Publication History
The specific idea for the style of Girl Genius came about when Kaja Foglio went through some of Phil's loose drawings: "I was going through all of Phil's old files and I was filing all of the old sketches, and I was coming across weird airships and cats in tophats with walking canes, and all of this... wonderful... Victoriana sci-fi stuff... it was like 'Oh, this is everything I love!'" CBR News quoted Phil Foglio as saying, "We wanted to do something with a strong female lead character. We both like the tropes associated with mad science, and I really enjoy drawing fiddley Victorian style gizmos". After some intensive long-term plotting starting in 1993, the Foglios announced the publication of Girl Genius in 2000.
Girl Genius: The Secret Blueprints Vol. I was printed in January 2001, followed closely by the monochrome Issue 1 in February. Color was introduced in Issue 4 and subsequently, with occasional dips into sepiatone for flashbacks. In the collected editions, Volume One (comic Issues 1-3) was inked by Brian Snoddy and was reissued in 2010 colored by Cheyenne Wright. Volumes Two and Three (comic issues 4-10) were colored by Mark McNabb. Volume Four (comic Issues 11-unpublished 14) was colored by Laurie E. Smith. Cheyenne Wright is the current colorist; his work begins with Volume Five (what would have been Issue 15 onward).
On 18 April 2005, Girl Genius became a webcomic, and quarterly print publication of the comic ceased. The Foglios have since organized the new web-only story into plot-coherent volumes of 100-150 pages each, printed as limited-edition hardback and trade paperback books. The site had two streams, "101 Class" (for pages which had seen print publication) and "Advanced Class" (for new, web-only material) until the older section of the story caught up to the new material, and made the entire comic available to read at a sitting.
The Foglios have stated that the climax of Volume 8 is the rough equivalent of "the end of the first season", and provides a logical break in case of either author catastrophe or a fresh jumping-on point for new readers. However, they're only partway through the adventures originally plotted and have plenty of story yet to tell.
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