Girl Genius XVIII: Invisible Hand of the Legendary Smoke Knights

[Donald]

If she can survive having her face smashed in and it's good enough to fool Violetta, who was looking for a trick, then I'd like to know how she did it, too.

Identified with her face smashed in...think about that for a minute.

EDIT: Also the earrings on the corpse are the wrong shape. Maybe an art mistake, maybe not.

[factotum]

We don't know her "face was smashed in". She certainly suffered head injuries, but there's nothing to suggest those made her unrecognisable--in fact, everyone who looked at her in the linked strip immediately identified her, which would be unlikely if she was badly mutilated.

[eschmenk]

We don't know her "face was smashed in". She certainly suffered head injuries, but there's nothing to suggest those made her unrecognisable--in fact, everyone who looked at her in the linked strip immediately identified her, which would be unlikely if she was badly mutilated.

Yes, her face couldn't have been completely smashed in, but the head injuries had to be bad enough to convince Violetta that they were fatal even though she was expecting a trick. Violetta could only see her face clearly, so the injuries had to have been there. If that wasn't Lady Margolotta's dead body, I will be very disappointed in Violetta.

Having said that, I wouldn't rule out Lady Margolotta working for Lucrezia and I wouldn't be terribly surprised if there was a plan that involved leaving a dead body behind. Or maybe Lucrezia had copied herself into Lady Margolotta so she could get some information from Van Rijn's book and she somehow transferred the information out before getting killed. Or maybe she mind-controlled a rat to take the key to Lucrezia. Or who knows what?

[The Glyphstone]

Or maybe she's just dead? She served her narrative role in the story, to set the Beast loose. She's not needed anymore.

[Donald]

Or maybe she's just dead? She served her narrative role in the story, to set the Beast loose. She's not needed anymore.

Entirely possible. But....

Anyone could have let the Beast loose. A careless monk, a random passenger. The whole series of events could have played out with a new character with no relation to the rest. But she was a relative of Violetta's. Why bother with a connection if she's just getting off-ed in short order. Why was she related to Violetta, who's whole family that we've seen has had Smoke Knight training?

It'd be a waste if she wasn't still alive and up to no good.

[The Glyphstone]

Entirely possible. But....

Anyone could have let the Beast loose. A careless monk, a random passenger. The whole series of events could have played out with a new character with no relation to the rest. But she was a relative of Violetta's. Why bother with a connection if she's just getting off-ed in short order. Why was she related to Violetta, who's whole family that we've seen has had Smoke Knight training?

It'd be a waste if she wasn't still alive and up to no good.

I don't think any other new character would have fit the needed set of criteria. To use your specific examples, even a careless monk wouldn't just be randomly opening prison chambers all over the place, and a careless passenger wouldn't be in the catacombs at all. Being a Sturmvoras - specifically, being the widow of the guy we last saw as a head in a jar - justified her being more than she was letting on, and giving her the skills to get into the catacombs with her hostage. We don't know what she was looking for, but she didn't find it, which means her death was both a plot catalyst and a future plot hook - plus, she delivered the Macguffin of Van Rjinn's notes to Agatha's possession again. A random character could have served all those roles, but it would have been much clumsier - using her this way both tied up an obscure loose end related to General Selnikov, packed all the plot clues into one person, and built it up with a face rather than just having the Beast randomly be broken out for no reason by a person we couldn't possibly care about.

[eschmenk]

Another thing that Lady Selnikov did was to allow the Foglios to give new readers who were starting with Act 2 Vol 1 an early taste of some of the complex plotting that's going on. Her theft provided a reason to stop the train that Agatha happened to be on (otherwise Agatha wouldn't have gone near the Beast) and Lady Selnikov's ruse meant that there was a second faction trying to stop the train, and that allowed a fight to break out over who was stopping the train. Fun stuff!

I have to admit that I can't completely convince myself, though. There are a couple of things that bother me about Lady Selnikov's death that weren't mentioned by others just now:

1) We have to rely on second-hand information about how she died. We saw Lady Selnikov force the monk to lead her to the vault and we saw her shoot and apparently kill another monk, so why do we have to rely on a witness's report for the last few moments of Lady Selnikov's life? I can't rule out the possibility that we didn't see it happen because it didn't actually happen as he described it.

2) Why didn't Lady Selnikov kill that monk? She apparently killed another one. One potential reason is that she wanted him to be able to tell the story that he told. (That's one reason I especially don't like information being second-hand.) OTOH, maybe she simply thought that it wasn't necessary this time or maybe she wasn't sure yet that she wouldn't need to ask a question later on or maybe she might have wanted a hostage still.

