21 August 2009

Girl Genius, Etc.

Fibonacci, who also happens to be our DM, put me onto Girl Genius Comics this past week. It's a touch weak at the beginning, but it doesn't take long before it really hits its stride. It has a very steampunk feel to it, though it's not quite something I would label as steampunk. You've got a world where some percentage of people are "Sparks," meaning they have a certain compulsion and ability to create devices. Unfortunately, a lot of sparks go mad, so the world is a trifle unstable...particularly since "the Other" left his/her/its mark.

As usual, though, it's the characters and their interactions who make the comic for me. I particularly like it when an antagonist can be presented as genuinely trying to do what he thinks is best ... even when nearly everyone thinks those actions to be completely and absolutely wrong. I also appreciate it when apparently disparate plot points suddenly converge and, more importantly, work. I am a bit curious as to what, besides clockwork, powers the mechanisms in the world. There have been some implications, but nothing too definite. Probably just as well. Harder to overanalyze and get irritated when something doesn't pan out. ^!^

As far as my life goes, I've made it up to Chapter 6 in my intro physics book, with very few difficulties. Everything is coming back much more readily than I expected it to. So far, at least. Now, when I dig out the more advanced books on the same topics, the ones where you have to integrate to get the answers, and work out the correct d-nonsense for each integral, then I'll find out how well I really remember it. First year stuff, though, is no problem so far. In fact, I think it's making much more sense this time around ... which just might have something to do with the fact that I'm actually reading the text in the book. I seem to recall scanning through it for equations, skimming the examples, and completely ignoring the text when I was in the class. But, wait, no students ever do that, do they? * blinks innocently *

3 comments:

John said...

Girl Genius is good, but take my advice: Don't go searching for Foglio's other comics.

word verification: quathe - I don't know, but it makes me think of ravens.

Qalmlea said...

Hmmm... first meaning that comes to mind is "to sheathe a quote." Next that comes to mind is "to quench one's thirst by bathing."

Oh, and on Foglio, er, wow. The name alone says it all, doesn't it? Btw, it wouldn't even have occurred to me to look for it without your warning, but then I was curious if it was what I thought it was. Yup. It was. I suppose everyone needs a hobby, but it seems strange that a Hugo-winner capable of crafting real stories would be involved with something like that.

John said...

Sorry about that.

Well, I guess it's true that everyone has their own kink.