#but guys i think agatha all along is infecting me

[iridescentis]

guys i fear im becoming abnormal about a piece of media again

[journeysintowebcomics]

Girl Genius Liveblog #213

UPDATE 213: Political Marriage

Last time Agatha and pals had gone into the many underground passageways underneath Paris, because Hoffman says they can get into the forbidden library where not even Colette can get in. Along the way, they encounter a civilization of xenophobic and suspicious mole people, nowadays less xenophobic and suspicious, thanks to Hoffman. Let’s continue.

Ah, Hoffman has been adopted into the royal family of ‘the moligarchy’. I really appreciate the pun, that’s a nice one. The king is sitting on a pile of gold and treasures; with enough style it’d make a dragon nod in acknowledgement.

Turns out the royal heir who will get married to the opposite civilization in order to broker peace is Hoffman. Hah! I bet that’s why they were okay with being peaceful with each other now, beause the mole king here saw the way to get a political marriage without having to make one of his people marry the enemies. Still, it does seem to me like the mole is sincere about liking Hoffman, so it’s not really that bad – although Hoffman sure looks like he disagrees. Let’s just hope his grades in political science will skyrocket thanks to the experience.

Looks like even though the civilization up there on the surface doesn’t know about the moles, those down here know about what’s going on up there. The mole king hopes she’ll solve the time bubble soon so he gets to try his favorite cave snails from over there again. Oh boy, the stakes are getting even higher and higher, aren’t they. Maybe Agatha should market those snails around with her face.

I have a feeling saying ‘suspicious and xenophobic’ about other civilizations is the running gag of this volume, hah. Regardless, going to ask the enemy king sounds like a plan, and since Agatha is with Hoffman, she has societal influence! Thank goodness, things are going kind of well.

Far away, in Mechanisburg and its time bubble, Gil is coming to inspect the situation, and hope for good news. He arrives in a drill vehicle with ‘eloi eater’ inscribed on it. Hey, that’s a reference to that H.G. Wells book about traveling in time, right? I remember reading it ages ago. It was a good book, yup. Either way, they managed to extract someone in perfect condition, without accelerated aging or sudden death! Everything’s going well over here. Heck, maybe Gil will be able to solve the Mechanisburg problem before Agatha finds a way to – or at least he’ll manage to save the characters with names and familiar faces.

Speaking of familiar faces, turns out the person his crew saved is not a person Gil’s fond of.

Ah, now there’s someone I hadn’t seen in a while. Honestly I’m somewhat surprised he was trapped here. I had thought he’d be lucky enough to not be trapped in Mechanisburg. But hey, he’s alive and intact, his luck is still good. Besides, now that it’s been proven someone can be extracted from Mechanisburg and survive, this means soon someone like Tarvek can be extracted! I’m really glad about that.

It takes a brief scuffle and someone who isn’t Gil to explain the situation before Othar of the bright blue eyes listens – those are some really great eyes, honestly. Gil says there are other problems, and I suppose he means the...things coming for the Baron. How much time does Gil have to get to Wulfenbach, I wonder?

A new volume is starting! First, a couple images.

Reminds me of the circus times. The baba yaga thing...even though that was a cottage and not a turkey. Oh, simpler times, how do I long for thee sometimes.

And this must be the inside of the library! With almost no books at all, so it’s more like...a museum, not a library. Doesn’t look like Hoffman came along, so I guess he stayed down to get married, but Colette is still here. I like Colette, she’ll be a nice ally to have here.

You know, now that Othar is free, maybe Gil will send him to go see Agatha in Paris, instead of going all the way there. Othar isn’t an idiot – when he’s not in a sidestory – and he’s decently competent. He should be of help, and it also would keep him out of Gil’s hair. Although Othar is a spark, he’s not an expert in time, no? Sending him to do what he’s good at may be better.

Aha, there’s Tarvek, still not melting from all the poison he was stabbed with. The guy holding him is Vanamonde, no? I think Vanamonde will be left frozen for a while longer after Tarvek is freed, although...he’ll be a convenient person to keep trying things on, if they continue doing that.

The outer base is under attack. Must be the Other’s forces, trying to ruin everything. Seems like Gil isn’t leaving without Tarvek, though. Tarvek’s return to Girl Genius is imminent! And by imminent I suspect it’ll be a volume or maybe two before he’s free. Yeah, I don’t have the utmost faith on Girl Genius’ pacing, but hey, things could be worse.