As I already said, I will be very disappointed in Violetta if it turns out that she wasn't looking at Lady Selnikov's dead body, but I'm not completely sure that we know yet exactly what went on. But I don't think we can know any more without more information, so I'm not going to worry about it.

[The Glyphstone]

She was probably going to kill him, but after she found the Winslow instead of whatever she wanted, she freaked out - started opening doors all over the place, let the Beast loose and got smashed. The monk was apparently the last thing on her mind while she had one.

[Lizard Lord]

Heh. Maybe she was looking for the Winslow but didn't realize, and later refused to believe, that it took the form of a fuzzy happy alligator.

[factotum]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was Margolotta under the handkerchief and that she was dead as stone. There's no narrative reason that she needs to return, other than the natural desire in the audience to see a character again who they liked or were interested in.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Heh. Maybe she was looking for the Winslow but didn't realize, and later refused to believe, that it took the form of a fuzzy happy alligator.

This is my head canon. There is a long and glorious tradition in Foglio works of people desperately wanting the Winslow, and then realising to their horror that it's the Winslow.

Grey Wolf

[eschmenk]

She was probably going to kill him, but after she found the Winslow instead of whatever she wanted, she freaked out - started opening doors all over the place, let the Beast loose and got smashed. The monk was apparently the last thing on her mind while she had one.

I meant, why did she just wound him when she shot him? She was paying attention to him then, at least. Yes, maybe she was intending to go back and finish him off later when she was certain that she didn't need him, or maybe she was just careless, but it could also be that she knew that she didn't need to kill him (what she was looking for might have made him irrelevant) or it could be that she actually wanted him to live for some reason.

[factotum]

I meant, why did she just wound him when she shot him? She was paying attention to him then, at least.

The gun she was using didn't look terribly large--it might not have had more than one shot, and when she missed the kill with her first shot, she might not have had another to follow it up with!

[eee]

RE Margolotta: I believe she's an ex-Margolotta and we will not see her like again. Unless the Foglios decide to explain the confusion over her name by bringing in her identical twin sister, Margarella...

RE Wednesday's pin-up: Sweaty Agatha without glasses is fun, but her outfit around molten metal is a danger. I am reminded of the YouTube video of the young girl in a tank top, target practicing with a semi-automatic, when suddenly she started dancing around, grabbed the bottom of the top, and yanked it open to let the hot shell that had been ejected by the gun and had flown back and dropped down her decolletage, out before it burned anything. In Agatha's case, she REALLY doesn't want a red hot cinder doing anything similar...

RE Friday's pin-up: Whoa, Agatha makes a good Snow Queen. I really like the wiring in the lining of the cloak.

[eschmenk]

RE Friday's pin-up: Whoa, Agatha makes a good Snow Queen. I really like the wiring in the lining of the cloak.

I guess she's standing on glass? There may be a sheen, but it doesn't look like a reflection off a clear surface. If it's not there, she's about to hurt herself.

I wonder where she is and what are the things frozen in the ice to the sides.

[Traab]

I prefer Wednesday's update personally. Much hotter. /nod

[gooddragon1]

Looked at today's page: That's cool.
Looked at yesterday's page: She's hot.
Looked at the prior to yesterday's page: I hate tea.
Looked at the page before that: Chocolate is okay I guess :/
Before that: Why isn't one of them pulling a card from their boot?

[Neoriceisgood]

Just a random question: I quit around the castle heterodyne arc cause it was taking so long.

Last I remember Agatha went through some sort of portal or broken mirror with Tarvek's ... brother? nephew, whatever.


Has enough interesting stuff happened after that to make a binge reading worthwhile again? Thanks.

[eschmenk]

Last I remember Agatha went through some sort of portal or broken mirror with Tarvek's ... brother? nephew, whatever.

Cousin, FWIW. It sounds as if you quit in the middle of Volume 13. I think that was probably the dullest GG book so far. The next book was the first one for Act 2, the second half of the GG story. Agatha is going traveling now, so there is a bit of a change of scenery, but it's still GG. If anything, the story has become more complex now because few things were resolved. I think it's a bit better now, but there isn't a huge difference. You would probably dislike it a little less now, but I doubt it's enough of a change to make you actually like GG.

[Scarlet Knight]

I prefer Wednesday's update personally. Much hotter. /nod

Cue C+C Music Factory - "Gonna Make You Sweat" !

RE Friday's pin-up: Whoa, Agatha makes a good Snow Queen. I really like the wiring in the lining of the cloak.

