Foglio madness!

[psychopathicus_rex]

Hey, folks! Photobucket is cooperating with me again, so here's some more stuff for you to goggle at. Check it out:



Most of you probably know who the Foglios are. They're the husband and wife team who tackle 'Girl Genius'. Well, Phil Foglio was originally a solo act, and he did a gaming comic for a number of years which initially ran in 'Dragon Magazine' and changed venues a couple of times before winding up on the 'net. The title? 'What's New? With Phil and Dixie'.
The format of it was pretty simple. It was a one-page gag strip that occasionally ballooned to two pages or more. In it, Phil's author avatar and Dixie, his feisty female sidekick, addressed various gaming-related issues while cavorting about in a typically Foglio-esque way. In the process, chaos was unleashed.
Here are a few of the ones I've enjoyed. If you like them, the rest of the run is available on the Foglios' website.



In case some of you were wondering about the 'Sex and D&D' reference, it was a running gag during their initial run in 'Dragon'. They kept announcing that THIS time they were really gonna do the 'Sex and D&D' strip, yes sir - and, of course, they kept having to call it off at the last moment. They DID ultimately do it, and it was pretty cool, but unfortunately it's too big to include here.






At a certain point, due to a change in venue, 'What's New' shifted from being largely a D&D strip to being pretty exclusively about 'Magic: The Gathering'. While I'm not a huge expert on D&D, I know sweet blow-all about 'Magic', so I didn't find most of that period particularly funny. There were a few good ones, though.







After that, it turned back to more general topics:





And then there was the period when Dixie got tired of being Phil's sidekick, and decided to be a villain instead. This gave us some... interesting strips:





(Actually, given the recent profusion of 'zombie walks' I've read about, that one may not be too far off the mark.)



She was still basically his sidekick, though, so most of those strips didn't actually play out all that differently.





And that's just a sampling. There are lots more, and if you're interested, you should check 'em out. They're a lot of fun - and if you DON'T read them, Dixie will kick your ass.

Comments

Actually...

[misterbug]

Small correction here, it was only in order to construct the ring, as well as stealing the Rhinegold that makes up its base materials, that one should foreswear love. After Wotan and Loge stole the ring off Alberich the Nibellung, basically anyone could wear the ring, and despite its awesome powers it would create envy in the hearts of men until returned to the original owner.

If you could only put it on by forswearing love, it wouldn't have been much of ONE opera, let alone four...

Re: Actually...

[psychopathicus_rex]

I think it was more that you couldn't USE it unless you forswore love, not that you couldn't put it on. Anyway, this obviously a somewhat simplified version of the mythos.

Re: Actually...

[misterbug]

Oh, I realise that. I just like to open up such topics for discussion.

I'm pretty sure I was right, though - you'll notice that Siegfried adequately uses the ring, despite already having fallen in love with Brunnhilde and then subsequently being drugged/tricked into loving Gutrune.

Fun Fact: did you know that 'Gotterdammerung' actually had several re-written alternate endings, each one more downbeat than the last?

Re: Actually...

[psychopathicus_rex]

I'm not exactly an expert on the Ring cycle, to be honest - the only version of it I'm familiar with is the Anna Russell recap version, and that's somewhat abbreviated.

Re: Actually...

[misterbug]

If you enjoyed/were interested in LotR, I'd recommend checking it out. You can get a copy of the translated poems gorgeously illustrated by Arthur Rackham from a reliable second-hand dealer (look on bookfinder.com), or alternately check out the graphic novel adaptation by Roy Thomas, Gil Kane and Jim Woodring.

Or alternately just find a plain copy of the poem without illustrations. I dunno.

Re: Actually...

[psychopathicus_rex]

I'm not actually much of a 'Rings' fan. I like Tolkien as a writer - I'm a fan of 'the Hobbit', for instance - and I recognize the importance of 'LotR' in the fantasy field, but it's just too dense for me.
However, I AM a fan of Norse mythology, so maybe I'll check those out someday.

Re: Actually...

[misterbug]

Yeah...I should have specified that though they are drawn from the same source, they aren't exactly the same story...and Tolkien also used Wagner's own story as an influence. E.g., Gollum talking to himself is based on conversations within Siegfried wherein two 'Nibelungs' (Dwarf-creatures) actually do have a normal conversation.

Sort of similar to the way the Ultimate Marvel line is going back to the beginning, but also drawing from more recently-told stories.

Re: Actually...

[psychopathicus_rex]

Oh, I know they aren't exactly the same - I know enough about Norse mythology to know that Tolkien may have been following it as a blueprint, but he didn't by any means build the same building, as it were. (I didn't know that about the Nibelungen, though.)

Re: Actually...

