out in Round 2 of The Steampunk Bookbox

Keeping this one out of the Steampunk Book Box. Couldn't resist this title. Thanks!

Liked the writing...and much of the art work (not feeling so good about the underwear). But I've checked out the Girl Genius at 'her' website. Quite fun.

Releasing at Seconds!, the Lower Mainland Bookcrossing Group Meetup. Come & join us.

This was originally published in black and white apparently and there are still a number of pages done in this style but this coloured version is certainly beautiful. The drawings are wonderfully done with the sudden changes in viewpoints that seem to be a hallmark of the genre these days, although not as much as I have seen elsewhere. It is interesting (minor detail) that there is no consistency as to which side of garments have the buttonholes and certainly no differentiation between male and female garments. (Minor item - I sew.) There are apparently ten volumes in the Girl Genius series and I would like to have a look at volume 10: A.H. and the Canadian Muse.
Agatha Clay is a lowly lab assistant in the lab of Professor Beetle and Dr. Merlot as things open and she is rushing to reach the lab when she and those around her experience a strange sort of electromagnetic anomaly. While trying to escape the area she is attacked by two off duty soldiers who steal her locket, an unusual piece with a trilobite design. She rushes to the university (Transylvania Polygnostic U.) where her lab is located, identifies herself to Mr. Tock the gatekeeper (could that be Tick Tock?) with her name and student number and crashes in to work bemoaning the loss of her locket, which her uncle told her before he disappeared she should wear at all times. There follows an unexpected visit by Baron Wulfenbach and his son Gilgamesh (!). When Professor Beetle learns that Agatha's locket has been stolen he is quite upset and urges her to go home, but the Baron, who is interested in the electromagnetic anomaly, asks her to stay.
Things go whirling off from this point, exciting and violent, and I defy you to summarize the story with any clarity. My problem is that volume one ends without telling us what the importance of the locket is to say nothing of how she got it back. There is a short story at the end of the book showing her with the locket (which now has wings) and working with some abandoned "experiments". I'd also like to know how her name changed from Clay to Heterodyne. I suppose if I really want to know what happened I could find Volume two: A.H. and the Airship City.