So turns out Paris has numerous secret kingdoms under it. It’s all so crowded the royal palaces are like two hundred meters from each other. Hard to believe you can have a war when everything is so close, hah. And part of the reason why the secret kingdoms are a secret is because the people who have heard about them don’t want to believe they exist. Guess they’re all suspicious and xenophobic.

Among the many guests for Hoffman’s wedding, there’s someone who identifies herself as an ally of Agatha, from her diplomatic corps. Since Agatha is being suspicious and not xenophobic, she demands to know who she’s talking with. She doesn’t get an answer, but she’s told there’s someone who can vouch for this woman. That person is Dimo, who is...looking far more elegant than usual. Guess that means this woman is trustworthy.

Oh hey, I faintly remember that bear. How nice!

Jager bear, huh. Does that mean this bear had a dose of that Jagerbrau? I always thought it just was a bear the Jagers managed to subdue and ride around, but nope, it’s a Jager bear. And likes opera. Truly, lady Jenka is fulfilling her current role of the eccentric beauty. I suspect she came to this party because it’s underneath Paris and therefore it’s in some proximity to Agatha.

The message Jenka had was that the Castle is urging Agatha to fix the problem in Mechanisburg, as if she wasn’t currently working on that. He warns the thing that’s coming to Mechanisburg, attracted by the time bubble, will arrive in less than two years. Well that’s like...seventeen volumes, so there’s still plenty of time.

I was wrong – it seems for now – and the reason why Jenka and Dimo are here is because they had to meet with a few people. One of those people was just murdered, and the person who killed him is infected by a slaver wasp, as proved by the wasp eater alarming everyone about it. Hm, hm, I see. Was this something Lucrezia ordered, perhaps? It was implied her plans would start getting afoot now. Maybe it’s already happening.

Huh, there really are many revenants here, more than expected. I suppose asking the king here how to get into the forbidden library isn’t a good plan anymore. Also Hoffman is here again. Nice of you to join us.

Regardless, this seems like a good place to stop.

 Next time: in three updates

[12izzy3]

Webcomic Recommendations No One Asked For:

I......... Spent 2 hours putting together a list of my webcomic recommendations, with summaries and reviews, because I was reworking my blog... And really I don’t think anyone ever goes directly on to my blog proper, so it feels kind of foolish to have that there where no one will see it, so I’m actually going to post it as well:

Webcomics are honestly just so tight, and there’s such a vast variety of them that there’s something for everyone, if not a few somethings for everyone! I’m personally all about indie games, but if there’s another indie market that I feel like the internet has created a space for it’s comics. After I started writing this I realized I have a uh… Lot of recommendations. Also, I may be an idiot for not using the author’s own summaries???

Regularly updating:

KILL SIX BILLION DEMONS - A comic about a college girl, Allison, given mystical powers beyond her understanding, and thrust into a celestial world filled with angels and demons, where the lines of good and evil are blurry at best. With the help of friends she meets along the way, she must navigate her new powers, and save her boyfriend from forces that would destroy existence. Kinda dark thematically (with very rare and minor gore), but a great comic if you love action, fantasy, and fantastic art. One of my favorites.

AWFUL HOSPITAL - Another one of my favorites. After her child becomes terribly sick, and doctors tell her that there’s nothing that they can do, a mother wakes up in a mysterious, otherworldly hospital. She must navigate this confusing and sometimes horrifying hospital to save her child and get home, and on the way, she makes many odd friends and unknowable enemies, and learns that her child’s sickness may be part of something larger. This comic is funny, has cool action, a unique format, and lots of great, though ghastly, character designs.

GUNNERKRIGG COURT - A coming of age story about two girls, Antimony and Kat, as they try to find their place in each other’s lives, and the two clashing worlds that surround them, the massive technological complex that is their school and home, Gunnerkrigg Court, and the forest across the river, where magic and fantastic creatures thrive, under the watchful eye of the trickster god Coyote. Another great one for if you like fantasy, but is usually a lot lighter, with a peak of intensity about equal to… Like, Scooby Doo on Zombie Island, I think. I’ve only gotten into this one pretty recently, but it’s good.

PARANATURAL - After his family moves to his dad’s old home town, Max discovers that he has magical powers, and becomes part of the Paranatural Activities club at his school, a group of students and their adviser who all have magical powers, and use them to protect the populace from ghosts, as well as investigate the many magical mysteries of the town. This comic is great, and mostly focuses on action and comedy. The art is a very colorful cartoony style, and the characters are drawn very… fluid, rubbery. The best way to put it is that the artist has really put a lot of effort into making characters consistently as expressive as possible, and that good old Disney/Looney Toons/Tom & Jerry stretchiness makes for very good visual comedy.

