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Cover Unveiled for Agatha H. and the Airship City by Phil & Kaja Foglio

Art by Tom Kidd
The first Girl Genius novel Agatha H. and the Airship City finally has a cover and a bit shockingly it is not drawn by Phil Foglio. My thinking is his publisher wanted to set the novels apart from the comics. I'm unsure if that is entirely the right move given the popularity of Girl Genius, but the illustration by World Fantasy Award winning artist Tom Kidd, known for his recent work related to Jack Vance, does surprisingly seem fitting. Kidd's Agatha is not as bubbly looking as Phil's, but I always thought she was a little too well endowed on the illustrated page.

At first the title treatment seemed over the top, but I've turned around on that front. The blue around the border doesn't seem right to me. Maybe a different color is needed or to simply bleed the image to the edge. From what I have been told Phil and Kaja will be combining the first three trade graphic novels and adding quite a bit to set them apart from the base material. Agatha H. and the Airship City is set for a January release from Night Shade Books as a hardcover.

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8 comments:

redhead said...

does anyone know if this runs parallel to the graphic novels, or where they fall in the storyline?

I'm a little down about the coverart not being Foglio, but maybe they want to be a little more YA friendly, not so sex comedy looking?

Mad Hatter Review said...

It will run parallel to the first 3 collected editions of the graphic novels with bits added throughout.

Anonymous said...

mad hatter: i dont know what why you dont like that aspect of agatha but that is what makes her unique from other female comic-book characters (and, embarassing to say, what made agatha my first fictional crush).

as for the YA-ness of the cover, no doubt girl genius has had crossover in that area. but lets not kid ourselves, girl genius was a LOT more sophisticated than your average YA fantasy.

Mad Hatter Review said...

@Anon - It is not that I don't like that aspect. It is more that it seemed gratuitous and distracting at times.

Anonymous said...

mad hatter: I dont know if you know this but strangly enough, amazon.com actually happens to have an excerpt of the book on their own website.

Tom Kidd said...

Hi guys, cover artist Tom Kidd here. I read this book before I did the cover and it's very well written. It stands on its own as a novel. I loved the graphic novel so I was happy to be assigned the cover. Phil gave me some input on the cover and approved the sketch. As to Agatha, I did a much sexier version as the final painting trying to capture Agatha (following Phil's example) but still make her mine. A week after the cover was turned in the art director contacted me and asked me to change the figure, cover her up more. After one try I was asked to tone her down even more. You're seeing the expurgated version on the cover now. I'm going to post the original, sexier, version of the cover on my blog in about a week. Friend me on Facebook if you want to keep up with such developments or just follow my blog.

Mad Hatter Review said...

@Tom Kidd - Thanks for stopping by and giving us all the details. You've shed a lot of light on why Agatha looks as she does.

SKelly said...

What a nice surprise! I had no idea that there was an upcoming novelization of the comic, and I certainly look forward to reading it. Reading the comic online is the first thing I do every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

While I have liked the Foglio's artwork since I first read their What's New with Phil & Dixie comic in The Dragon magazine, lo these many years ago, (and I say hooray for Gratuitous and Distracting!) and I would like to share my love of the GG comic with my young daughter, the art (not the story) gives me some pause. I'm not a prude, nor is my wife, but the art is not always kid friendly. Perhaps this will bridge that gap until she is a bit older.

Thank too, Tom Kidd. I am looking forward to seeing your original cover!

In closing, may I say... SQUEEEEEEEEEEEE! I love me some Agatha.