Girl Genius
Register
Advertisement
Girl Genius
Forums: Index > Page-by-Page > 2012-10-15 (Monday)


live journal discussion link

Discussion for comic for 2012-10-15 (Monday) . (Chronology Entry)


Finally

Have they, Klaus?

Aand... what a perfect place for a scene-break to check out what the others are doing...--Kuopiofi (talk) 09:19, October 15, 2012 (UTC)

The Professors love to break off at moments like this for a general survey, and they also like to perform surveys at the start of volumes. While we don't have the Mechanicsburg resolution we want, this could be the last page of Volume VII.
If this isn't the last page, I suspect there will be some more Mechanicsburg scenes and then the volume will end. Visiting the significant groups and then coming to a resolution with Agatha would make the current volume very long. Argadi (talk) 10:01, October 15, 2012 (UTC)
You could well be right. But there are some problems with the idea that this volume won't end with the conclusion to the "Battle of Mechanicsburg" (or at least some sort of conclusion that allows - or forces - Agatha to go on a journey), only one of which is that Phil Foglio has stated that volume 12 will conclude the first half of the story. It wouldn't be much of a surprise if Phil was mistaken about this, again. Ever since the start of volume 8, the Foglios have thought that each volume of Girl Genius would conclude the first half of the story. I do not intend this as a criticism (this time, at least ;-). Obviously, the Professors are enjoying telling this tale very much and it has grown in the telling. And this is a good thing, especially for those who will be reading the Girl Genius saga for the first time in print form.
However, it seems clear that the start of the second half of the Girl Genius story, in which Agatha and selected others will start a long journey, will have to be the start of a new volume as well. The Foglios have said that the start of the second half of Girl Genius will be a "jumping on point" for new readers, with the characters re-introducing themselves (unless they have radically revised their plans for the series). This obviously will not work unless it happens at the start of a new volume. And I find it hard to believe that they have enough material for a complete volume 13 to be created, with the conclusion to the Mechanicsburg section of the story coming only at the end of it. Actually, I'm sure they could come up with a full length volume 13 before leaving Mechanicsburg without breaking a sweat, but I think the volume of reader grumbling would become deafening by that point, mine included. (OK, I guess I do mean this as a criticism, after all. :-( )
Really, however, I don't mind the story spooling out farther and farther as much as the fact that the Foglios keep throwing balls in the air and hardly ever catch one. If they would start answering some of the the questions they have raised in an additional volume set in Mechanicsburg, I would welcome it (especially if the third light on the Three Light Device finally lights up). And the current page gives me some faint hope that they may start doing just that.
But I am still going to hope for a really long volume 12 that does end with a conclusion to the first half of Girl Genius in such a way that the following volume can be the start of the second half of Agatha's story and her journey. This isn't necessarily all that far fetched. If you look at the list of published volumes, you will see that the final volume of each set of three has always been the longest, often significantly so. I postulate that this is because the Foglios had a specific stopping point in mind for each three volume story segment, but it usually took them somewhat longer to reach it than they originally planned, thus leading to more pages in the final volume of the segment. I think this will turn out to be the case with this volume as well. We'll just have to wait and see. -- William Ansley (talk) 19:47, October 15, 2012 (UTC)

OK, I give up. I have NO idea where this is going. And I agre with Kopiofi and Argadi. AndyAB99 (talk) 10:35, October 15, 2012 (UTC)

Well, Jove, whom these knights claim to belong to, is a storm god and it is raining. -- Billy Catringer (talk) 13:43, October 15, 2012 (UTC)
And Agatha is using a Lightning Blaster designed by Gilgamesh.--Bosda Di'Chi (talk) 18:42, October 15, 2012 (UTC)
You're right, by Jove! I had forgotten about Gil's blighty stick. I still do not believe that this will work out as peaches and cream for our benighted heroine. -- Billy Catringer (talk) 00:08, October 16, 2012 (UTC)
I agree with the likely short term event of Agatha using Gil's generators and zappy stick to pull lightning out of the storm and recharge the castle. It's the appearance of these new characters that caused me to react just as Professor Mezzasalma did upon seeing Zeetha suddenly appear. AndyAB99 (talk) 15:52, October 16, 2012 (UTC)

Getting out of Mecanicsburg[]

  • First assure there is a Mechanicsburg to return to.
  • Second find the "not-a-lamp" its good for traveling swiftly and undectably.
  • Thirdly, have a mission with an objective to fulfill.

Barry travelled from Bettleburg to Mechanicsburg and then on to Paris in a very short time. How did he do the Mechanicsburg to Paris leg of the journey? My suspicion is there was a portal in Mechanicsburg that can get you to Paris in an express fashiion. Possible not the other way. Barry took another ten months traveling back to Bettleburg. Occam's scooter suggests the "not-a-lamp" can create portals and Barry either lost it, hocked it, or left it in Paris. Later Gil found it but not how it worked.

20px-1298786.png Rej¿¤¤? 18:14, October 16, 2012 (UTC)
Uh, Rej, excuse me but can you cite your source? This appears to be one of Barry's travels prior to his last disappearance when Agatha was seven. Maybe I'm just missing something here. You've got some specific time spans for his travels. AndyAB99 (talk) 19:47, October 16, 2012 (UTC)
Early in the first novelBarry's last trip "11 years ago." Started in Bettleburg. He sent a letter from Mechanicsburg. Then went to Paris (I think he sent another letter from there.)
There was one last letter that showed up a year later on the Clay's doorstep. Presumably Barry hand delivered it. They were out and he left w/o saying goodbye. The last letter was somewhat rambling and incoherent. At least that is how I remember it. 20px-1298786.png Rej¿¤¤?03:26, October 17, 2012 (UTC)
Dang it, Rej! You sent me off on a dive into the archives. Here's what I have come up with so far: Barry's eleven year absence is broiught up in the comic in a discussion between Punch and Judy here . Barry recognizes that Agatha is nearing break through . Barry gives Agatha her damping locket here . We first learn about the space-time portals here when Klaus discusses the phenomenon with Bang. Then we learn that there is something truly strange about the Heterodyne Device here, when Gil and Agatha disappear and reappear intermittently during a frantic bug hunt. -- Billy Catringer (talk) 12:07, October 17, 2012 (UTC)

There is the letter from Mechanicsburg and the letter from Paris. No time span given but it does seem to be implied they were within expected times. The last letter was "much travel stained" implying it had been passed on through several travelers (how I interpreted it). If Barry had made it back to Punch and Judy, I think he would have stayed. AndyAB99 (talk) 23:23, October 17, 2012 (UTC)

Advertisement