HOUSEPETS! - Another one of the earliest webcomics I ever read! Housepets is… largely a comedy comic, following the lives of anthropomorphized pets in a small neighborhood. They go on adventures, and live the fun yet complicated lives of an open society of people with unbelievable amounts of free time. However, sometimes there are bigger drama/adventure arcs, which are really good! A lot of the times amazing art or cool action are what draw me into adventure stories, but I just think the plot of this comic can be really good and surprisingly deep for a humor comic. And it’s still loose enough, and in the newspaper comic style that you can usually jump in very often (not every strip, mind you but in pretty small arcs) without feeling like you’ve missed a ton. Long too, lots to read, recommend.

STAND STILL STAY SILENT - SSSS is a comic that takes place 90 years after the end of the world. A zombie-like virus with strong mystical qualities has wiped out not just human, but much of the world’s mammalian life. In Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, and Denmark), in spite of the virus, society continues to exist, and most people live normal, happy lives. Our comic follows a research team, formed on a hairstring budget to travel into the infected zone, collect information on the virus and state of the fauna there, and, secretly, to collect books to sell back home. A great fantasy adventure drama that updates very often, and has really good art.

CUCUMBER QUEST - In spite of order this is actually the last one I’m writing, and I’m tired, so I’m going to copy the book one summary from Amazon:

What happens when an evil queen gets her hands on an ancient force of destruction? World domination, obviously. The seven kingdoms of Dreamside need a legendary hero. Instead, they’ll have to settle for Cucumber, a nerdy magician who just wants to go to school. As destiny would have it, he and his way more heroic sister, Almond, must now seek the Dream Sword, the only weapon powerful enough to defeat Queen Cordelia’s Nightmare Knight. Can these bunny siblings really save the world in its darkest hour? Sure, why not?

Cucumber Quest is good, the art is colorful and bright, all of the characters are relatable and real, including the villains, there’s cool adventures sequences and plot, and it’s a very fun comic. There’s humor and love and struggle in the comic, and it’s very well done.

GIRL GENIUS - Girl Genius follows Agatha Heterodyne, up and coming mad scientist, on her many adventures to save herself, her friends and the world if it’s along the way. It’s hard, however, competing with an entire world of mad scientists, as well as the Heterodyne legacy, one filled with chaos and bloodshed up until recently. I like Girl Genius a lot. It doesn’t move through the story very fast, but there’s a lot of solid world building, and more importantly, very intriguing sci-fi action and adventure happening inside of that world! I’m also pretty sure they do a radio show or podcast or something with additional Agatha adventures on top of the comic.

SUPERNORMAL STEP - After leading a life as a drifter after the death of her father, Fae is pulled into an alternate world where magic is real. There, she tries to find her place in life, master the magic that the world around her runs on, and get home to plain old earth in one piece. Lots of cool action, every character has really got their own style of magic. I can honestly tell you that it’s good, but I read it over such a long period of time that it’s got a pretty vague impression in my head.

ATOMIC ROBO - Robo is a skilled an dedicated scientist. He’s also an atomic robot built and raised by Nikola Tesla. Atomic Robo follows the titular character on the many adventures of his life, from WWII to the present. As the head of Tesladyne Industries, Robo is dedicated to researching the outlandish, the weird, the impossible! And when the world calls on him, he and his Action Scientists defend it from giant monsters, cosmic anomalies, and mad science. Atomic Robo is great if you love action, robots, monsters, humor, and velociraptors duel-wielding uzis. Highly recommended.

DUMBING OF AGE - As the title would imply, Dumbing Of Age is a pretty standard coming of age comedy! Starring a wide cast of likable and complex character, DoA follows a group of college freshmen as they learn more about themselves, and grow beyond the bubbles that they were raised in. I think the underpinnings of the comic are pretty strongly on humor, but there’s a lot of drama, and conversations about meaningful things too. There are lots of varying depictions of drama, depression, anxiety, and the ways people deal with pressure, and fear. But there’s also a lot of love and friendliness. It’s a good comic, and probably the only solid slice-of-life on my list.

MANLY GUYS DOING MANLY THINGS - This comic follows The Commander, a bio-engineered super soldier sent back in time to run a temp agency. This particular temp agency specializes in reintroducing particularly brutish video game, comic, and movie protagonists back into normal polite society. Duke Nukem isn’t much of a man for customer service, however. Later on the comic drifts more toward Commander’s personal life. (So slice of life, but with a buff, and actually surprisingly sensitive and forward thinking, super commando from the future.) Has been in a bit of a slump in terms of updates recently, but they still happen.

