Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Girl Genius Online!!

Starting April 18:

GirlGenius, the WebComic!!

With TPB collections annually (or as story-arcs are completed), for those of us who just have to have it on old-fashioned paper .

The pages originally published as GirlGenius 1-13 will also be (gradually) archived to this site, for the benefit of those unfortunates who have not yet discovered the joys of Adventure, Romance, and Mad Science!

I've been really happy about this ever since I heard about it. I've been following Girl Genius intermittently, but this'll make it easier to keep up with the story and also catch up on what I've missed.

How could I not love a series like this?

Happy here too. That's a great series. It's interesting that they are presenting the whole thing on-line, for free. I'll get the next TPB, but I wonder how this will work out for them financially.

That's been a topic of discussion over at the GG Yahoo group ...

Interview with Phil Foglio at newsarama.


Some very interesting points made about the move to web comics - among them, an increase in readership and a tripling in sales of merchandise. Personally, I didn't think I'd like their move to on-line publishing, but have become a regular (and devoted) follower. Haven't bought the t-shirt yet, though - so I'm not helping their profit picture.

From the interview:

"The benefits of no longer publishing comics however, are substantial. We no longer have to publish the story twice, once in periodical form and once in the collection. Conservatively, this will save us at least $25,000 a year. We also have a much better profit margin on the collections, as do retailers. We no longer have to lay out the story twice, as well as design four sets of covers, interiors, even at its best; Girl Genius never sold more than 10,000 copies. The number began to drop when we brought out the collections. A growing number of people are content to wait until a book is collected before they buy it. Fair enough, I do it myself. Furthermore, while the number of people willing to seek out and patronize comic shops are dwindling, more and more people are reading online comics. I now have access to a segment of the population that has never seen my work, or are rediscovering it, because they stopped going to comic shops for a variety of reasons. The proof of this is in our orders. We use Quickbooks for our record-keeping, and one of its features is that it stores customers' information forever. Since we have gone online, the percentage of brand new, first time customers have increased by two thirds. I don't have to have two different versions of the same book filling my basement."

Damn.

I loved the hardcopies i have. I hate to see a good book go away.

damn.

The beginning of the end for comics has arrived.

Maybe for the indies but the big guns won't go away. At least not for a long while and as long as they can milk the current movie trend.

I think we'll see a resurgence towards the digital format that started (and basically died) with CrossGen. Their DVDs were great as were the Marvel ones that were released. But with the advent of more on-line and file sharing comics (hey I do it but I still spend $100+ a month on my books, it really hasn't stopped me from buying) and gadgets like the PSP that make taking your books everywhere easier, the digital format is the next logical step.

Yeah, it is, but...

who wants to lug yer computer out to the hammock on a nice spring day, hunker down with a big glass of tea, a bag tater chips surf the web. There's something to be said for having an actual book in hand.

Don't get me wrong, i love the book and i have no problems with GG surviving. Its just kinda sad to me. In the frenetic rush to the future, the really great things in life are being lost.

I mean, playdates, for gods sake. Now you are scared to let yer kid go bike riding on their own cause of all the perverts. Kids don't even ride bikes, a good healthy way to have fun anymore, they ride mini crotch rockets and fourwheelers when they are barely outta diapers.

Pfffaaaagggghhhhh. the future is evil.

There *will* still be TPB collections. Volume 4 should be out around the end of the year.
(I may order it direct from their webstore; give myself an excuse to order that XXXenophile ashcan, if it's still in stock )

That interview was interesting, though it could have used more careful proofreading .

The pages that would have been GirlGenius 14 are all posted now; starting next week, pages created specifically for the Web begin ...

Today's GirlGenius 101 page presents the First Demonstration of a Great Truth (at least, of the GG universe).

Note the condition of the blond Jager's headgear in the last panel, and contemplate the wisdom of these words:

"Any plan vhere you lose you HAT is a Bad Plan!!"

[Cerebus]"GAAHH!! COLOR!!!" [/Cerebus]


Yes, the GirlGenius 101 pages are now in color. And, like Dorothy's arrival in Oz, it's symbolic of a Big Change in the story (some aspects of which will become obvious more quickly than others ).

Fans of Aaron Williams' Nodwick may be interested in the current GirlGenius Advanced storyline. So far we've seen "Prince Aaronev", the prince's secretary "Artacz", and the caretaker of the royal theater "Nod".

Ah! Haven't read Nodwick and missed that.

This recent turn of events is quite funny. GG is a great series and is really proving the potential of on-line comics IMO. I'm a faithful reader but also look forward to the trade to reread the story.

And Now:

Othar Tryggvassen!

(as if things weren't Mad enough ... )

That was a surprise! Where did he come from (besides v.2 page 65)?

The Foglios have not yet explained *how* Othar ended up in that situation. *Why* the Baron arranged it will become clear around the time Agatha leaves Castle Wulfenbach.

Book 5 wrapped up last week with a series of revelations aboard Castle Wulfenbach. Book 6 has begun!

Meanwhile in GirlGenius 101 we got our first good look at another major character (and no, by "good look" I'm not referring to the panel with Agatha in her underwear* -- I mean Krosp); and the two pages after that reveal the reason why Book 1 is in black-and-white.


*Though I will admit that mentioning Agatha in her unmentionables is blatant pandering to get more people to click on the link
... and keep going, the page after the dream/flashback has another shot of Agatha in her underwear ...

Today's GirlGenius 101 page, panel 1, contains my favorite dialogue-exchange in the series thus far.

GirlGenius 101 has nearly reached the end of Volume 3 (which also marks the conclusion of the series' first major storyarc), and you can at last see why the Wulfenbachs wanted to keep Othar Tryggvassen locked up!

Well, Friday brought us the last pages of Volume 3 (issue 10 of the original comics), and the entirety of the first major storyarc is now online! Only about six months to go before GG101 catches up with the beginning of the GG Advanced Class!

GirlGenius has been nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic!

And Don Rosa's "The Black Knight Glorps Again" is nominated for Best Short Story!

OK, I've finally gotten around to editing this topic: all the posts with links to specific GirlGenius pages once again have links that work! (necessitated by the revamp of the GG website's archive, with the removal of the old distinction between "101" and "Advanced" sections)
Happy Reading!

It's not just Adventure, Romance, and Mad Science ...



... it's HUGO-WINNING Adventure, Romance, and Mad Science!!

Those World Con people have the best taste.