Adventure, Romance, Mad Science! Meet Agatha Clay, Transylvania Polygnostic University student with the drive to create and the worst luck in the world! This is Volume One of the Hugo Award-winning series, now in full color to match the rest of the collection.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-The Heterodyne family, who "travelled the globe negotiating peace, stopping monsters, and shutting down doomsday devices," are heroes among those with the Spark, the ability to play with the laws of physics, until their disappearance. Now, student lab assistant Agatha Clay works for Dr. Beetle at Transylvania Polygnostic University. After soldiers of fortune steal the locket her uncle gave her years before, she is cast out of the university and left alone while her anxious foster parents go to retrieve it. Agatha takes a nap and awakes, disheveled and greasy, to be confronted by one of the soldiers. He is looking for revenge because his companion died and he blames her and the locket, which contains a complicated mechanism. Meanwhile, back at the university, Baron Wulfenbach and his son Gilgamesh run into a clank, a mechanical robotlike device that seems to be searching for someone. They reprogram it to find its maker, whom the Baron suspects is a new Spark. The clank returns to the shop where Agatha and the soldier are arguing, and the Baron orders them both kidnapped. The sepia-and-white art is lively and appealing, with distinctive characters and a richly imagined environment. There are many humorous touches, such as the "big fish" sign on a, well, big fish in the marketplace, or the Jagermonsters, humanlike soldiers who have an odd joie de vivre. The book includes a bonus color story that gives a glimpse into Agatha's future, which apparently involves a talking cat and several constructs. Sly, witty, and great fun.
Susan Salpini, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Susan Salpini, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From the Publisher
"Girl Genius: Agatha Heterodyne and the Beetleburg Clank" collects issues #1-3 of the Phil & Kaja Foglio's popular Gaslamp Fantasy series. Features of the first collection include beautiful sepia art (highlighting the lovely inks of Brian Snoddy), 7 1/2" x 11" art-book presentation, and a new 8-page color story from Agatha's exciting future of Adventure, Romance, & Mad Science...
Teens & Up. Girl Genius is well-loved by (and suitable for) all-ages, but we fully support parental review prior to reading. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
The Hipster Spies With His Little Eye Something That Begins With--Witty, Charming, Fun For All
January 13, 2005
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Mostly, when you see the phrase "fun for all" it really means "fun for nobody", but that does not apply here.
The Foglios' illustrations and writing are vivid & joyous, and their sense of humor displays minds born with the belief that "the world is mad, so why not enjoy it?"
Clever riffs on the old Universal Horror classics mix with wild sight gags & a great fondness for the spectacular in their work.
There's a plot, too. That's always nice.
The Hipster gives it a Big Thumbs UP!
The Foglios' illustrations and writing are vivid & joyous, and their sense of humor displays minds born with the belief that "the world is mad, so why not enjoy it?"
Clever riffs on the old Universal Horror classics mix with wild sight gags & a great fondness for the spectacular in their work.
There's a plot, too. That's always nice.
The Hipster gives it a Big Thumbs UP!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Agatha Clay is a young woman with a mysterious past. She lives in a world complicated by Sparks (think mad scientists with the ability to create devices and living things that bend or break the known laws of science) and ruled by Baron Wulfenbach, a Spark who conquered Europe to stop the chaos. Agatha's doesn't know her origin or about her imminent Sparkhood. When a mugging and theft allows her talents to break loose without warning, all hell begins to break loose, too.
Girl Genius is beautifully drawn and wonderfully manic. Its characters are human, animal, robotic (called Clanks), and artificial biological constructs. The huge story includes Agatha, the Baron and his son Gilgamesh (himself a developing spark), the King of Cats, Jagermonsters, pirates, the most fearsome nanny in the known universe, a traveling circus, Translyvania Polygnostic University, various monsters, and Punch and Judy. The backstory underlying it is fascinating, imaginative, and enormously detailed. The villains are not totally evil, and the good have their dark sides, but don't take any of it too seriously. This is comedy that is both broad and pointed, and it works beautifully.
This comic is a whacko masterpiece of adventure, romance, and discovery. After fifty years of reading all sorts of comics, this is now my all-time favorite.