GRRL POWER - Sidney, a slightly hyper nerd who works at a comic shop, stumbles upon an artifact that gives her a variety of superpowers. After being exposed, she becomes a member of the government’s brand new super hero organization. This comic is a lot of fun, with some cool superpowers and super fights. Lots of humor, very consistently, in any given scene. Sadly, it is a bit fan service-y, though in the grand scale of things it’s not the worst offender (though definitely the worst you’ll see on this list).

SWORD INTERVAL - This is a pretty new one for me, but it’s great. At some indeterminate point in the past (potentially as far back as the civil war, if not farther), the earth became exposed to monsters and magic in ways that it wasn’t before. Humanity still exists and survives, but plagued by supernatural forces. Our main character is Fall, a very new monster hunter, who after years in witness protection, has decided to track down and kill the Hierophant, the powerful monster that killed her parents. Sword interval does a lot of really cool fantasy stuff, with new takes on classic monsters, and magic and monsters in settings that we don’t often see them in, out in the open in present day. It’s something I wish we could see more. Good action and art, particularly character design.

BACK - Abigail is back. From the dead? From a very long sleep in a box underground? She doesn’t know either. She doesn’t know a lot of things. What she does know is that she’s got two guns, is nearly indestructible, and is prophesied to go north to the capital and end the world. With the help of the young cleric Michael, who supplements her absolute lack of all knowledge and common sense, Abigail fights her way through the kingdom, and past the kings many superpowered deputies. Back is cool, back is funny, and sometimes has some good action. I wouldn’t consider it one of my favorites, but it’s a comic I started and I’ve kept up with, so that’s saying something.

MARE INTERNUM - Not very long yet, and I only recently read it, but Mare Internum is really good. I don’t want to spoil it too much, honestly, especially because it’s so short, but it’s a sci-fi adventure comic about being trapped, underground, on Mars, and finding life there. The art is great, the story so far is well written, and the dialogue is good. I really don’t want to spoil it, but there are some great concepts in it and you should read it.

OPHIUCHUS - A very new comic about an ancient stone guardian who is whisked away to another, far off world. Here, he is employed to help two of this world’s denizens defeat the blight that has corrupted and destroyed their once almost utopian world. The art for this is really good. The comic is not currently long enough to comment on much else, but it seems interesting, sci-fi with a touch of fantasy.

Slowly Updating:

AVA’S DEMON - Ava’s Demon is about a girl, Ava who has spent her entire young life haunted by a ghost that torments her, before finally making a deal. The ghost, Wrathia, will help her become a normal girl, with friends and a normal life, but first, Ava must track down the ghosts of Wrathia’s most powerful allies, and help her dissolve the massive interplanetary empire that is TITAN. Ava’s Demon is amazing. The story is good, but I think the comic’s greatest strength is absolutely stunning and polished art. Strong recommendation.

THE PROPERTY OF HATE - RGB is a self-described monster, a sharp dressed man with a TV for a head. However, he’s looking for a hero to guide on a quest. RGB whisks our young protagonist, the Hero, to a world that exists beside our own a world completely fueled and inhabited by our creativity, our stories. RGB protects the Hero from these dangers, guiding her on a mission unknown, through a world that, although mystical, seems to have lost its hope.

HE IS A GOOD BOY - Slow but large updates. This comic follows the life a sentient acorn, Crange, after the death of his parent (a tree) to a lumberjack. Crange is kind of a bit of a loser, and stumbles around his world of sentient rocks and bugs getting into all sorts of trouble and hijinks. These hijinks almost always result in someone’s death, which Crange is impressively unphased by. HIAGB is fantastic, in my opinion. The art is great, the humor is great, especially the visual comedy, and the story is good. However, it gets real dark, and gory. But if you’re fine with that, it IS a (dark) comedy comic, and a good one.

