Agatha H. and the Airship City

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

Notes: This rating reflects my satisfaction with the novelization of Girl Genius. The comic itself is worth 5 stars. Artwork (used with permission) shown in the review at fantasyliterature.com.

Adventure! Romance! MAD SCIENCE!

Agatha H. and the Airship City is a novelization of the first three volumes of the Girl Genius comic created by Phil and Kaja Foglio. This beautiful comic strip, which won the 2009 and 2010 Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story, is ongoing and can be read from the beginning at Girl Genius Online. In fact, if you read or listen to the novelization, I???d suggest that you occasionally view the comic along with it so you can see the story???s strange characters and constructs (and, also, just because it???s gorgeous and deserves to be seen). At the bottom of each page is an archive with titles of the chapters, so it???s easy to find the pages you need while reading. The novelization follows the strip almost exactly, but there are some minor differences.

Phil & Kaja Foglio Girl Genius 1. Agatha H. and the Airship CityGirl Genius is a ???gaslamp fantasy??? set in a Victorian-style world which produces ???Sparks??? ??? admired, but also somewhat mad, geniuses who are able to create bizarre machines and biological constructs ??? some which make life easier for people, and some which can be used as deadly weapons. For years, the Sparks have been warring with each other and leaving devastation in their wakes. Things are beginning to stabilize, though, as Baron Wulfenbach, a particularly ambitious Spark, continues to annex more lands and to control them with his weird minions.

The story begins several years after the disappearance of the Heterodyne Boys, a couple of hero Spark brothers who fought evil and protected the regular people from the less benevolent Sparks. Without the protection of the Heterodynes, the people try to stay out of the way of the mad scientists, while hoping for the Heterodynes??? return. The heroine of Girl Genius is Agatha Clay, a girl who, though she isn???t aware of it at the beginning of the story, is actually Agatha Heterodyne, daughter of one of the Heterodyne Boys, and a very powerful Spark.

Agatha makes a charming heroine ??? she???s smart and brave, but somewhat clueless and not always capable. And, of course, as a Spark, she sometimes teeters on the edge of madness. The other characters, and even the machines and biological constructs, are also vivid and likable (or extremely unlikable when appropriate). The world, with its castles, airships, steam engines, metal monsters, and talking animals, is a lot of fun to explore. The plot is fast-paced and exciting and, as promised, contains ???Adventure! Romance! MAD SCIENCE!???

Girl GeniusAll of this comes across so well in the comic, which has been published as a series of graphic novels available in hardback and paperback. So, why turn Girl Genius into novels? ??? I don???t know??? I suppose that those who don???t read comics might read the Girl Genius story in novel form. Also novelization allows it to be put on audio, which is how I read Agatha H. and the Airship City. The audiobook is narrated by Angela Dawe, who is simply amazing ??? she???s enthusiastic and vibrant and has a wide range of voices and accents. She???s a lot of fun to listen to and a perfect choice for this zany story.

Readers who pick up Agatha H. and the Airship City while ignoring the comic will be missing out. The novelization is successful, but because it essentially recreates the story frame-by-frame, the scene and viewpoint transitions don???t always come across smoothly, and much of the humor that comes from the art is missing (though some of it is maintained through careful description). But, most importantly, so much of the charm of the comic comes from the stunning art! Thus, Agatha H. and the Airship City works as a novel, but it???s much better in graphic form. If you don???t have time to read years??? worth of the Girl Genius comic, then the audiobook is the next best thing. Just be sure to supplement your listening by occasionally following along with the artwork online. You can???t fully appreciate it otherwise.

I've recently discovered–and become a fan of–the Foglios Girl Genius comics, doing so just before the release of the first novelization of the series was a nice bit of fortuitous timing.

There's a part of me that wonders if they've been wasting their time, the Foglios have a wonderful, playful way of using their words. Certain phrases, sentences, and even whole paragraphs are filled with a whimsy that just makes me smile. Little things like:

“Now I am in control!” He followed this statement with a burst of laughter that showed the owner had done a fair share of gloating in his time, and had the basics down pat.

I was very excited to find this book on the shelf at my local bookstore (it took them a while to get it in). I have been reading the Girl Genius comic for several years, so a novelisation was of interest to me.

The writing is solid, though some stylistic elements may take getting used to, particularly if you are unfamiliar with steampunk and/or Girl Genius. Content-wise this novel covers the same time period and story elements as the first three volumes of the Girl Genius comic. There are some minor differences between the two, and the novel expands on several background story elements that aren't really covered predominantly in the comic.

Unfortunately, reading the novel doesn't let you see all the intricate background details that are shoved into the art in the comic. Including said details would be impractical; if nothing else it would completely bog down and derail the story. So as an example, in the novel we have to be content with knowing Gil's personal library has bookcases crammed with books, and some of the broad categories those books fall under. In the comic we can read the titles of many of those books (things like Who's Who, What's What, Cultivate a Maniacal Laugh, and Oops!) and get some chuckles.

All in all I would say this is a good companion work to the comic, not a replacement or substitute. They work best together. Reading the novel had me jumping back in to reread the comic, because I was craving all the little humorous details that just didn't translate over to the written word.