Websnark

Comment from: Phil Kahn posted at March 29, 2005 12:01 AM

Bookmarked in anticipation. Hot damn!

Comment from: Dave Van Domelen posted at March 29, 2005 12:21 AM

I'm going to miss the actual comic. This feels more like a negative change than a positive one to me, really. Like yet another major player just shrugged and gave up on the medium of print comics.

Comment from: Xaviar Xerexes posted at March 29, 2005 12:27 AM

Maybe you could see it that way, but I don't.

Nostalgia for a format (comic books) isn't in and of itself a very good business plan. The important thing is that the artist can tell their story and make a reasonable go at it. If the web facilitates the ultimate goal of collections better than comic books then this is a BIG positive.

Comment from: Xaviar Xerexes posted at March 29, 2005 12:32 AM

Maybe you could see it that way, but I don't.

Nostalgia for a format (comic books) isn't in and of itself a very good business plan. The important thing is that the artist can tell their story and make a reasonable go at it. If the web facilitates the ultimate goal of collections better than comic books then this is a BIG positive.

Comment from: Tangent posted at March 29, 2005 12:44 AM

Oh my freaking Goddess!!!

I'm speechless!!! O_O

And overjoyed!!! *biggest grin ever*

Rob

Comment from: Brandon E. posted at March 29, 2005 1:15 AM

mm, thank you for the introduction. reading through the past issues now. They seem very good.

Comment from: LurkerWithout posted at March 29, 2005 3:56 AM

hot babes that oddly don't feel exploitive (Phil Foglio has always had the gift of being able to draw totally sexual female characters that no one gets offended by.

Hell, he manages to do that when drawing hard-core pornography.

And while like D.V.D. I'm gonna miss the print comic, online Foglio is better than no Foglio...

Comment from: ZorbaTHut posted at March 29, 2005 7:33 AM

I'm a little worried about this - one of my favorite things about Girl Genius was the sprawling beautiful artwork, and if they start feeling like they have to be funny every single strip - and especially if we're talking three-panel strips instead of full-page strips (which I have no idea about) - some of that might get lost.

On the other hand, I'm only saying that because I know I like GG in its current form. Seriously, these are the Foglios. It'll be good. It'll *all* be good.

Comment from: Dave Van Domelen posted at March 29, 2005 9:50 AM

Zorba: Nah, ISTR they said a page, not a strip. MWF for a year gets you 156 pages, which is pretty close to the 144 page standard, and they did say about once a year. So maybe 130-140 reprinted pages and then a few pages of bonus material to flesh it out to 144.

Lurker: And it sucks that one of the greats CAN'T make it in the "N times a year where N>1" comic format.

Comment from: Tangent posted at March 29, 2005 10:22 AM

For an example of a page-format storytelling web-comic, look at Wandering Ones, or Flipside, or Eversummer Eve. These work rather well, and with the latter two have amusing moments in them as well.

One thing about Girl Genius is that it is not a comedy. It is an amusing story. There are moments of drama and moments of angst... but there are also moments of sheer hilarity... and you can have these without needing "the funny" to be at the end of each daily update. Indeed, when you're not EXPECTING the Funny everyday, it makes those instances of amusing comic that much better!

Robert A. Howard, who likes his Funny stirred, not shaken

Comment from: lochinola posted at March 29, 2005 11:17 AM

I can't find anything anywhere that says the comic book is ending; are you sure about this?

If it's true, I wonder what happens to my already-paid-for subscription...

Comment from: Eric Burns posted at March 29, 2005 11:20 AM

From Kaja Foglio's blog:

All new material will be available for free reading, one page at a time, updating Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Graphic novels will still come out once a year (through Diamond Book Distribution, hooray!), but weÌre suspending the production of the periodicals. This will free up a lot of my time, save some trees, and cut our overhead at a time when we really need to do something. Plus, I have to say, periodical comics serve two functions; one as a frequent reminder that we existÛsort of a placeholder; and two as a cheap entry point for new readers experimenting to see if they want to commit to the series. The Girl Genius comics, at the higher end of the price scale and on a quarterly release schedule, didnÌt really do this as well as a more frequent Web presence will.

So yeah. We're pretty sure the comic book is ending.

As for the subscription... no clue.

Comment from: larksilver posted at March 29, 2005 11:42 AM

I admit I'm not familiar with the Genius, but I will no doubt dive through the archives this evening like the junkie I am. I don't know that anybody HAS to be funny every time.