THE LAST HALLOWEEN - One Halloween, the darkness opens up, and monsters pour out from the seams between our world and theirs. Approximately 7 billion monsters, in fact. Mona, a young girl and horror fanatic finds herself thrown into a world of chaos and horror, on the run from her own monster, and forced to look for a way to save the world, with the help of ghosts, zombies, vampires, and even monsters themselves. In spite of the fact that this comic can be VERY dark, I think one of its big hooks is humor and likable characters, on top of great art and plot. I really like it. This comic maybeshouldn’t be on the slow update list, but the artist is just picking up speed after a long hiatus, so…

ROMANTICALLY APOCALYPTIC - The apocalypse happened, and Charles Snippy missed it. Humanity was wiped out in a war against it’s own, ever-present AI, and Charles Snippy, a scientist/tour guide without the implants made it out alive, only to wander alone this is until he meets Zee Captain, an ever positive, gender question mark, maniac who wanders the wasteland with their insane assistant Pilot. Snippy, Captain and Pilot wander the wasteland, facing off against monsters, raiders, and the laws of physics in a mind warping and illogical adventure.

On Hiatus:

DERELICT - Like a surprisingly large number of comics on this list, in Derelict, the world has ended. A strange Miasma travels the world, killing billions, and bringing with it gargoyle-like monsters who fear the daylight. However, the world goes on, in a small, broken way, and our story follows a scavenger in this new world.

HELVETICA - So, you die, and then what? Well, life goes on. This is what Helvetica learns, after he dies and reemerges into an afterlife that seems shockingly similar to the world of the living, with work, pressure, responsibility, danger, and just plain old boring life. Except everyone is a skeleton. Helvetica is very resistant to accept this new life in death. This one is pretty short so far, and hasn’t updated in a while, but it’s good.

VIBE - Hasn’t update in a year and a half, but what’s there is good (Honestly, it’s super sad it hasn’t update, I like it a lot). Vibe follows Baron, a young shaman, a spiritual master who is able to expel negative emotions (bad vibes) from the human body. Only those emotions then become monsters, who a shaman must fight to complete the process! With the help of his Loa (they’re like familiars), he navigates life as a teenager, and his increasingly complex and dangerous life as a shaman. I really like this comic. There’s a lot of very cool and dynamic action, and the artist makes great use of a ton of bright colors.

THE ABOMINABLE CHARLES CHRISTOPHER - This one hasn’t updated in about a year, but what’s there right now is good. Charles Christopher is a Sasquatch, living in the woods on the edge of society. Though he himself is fairly soft, and simple, the wilderness around him is full of anthropomorphized animals who go about shockingly human social and professional lives. The comic follows Charles Christopher as he interacts with the world of these animals, and becomes tangled in a vast spiritual quest.

POWER NAP - Hard to know exactly where to put this one. It’s currently VERY slow updating. Power Nap takes place in a world where the majority of mankind is reliant on a drug that allows them to live 24/7 without sleep. However, there are those who are allergic to the medicine, who live their lives out of sync with their peers, protected by the government, but effectively second class citizens. However, in a sleepless world, over-saturated by virtual reality, the human subconscious has found ways to seep into reality.

THE FANCY ADVENTURES OF JACK CANNON - I want to start this out by saying this comic is probably dead, without a 100% resolution. However, it’s currently 492 pages, and a LOT of the storyline covered in that span was resolved. Such that, if they’d wanted to, I could’ve seen the author wrapping it up. I digress. Jack Cannon is about a kid moving to a new school, where he finds the bullies are able to hack reality. Somehow immune to hacks, Jack fights the bullies, and in doing so, puts himself on the stage of a worldwide battle against hackers. Lots of really cool action in this, one of the first few webcomics I read.

Complete:

HOMESTUCK - If you’re here, you are probably at least aware of Homestuck. It’s about a bunch of goofy awkward teen friends who get sucked into a cosmic (video) game, with the fate of the universe at stake, but you know, they’ve still got that teen angst. Time travel is involved. It’s a very long, fun, and dramatic comic which is heavily influenced by RPGs and point and click adventures.

THE ADVENTURES OF DR. MCNINJA - The pressures of being a doctor AND ninja are immense, but on either front, you can trust that Dr. McNinja is the man for the job. Born into an Irish ninja family, Dr. McNinja longs for a life where he can do medicine in peace, but finds himself constantly pulled into a string of action packed adventures, fighting giant monsters, bandits riding velociraptors, and dueling radical interdimensional kings. This one if fairly long, a bit over 1800 pages, but it’s really good and well done. Again, there is a lot of both action and humor (I’m big on that), with some surprisingly meaningful and well-done story arcs in spite of how silly the premise is.

REMIND - This one is about a girl who lives in a lighthouse on the edge of a town whose main draw is the “Lizard Man” legend that her own father made up. However, after her cat one day starts walking on two legs and talking, claiming to be one of many said lizard men, they both go on a journey to discover the truth. This one was OK. The story and sci-fi elements are both alright bot not great. But it’s not super long, so if you have the time, maybe read it.

