I’ve heard good things about Girl Genius for awhile, but hadn’t tried it out previously. So I decided to pick up Volume 1 at the library and check it out. It’s a fun read that has an interesting female lead. The only problem I had with the book (or at least my printing of the book) is that chapter one was printed on white background and chapters 2 & 3 had a black background. That made the last two chapter’s art a little muddy and hard to appreciate at times. But it’s a strong introduction that makes me want to read the rest of the story (which you can do online). So, let’s check out the story.

Our story begins with our heroine Agatha Heterodyne late for class at Transylvania Polygnostic University (T.P.U.) when she is mugged and has her locket stolen. The locket is important to her since it has the only pictures of her parents. Agatha seems to have brilliant ideas for technology, but none of them ever work. Through a weird set of circumstances, she gets captured by Baron Klaus Wulfenbach and brought onto his airship. The Baron assumes that she is the girlfriend of Moloch von Zinzer (one of the people who stole her locket) and that von Zinzer is a mechanical genius. Agatha is kept as a lever to force von Zinzer to work for the Baron.

The Baron’s son, Gilgamesh, realizes fairly quickly that Agatha is a spark like his father and he are. A spark is someone who is basically a mad genius who can create amazing technological inventions. Apparently the locket was actually a device that stunted her spark abilities since people wanted to keep her hidden. From here it’s a wild ride to escape the airship and find out what happened to her parents. Agatha meets up with a fun cast of characters (both good and bad) that makes the story a fun adventure.

Overall, it’s a fun story that moves quickly. The art is amazing and the characters are well done. The characters are well drawn (both in art and character development) and the plot is interesting. You can follow the story through the printed collections (some of which are out of print, but they are working on getting them back in print) or online. Recommended.