Some of my favorite "funny" strips, such as Wapsi Square, are often funny, even outrageously silly sometimes. But when the storyline calls for it, the funny is put away for an update or two, or three. I think they'll be fine. And given the unmitigated joy I see in the posts before this one.. I imaginge they'll be more than fine.

I love comic books, and in the past have (cough) invested a great deal of my disposable income on them. But nowadays, if I am going to pay $3.00 a month for sequential art-and-story pieces, I would rather that money go to something that I can look forward to once or twice a week. I remember all too well the excitement of New Comics Wednesday, plopping $50.00 or more down on a stack of books, and then reading them all. An hour later... and I would be bummed out, waiting for the next month's shipment. ick.

Now, though, I still probably spend that same $50.00 or so, but I get to enjoy the comics - about the same amount as you'd get in a monthly installment, granted - throughout the month. To me, that steady dosage is far more satisfying. Plus, if I want to congratulate an artist or writer on a job well done, or whine about a character I haven't seen in a while, I can do so in the forum, or via e-mail.

Not to say that I think the print medium is "dead." There are still quite a few comics that I would (and do) gleefully plunk down my cash to purchase. I have the giant ugly white boxes crammed in my closet at home to prove it. But I don't think switching to the web is a bad idea at all. I applaud them for it.

Comment from: 32_footsteps posted at March 29, 2005 12:28 PM

Well, I wouldn't say the Foglio's get away with it feeling non-exploitive all the time... I've felt a tad creepy on occasion while reading Girl Genius. Phil occasionally gets too gratuitous, but overall I do like his style (mostly in his embracing of grotesqueries).

As for whether this is a good move... well, so long as it stays entertaining, it will be.

But for Wapsi Square... that comic is really starting to lose its charm for me. I liked it when it was a light-hearted look at the lives of several women, and a couple guys in their social orbit. But now, with ancient Aztec golems running around, characters having vicious nightmares that cause them to vomit upon waking, and reflection on serious mental problems, I'm afraid that Wapsi is a textbook case of First and Ten Syndrome. I'm sticking with it for now, but the fun comics are fewer and further between.

Comment from: quiller posted at March 29, 2005 5:31 PM

I definitely find this awesome, since when I started doing some serious budgeting, I dropped my $100/month print comic budget, and mostly content myself with trade paperbacks on occassion. One of the comics I wound up giving up was Girl Genius, so the chance to read it online, and still pick up the trades for future perusals is great. (That is pretty much what I do with Megatokyo).

It is also great to have someone of the stature of Foglio entering the webcomic market. It helps legitimize the practice as a whole.

Comment from: dreamshade posted at March 29, 2005 9:26 PM

Girl Genius was the one comic book I regularly purchased back in college... until the thing stopped coming out with new issues for such a long period of time that I couldn't tell if it was still going on. Somewhere along the line (I think I heard it from R. Milholland), I had heard that the Foglios were having issues with their publisher.

This news is the kind of thing that I can only regard as "a good thing." I wish Phil and Kaja the best of luck.

Comment from: Ray Radlein posted at March 30, 2005 5:43 AM

But for Wapsi Square... that comic is really starting to lose its charm for me. I liked it when it was a light-hearted look at the lives of several women, and a couple guys in their social orbit. But now, with ancient Aztec golems running around, characters having vicious nightmares that cause them to vomit upon waking, and reflection on serious mental problems, I'm afraid that Wapsi is a textbook case of First and Ten Syndrome. I'm sticking with it for now, but the fun comics are fewer and further between.

I dunno. Elements of the supernatural entered the picture by the third strip (on 9/11, no less); mythological Aztec figures came along four months later; and Monica's self-image problems were made explicit almost immediately thereafter.

And just in case anyone missed it, both aspects were re-emphasized a few months later.

And again the next year. And again last year, and so on.

So yeah, the strip is getting more serious and less gag-a-day; but it's not like ths whole thing has been terribly sudden or anything.

Comment from: 32_footsteps posted at March 30, 2005 8:27 AM

It's one thing to say that they've always been there... but now they're being played up for drama (I definitely recall seeing Monica laughing her ass off at her school pictures). I never said it was sudden, but they're playing up the serious aspects much more (and trying for accompanying laughs with them much less). But it's still been about a month since it's even bothered for a solid laugh.

Perhaps I should make it clear... it's not the content so much as the tone in Wapsi. It's definitely gone for the Darkening (harkening back to an old article by T Campbell), and it's leaving me uneasy.

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