[journeysintowebcomics]

Girl Genius Liveblog #207

UPDATE 207: Image Gallery

Last time Agatha and her merry band finally arrived to Paris! Where it turns out she’s some kind of celebrity, with a ton of merchandise to her name. That was to be expected of a Heterodyne, really. So how shall this go? Let’s see.

But before that, last update ended with Wulfenbach getting notified two of his agents have gotten injured, and was now going to collect information. Let’s see...a town has been completely wasped, meaning they’re under Lucrezia’s control. What town will it be, I wonder...and could any of the agents sent to check the place have gotten wasped? It’s not unlikely, this guy who got injured may be a liability if he’s under the Other’s control.

It had all started as an investigation regarding some stolen technology from Mechanisburg, and it led to that town, where they found the old-style zombie revenants that were mentioned in the Heterodyne stories. If I’m understanding this correctly, the purpose of those ones was to infect the town, and once everyone was infected with wasps that turned them into revenants that aren’t zombies, the zombies left. So...the two varieties of wasps are being used. I wonder if that fits the Other’s modus operandi, if she in the past also sent hordes of zombies into towns to infect everyone. If not, maybe it’s not her, it could be someone who got their hands on her technology. Possibly this Queen of the Dawn figure, since she has people eating from the palm of her hand, but yeah, that’s only if it turns out the Other’s not the one to blame for that town’s situation.

Good thing a wasp nest was brought here! Gil should make them study it to find out more.

Ah, so the wasps have been improved, they’re now smaller and therefore it’s easier for them to infect someone. No more shoving a wasp the size of someone’s hand into somebody’s mouth. That’s pretty alarming, some of those small slaver wasps may have escaped. Personally I’m worried.

This makes Gil wonder, though. If the Other is back, why hasn’t she improved her technology? I’d have thought making them smaller and more effective counted, but apparently not. Then I’m embarrassed when it’s revealed that wasn’t Lucrezia’s work, someone else did it. I suppose neither Anevka nor Zola have much time for improving the wasps, and I’m not even sure the latter would be interested in that, since I don’t think she’s a spark, she just has the Other’s knowledge and mind under her control.

The possibility Gil raises is that the Other may be directing others and telling them what to do, unable to do it herself. Hm...that’s a possibility, indeed. I remember how, like seven million years ago, the Other in Agatha’s body was showing Tarvek some of her tech and teaching him a few things. Maybe it’s like that.

Also, the Queen of the Dawn was mentioned again. Maybe she’ll turn out to be a major player, alright.

What Gil’s worried about is that Lucrezia managed to set something in motion pretty quickly while she was controlling Agatha. That’s exactly what happened, yup, just that it was sooner than Gil expected.

Okay, with that dramatic line there’s a scene change into absolutely nothingness in terms of main plot, because it’s time for an interlude!

Their words, not mine. Still, nice art is good, so let’s take a look and see what we get.

Jagers playing poker. That’s kind of a small poker table, the six of them barely fit. This is meant to be a wallpaper for the desktop. I’d download it, but something went wrong during a Windows update and my wallpaper is gone, and I have been too lazy and/or busy to check how to fix the wallpaper function, welp. Let me just bookmark this heeeere...

Agatha seriously needs to get her hands on some sweet royalties for the use of her image. Do lawyers exist in the Girl Genius world? Somehow I don’t think they do, so she’ll have to handle it herself. Death rays are kind of good negotiation tactics in this world, I bet.

So, what’s going on is that Ms. Kaja Foglio got pretty injured, and there’ll also be some conventions, and Mr. Phil Foglio is taking the chance to do some poster designs. These designs would also be sold at conventions as prints. I won’t lie, this tea poster and the chocolate one are pretty good poster designs. Are they in the store? I sure hope they are, and if so, I’ll greatly consider acquiring some to hang around.

I’m pretty sure that’s unsafe in a few ways. I consider myself lucky I have never been close to molten iron, but getting burned by that has to be pretty awful. Agatha, stop posing sexily and step away, for the love of MAD SCIENCE. The railing barely reaches your calves, you’re gonna trip.

I love the design in the inside of the cape. So, there’s this cryogenic chamber, it seems. Nice. That could come useful, maybe. What’s on Agatha’s head, is that required for the cryogenic chamber? Either way, the design of the poster itself is fine. What I’m not sure about is the color scheme. It’s mostly personal taste, I admit, it’s a tad too pale for my tastes. Would blend on my stark white apartment walls.