[arilou_skiff]

Oddly enough i've read a (translated) version of the original Nibelungenlied and of course I'm somewhat familiar with the Völsungasaga but I'm not very familiar with Wagner's ring cycle:

(Fun fact: The dwarf Alberich and Shakespeare's Oberon the fairy-king is the same character)

Re: Actually...

[misterbug]

I know, right? When I found that out about the smelly, dirty perv-monster known as Alberich eventually evolved into the suave, gentlemanly...perv-monster known as Oberon, I thought 'The boy done good'.

I recently dated (and broke up with) a girl named Tatiana...googling idly one day, I found out that her name is the one that literally translates as 'Fairy Queen'. Titania, as it turns out, is from the Ancient Greek, "Daughter of Titans/Giants".

Re: Actually...

[psychopathicus_rex]

Which fits her character much better, I'd say - she's a forceful presence in the story.

Re: Actually...

[misterbug]

Exactly. She herself mentions that her tiff with Oberon is literally causing terrible climate change across the globe.

Re: Actually...

[psychopathicus_rex]

Interesting - I'd forgotten that bit. Which line is that, do you know?

Re: Actually...

[misterbug]

Act 2, Sc. 1; from "These are the forgeries of jealousy..."

Re: Actually...

[psychopathicus_rex]

Thanks! Interesting - it's apparently in the world's best interests to keep the fairies happy...

[pallas_athena]

I completely love the P Craig Russell graphic-novel version of the Ring cycle.

Re: Actually...

[pallas_athena]

Siegfried doesn't use the ring. He uses the Tarnhelm. Big difference.

He does wear the Ring, but is too innocent to use it to gain power over people, and soon gives it away to Brünnhilde.

In fact, no one who possesses the Ring after Alberich actually uses it. Wotan probably would have, but doesn't have it long enough.

[blake_reitz]

I heart the Foglios so dang much.

[psychopathicus_rex]

They tend to inspire that response, yes.

[arilou_skiff]

It looks very odd to see "Smörgåsbord" with the "ö" but not the "å".

[misterbug]

You haven't read "Asterix and the Great Crossing" by any chance?

[psychopathicus_rex]

Frankly, I was never aware that it had ANY accent marks over it.

[arilou_skiff]

Those aren't accent marks, technically they're not even umlauts: Those are regular letters.

[psychopathicus_rex]

You're telling me that there are regular letters that have accent marks built in?

[arilou_skiff]

They're not accent marks because they don't mark accent:

"Since Å is a letter with a distinct sound, not an A with an accent,"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%85

[psychopathicus_rex]

Huh. You live and learn.

[kamino_neko]

Man, Phil's art really improved over the years. The early stuff certainly has its charm, but the...consistency of the later stuff really helps.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Well, remember, he probably had the help of his wife on the later ones.

[kamino_neko]

Nah. Even when Kaja's explicitly nowhere near it (his Magic cards, for instance - if she worked on them, she was credited as well, and she did a few without Phil, too), his work's a lot cleaner than when he started.

While I'm sure Kaja's assistance helps, it's mostly 20-plus years of experience in Phil's pencil doing it.

[mullon]

God bless that pervy couple.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Comics would be a lot less interesting without 'em, I agree.

[q99]

I hope the remaining Dragon ones get collected at some point.

[psychopathicus_rex]

The 'remaining' Dragon ones? I thought they were all on there - they've got a pretty extensive database, and it SAYS they're complete.

[q99]

I mean there's books, but they only cover up to the MtG ones, not all of these.

In other words, I want a hard copy ^^

[psychopathicus_rex]

Oh. Well, I can understand that.

Excellent scans!

[roguefankc]

I actually saw the Foglios at the Emerald City Comic Con two weeks ago...and they always remained in costume at their booth for the entire weekend, so THAT takes some dedication to their craft. =)

"That is not how it's supposed to work!"[/quote]

I won't lie; I burst out laughing at that one. And the Smoky Bear bit at the last scan.

The sad part about the J.R.R. Tolkien bit with the "Ring This" sequel is pathetically enough, I actually know people who would be willing to buy such a travesty. =/

Re: Excellent scans!

[psychopathicus_rex]

What were they in costume as, may I ask?
Personally, I just loved the 'JOE-BOB RALPH RALPH TOLKIEN?!' line, and the description of halflings as 'thieving little psychos who dress like Adam Ant'. (I'm not even sure what that MEANS, not being too familiar with Mr. Ant, but I like the line.)

Re: Excellent scans!

[roguefankc]

What were they in costume as, may I ask? [/quote]

IIRC, they were mostly in Steampunk costumes, although I could have sworn that Phil was wearing an oversized hat like the Jagers wear in the Girl Genius comic. =)