Girl Genius is beautifully drawn and wonderfully manic. Its characters are human, animal, robotic (called Clanks), and artificial biological constructs. The huge story includes Agatha, the Baron and his son Gilgamesh (himself a developing spark), the King of Cats, Jagermonsters, pirates, the most fearsome nanny in the known universe, a traveling circus, Translyvania Polygnostic University, various monsters, and Punch and Judy. The backstory underlying it is fascinating, imaginative, and enormously detailed. The villains are not totally evil, and the good have their dark sides, but don't take any of it too seriously. This is comedy that is both broad and pointed, and it works beautifully.
This comic is a whacko masterpiece of adventure, romance, and discovery. After fifty years of reading all sorts of comics, this is now my all-time favorite.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
My wife and I play the Girl Genius card game, though up until recently I have known little of the background story. One day, curious, I looked it up and found this volume and ordered it. Before I was finished, I was already in love with Agatha. This volume gives little of the flavor of the full story that folds over the next 5+ volumes, but it does give insight into a richly imagined world.
In some ways, it is a very common story. There is a student who seems not particularly good at anything, though the reader is made aware early own that there is more than meets the eye. There is a university where she learns, that seems to be taking part in caring for her and hiding something of a secret. There is a mysterious set of events in her past, and her family's past. She has an "item of power" that is taken and sets gears into motion. She meets a guy she both despises and admires at the same time.
Somehow, though, the Foglios have found an excellent way to balance the "steam-punk", the cliche story line, and the relatively small beginnings of a comic that are meant to hint at things to come in a way to come up with something that feels fresh and, more importantly, fun.
If you are thinking about ordering this volume, by the way, I recommend getting the next couple as well. It reads fast and I assure you that you are going to want more.
In some ways, it is a very common story. There is a student who seems not particularly good at anything, though the reader is made aware early own that there is more than meets the eye. There is a university where she learns, that seems to be taking part in caring for her and hiding something of a secret. There is a mysterious set of events in her past, and her family's past. She has an "item of power" that is taken and sets gears into motion. She meets a guy she both despises and admires at the same time.
Somehow, though, the Foglios have found an excellent way to balance the "steam-punk", the cliche story line, and the relatively small beginnings of a comic that are meant to hint at things to come in a way to come up with something that feels fresh and, more importantly, fun.
If you are thinking about ordering this volume, by the way, I recommend getting the next couple as well. It reads fast and I assure you that you are going to want more.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Where Mad Girls and Monsters Rule Supreme
Mad scientists (aka "Sparks") have taken over the world, while ordinary people run in terror from their evil creations -- giant insects, monster armies and gigantic battle clanks... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Hilary M. Murphy
I Love This Series
I'll only review the first one, but I love all of this comic. The art is good and fabulously colored, the story is fun and witty and the characters grow and change as they... Read more
Published on March 21, 2010 by K. Macdonald
Character, plot, artwork, humor ... it's all here
The Girl Genius story begins with a bang. Or, if you insist, with a bizzare electrical storm in the middle of the street as Agatha Clay walks to school. Read more
Published on June 19, 2009 by Reader in Matawan
The Beginning Spark of a Great Series
This is the first collection of the Girl Genius webcomic by Phil & Kaja Foglio. Gamers will recognize Phil Foglio as the cartoonist behind the long-running What's New? Read more
Published on June 10, 2009 by R. Silva
Flawed but still fun
Agatha Heterodyne and the Beetleburg Clank is the first of the "Girl Genius" books by Phil and Kaja Foglio. Read more
Published on July 27, 2008 by Akachei
A fantastic comic and an excellent item to own!
I'm not a huge fan of comics and I certainly don't spend a lot of money buying comics that were originally online. Read more
Published on May 27, 2008 by Sarah O'Hara
Call it Gas-Lamp fantasy, NOT Steampunk!
If you don't know Phil and Kaja Foglio from -his- work in Dragon Mag's "What's New", from the MythAdventures series (book and/or comic), the Buck Godot stories, their (blush)... Read more
Published on August 6, 2007 by Geoff
Love it love it love it.
The art is really the best part of the series. All the bits and bobs and mechanically doodads make for a very pretty comic. (And they serve as good plot devices too! Read more
Published on February 6, 2007 by JMS
Top-Notch Mad Science
This is the first volume in Phil Foglio's ongoing series featuring Agatha Heterodyne and a cast of hundreds. Read more
Published on December 28, 2006 by Rodney Meek
A wonderful read!
Great characters set in a wondeful universe! I was overjoyed reading through it and puzzling out the world history, dropped in a way that wasn't heavyhanded but left me enough... Read more
Published on August 21, 2005 by Book Reader42
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