Now this one would look much better. Great! Awesome. That aside, I notice it says ‘autumn’. That means the other two were supposed to have seasons on the top area? I checked back and they don’t have any. Disgrace! That aside, this is a good print and I’d acquire it, I’ll say.

This one too. Now that I think about it, it’d be a bit of a shame not to have the entire set, all placed side to side. Ah...the thing is, without the first two having the season on top, the unity is broken. That’s the only issue I have. I wonder how large the prints would be, anyway?

There also was a deck of cards with the Jagers, I see. A boardgame, too.

Hah! Phil Foglio truly looks like a professor, neat. He also draws on bananas.

The Foglios seem like a fun pair, heh. Either way, back to the story.

The cake break is interrupted when a spark in a clank bursts into the shop, telling Agatha to come along quietly. Needless to say that’s not going to happen, no? The guy laughs at Agatha because she supposedly only has a large cake, and I wouldn’t underestimate it because, well, Agatha is clever and I bet she’d be able to use a cake to her advantage. She doesn’t get to do anything because some guy named Hoffman leaps forward to hit the clank with a hammer.

It’s not just a hammer, it saves kinetic energy and releases it when he wants to! And so he does. He gets ready to release it, and the results are explosive.

But it must have worked, no? The guy can’t have survived this. Agatha should be safe.

I’ll stop for now.

[journeysintowebcomics]

Girl Genius Liveblog #158

UPDATE 158: He’s Back

Last time Gil had managed to take control of the empire, and found Tarvek had been playing master tactician – rather competently, may I add. Now let’s continue.

Just as promised, Agatha and her current ragtag team are working on the electric generators Gil had set on the walls, hoping to fix them. Agatha criticizes Gil’s work because that guy loves using condensers and scribbling Agatha’s name on all the bolts. Huh. Really now? Agatha may think it’s very sweet, but she has a point there: Gil must have a lot of free time. I bet he used a laser or something to craft Agatha’s name in cursive. Sparks don’t do anything half-assed, you know!

Hoh, despite the Castle not being at full strength for another three years, the town isn’t doing badly at all! Groups are being pushed away, Agatha has repurposed machines, the streets are corroding in what I’m sure is a quagmire of acid and melted stone...hey, if it keeps the town safe, then throw it in. Streets can be rebuilt later. The problem they have right now is that there’ll be a new wave of attackers later, and if they’re smart, they may have ways to counter Agatha’s current defenses. It also doesn’t help that Wulfenbach’s troops are standing outside, acting weird and apparently making zero effort to communicate with Agatha.

I love that they had to write ‘this end up’ here on this wall. Okay, what’s going on now? Before I read the text, I thought they had dropped a giant bookshelf right in front of Agatha. Now that I’m taking a good look at this thing, I have to wonder how the heck it was carried in the first place. Look at that, it’s bigger than the blimp above it! How did nobody notice a ridiculously large wall being hauled towards Mechanisburg? Oh, sorry, minor correction: a lot of ridiculously huge walls being hauled towards Mechanisburg. That’s kind of a big oversight, guys. I’ll just suppose the walls were folded while being brought, and then when dropped it turned into the big wall I can see here. When something doesn’t make sense, blame MAD SCIENCE. That’s my motto to deal with Girl Genius.

It’s a sign Gil is now in charge, at least. That should give them some reprieve. Not that Agatha’s going to take that as a sign she can relax and let Gil take care of everything, though, she’s in charge of this town and therefore she’s going to do everything in her power it’s competently defended. I like that attitude. In her own words: “I trust Gil, but I don’t know how much I can trust the ruler of the empire.”

Look at that, she’s even handling her death ray now. She’s serious about all this – just what everyone and I expected from her. Although it doesn’t surprise me, I’m always glad to see Agatha doing everything she can to protect Mechanisburg.

Also, Krosp tries to take credit and gets completely ignored by everyone. This cat can’t pull rank on anyone, huh.

In Castle Wulfenbach Tarvek is currently in the process of playing sycophant to Gil. They’re both doing those big grins, so that means things are going awful between them. What else is new?  The guy that just got captured, that’s what’s new. It’s Phil Foglio’s character. He managed to get into the Castle by clinging to a gondola, and now that he reached Gil and Tarvek, he has something of vital importance to tell them.

I don’t know, Tarvek, your descriptions of how your family is like give validity to said vile and scurrilous stories. Now I’m curious if he found out anything. Oh well. He came here for a specific story, and he’s going to tell it, now that they got Gil’s attention. Of course it isn’t shown, but it seems Phil tells the story.

Only Tarvek is impressed, everyone else is either asleep or annoyed. This really doesn’t speak well of Phil Foglio’s in-story storytelling capabilities! Does this all mean at the end of Girl Genius the last page will be a shot of how all the kids listening to him from the first page are now deep asleep on the stone street? I’m starting to believe that’s what the last page will be like.

...oh. Looks like...that ask I got a couple months ago when Wulfenbach told the story was a bit of a spoiler. Somehow it got through my ask reader. That’s unfortunate. Anyway, it really was Wulfenbach trying to tell Gil what happened. It’s really lucky Tarvek was present, because the deeper meaning of the story sailed right over Gil’s head.

Not that Gil is grateful or anything like that, when he finds out Tarvek knew a strain of slaver wasp was being created to infect sparks, he once again attacks Tarvek, holding him against the wall and accusing him of being more corrupted than ever before. This time Tarvek isn’t letting Gil spout all this, instead choosing to give him a good punch to the jaw. Right in front of Boris, at least one soldier, and a guard clank, may I add. It’s of no surprise to me Tarvek almost gets shot to death.

You know, it’s rather telling that Gil leaves Agatha in Tarvek’s care. He doesn’t like it, but since he thinks Tarvek is the most devious and scheming person ever, he’ll be able to see other people’s schemes. He doesn’t like having to rely on Tarvek for protecting Agatha, but yeah, he doesn’t have any other option.

Is Gil in danger of being infected with a slaver wasp? Tarvek does seem to think he is. If I remember correctly, there was only one wasp, and it was used on the Baron. It’s not out of consideration that the Baron could try to make more, using other revenants as help, but in general it doesn’t seem to me Gil is in that much danger yet. Then again, I’m not the clever strategist. Tarvek must know better than me what’s going on.

I knew it! And so did these two. Man, if the Foglios hadn’t pushed for Wulfenbach being such a badass character, I’d be much more surprised. Knowing what I know I bet this isn’t the first time the Baron is found alive after disappearing for a while – and not because he gets kidnapped or injured, I mean.

Tarvek’s immediate action is to grab Gil’s wrist and pull from him so they run away. Better safe than sorry! He puts a lot of stock in Wulfenbach’s cleverness – deservedly, may I say – so for that reason he’s trying to keep Gil safe. Who knows if Lucrezia managed to make more spark-controlling wasps, he doesn’t want to take the risk of Gil getting wasped too.

...uh...well it sure is high time you mentioned that tidbit, Tarvek! I hope he gets the chance to continue the work to counter the wasps, because something like that would be really useful. Maybe once the Mechanisburg arcs end?

Also! Looks like someone may have overheard them, eh? I’m automatically supposing Wulfenbach is going to find out about this conversation, then.

Trust Tarvek and hope for the best, that’s Gil’s best option. That’s going to be difficult.

This is a time as good as any to talk about stuff while they...they escape...somewhere in the castle. How are they going to escape, anyway? An airship carelessly left aside by someone? Anyway, Tarvek figured why Gil felt so betrayed before: Wulfenbach informed Gil about the nice and wholesome Sturmvoraus antics of backstabbing and general domestic jackassery. No surprise Gil felt like he was going to get betrayed, then – and Gil also tried his best to give Tarvek a bad impression, maybe to convince him there was nothing to gain by betraying him further?

This prince is having too much fun calling Gil disgusting, swinish, lecherous and drunken. Classy, pal.

They’re not underestimating Wulfenbach. Gil expects the Baron to be five steps ahead, who knows what orders he has given already – Agatha made the right choice by not trusting Gil would keep things in control forever – and he may have already gotten guards near Gil’s air vessels. How to escape a floating castle, then?

Apparently running through the castle and out of a room without warning is not the subtlest way ever to escape. They noticed.

...add this to the already long list of situations I wish there’s more information about. What’s the story between you and Bangladesh, Tarvek? Inquiring minds want to know.

They don’t want Bangladesh to be in Lucrezia’s troops. Good call. I want to believe Bangladesh has enough standards to never want to be in Lucrezia’s side, wasped or not. Tarvek’s less than elated about she coming along. He’d rather she to get shot. Does this mean Agatha’s going to meet Bangladesh soon? That’d be a fun encounter. I don’t remember if they already met, though, I mean, beyond Bangladesh seeing that glimpse from the future.

When I click the next page I see ‘SOON—‘ there in the top left corner, so I think I should stop for now.

Next update: in three updates