I can't help but notice her, um, rivets. Is that an Ever-chaste (TM) ?

[Neoriceisgood]

Cousin, FWIW. It sounds as if you quit in the middle of Volume 13. I think that was probably the dullest GG book so far. The next book was the first one for Act 2, the second half of the GG story. Agatha is going traveling now, so there is a bit of a change of scenery, but it's still GG. If anything, the story has become more complex now because few things were resolved. I think it's a bit better now, but there isn't a huge difference. You would probably dislike it a little less now, but I doubt it's enough of a change to make you actually like GG.

Yeah during Vol 13 (I'll just assume you're correct for convenience) reading the comic kinda switched from mild enjoyment to outright feeling like a chore at times, so I figured I'd just quit.


From what you describe the comic's not at a pivotal exciting moment that's great to jump right in though. I might marathon the parts I've missed if it ever gets legitimately exciting again.

[Traab]

Yeah during Vol 13 (I'll just assume you're correct for convenience) reading the comic kinda switched from mild enjoyment to outright feeling like a chore at times, so I figured I'd just quit.


From what you describe the comic's not at a pivotal exciting moment that's great to jump right in though. I might marathon the parts I've missed if it ever gets legitimately exciting again.

Its actually right at the start of a pivotal event. You see, Agatha has just reached her goal, so she is done traveling for now, but this is basically the intro to how things will be there, nothing big has happened yet. Though it probably will soon. There have been a few adventures, a few good chase scenes, there have also been a couple of reveals, like, what did the baron do to gil. There is no reason not to do a quick archive binge, the comic flows a lot smoother when you arent reading 3 updates a week.

[Neoriceisgood]

Its actually right at the start of a pivotal event. You see, Agatha has just reached her goal, so she is done traveling for now, but this is basically the intro to how things will be there, nothing big has happened yet. Though it probably will soon. There have been a few adventures, a few good chase scenes, there have also been a couple of reveals, like, what did the baron do to gil. There is no reason not to do a quick archive binge, the comic flows a lot smoother when you arent reading 3 updates a week.

Yeah, I quit reading mostly cause I felt like GG is the type of comic that simply works better in a binge. Fairly large panels, frequent pages that are just 1 panel spreads of big events.


Maybe I'll start binging again somewhere this week or so & reporting my experience. Still a bit undecided.

[eschmenk]

As far as Volume 13 goes, I think the thing that happened is that, if you look at GG Act 1 as a story, the climax occurred when Agatha got the lightning collectors working and she shouted defiance from the roof of the castle and the third light turned on (on Christmas Eve in RL -- I wonder how intentional that was). Since the overall climax happened at the beginning of Volume 13, that book wound up containing the denouement of the Act 1 story, plus it laid the groundwork for the Act 2 story that began with the following book. I think was necessary to go through that, but it was probably inevitable that Volume 13 wouldn't seem quite as interesting as GG normally is.

Now we are about 1 1/2 volumes into Act 2. If Neoriceisgood thought that reading GG was mildly enjoyable usually, he'd probably think this is, too. At least, for me, it matches my normal experience of reading GG.

(Some people might think that the ringing of the Doom Bell was the overall climax of Act 1. That is what I thought at first, but it turned out that the castle needed more power than it could get from the Dyne to be effective, so the story worked up to the second peak. Since the second peak was when Agatha became too powerful for Klaus to defeat, I think it counts as the climax of the story.)

[BannedInSchool]

It pains me that I have to object to the hammer in Wednesday's poster not really being a forging hammer, because otherwise...oh, my.

[Traab]

It pains me that I have to object to the hammer in Wednesday's poster not really being a forging hammer, because otherwise...oh, my.

Its not for forging, its because hormonal males keep storming the photo shoot and she has to get rid of them effectively.

[eee]

Oh, I see (he says, clued in by the 'Autumn' label), we're having a Girl Genius-themed Four Seasons motif here. Pouring slag = Summer, Ice Queen = Winter, Gathering the Fruits of the Scrap Yard = Autumn, next up is Spring. I wonder if she's going to be wearing the diaphanous dress from Strumhalten again.

[BannedInSchool]

So far the titles in the info at the bottom have been:

Summer/Heat
Winter/Chill
Autumn/Rust

[ryuplaneswalker]

It pains me that I have to object to the hammer in Wednesday's poster not really being a forging hammer, because otherwise...oh, my.

-insert Doctor Horrible reference here-

[Deliverance]

Its not for forging, its because hormonal males keep storming the photo shoot and she has to get rid of them effectively.

And who can blame them? She is remarkably well endowed, though some of these seasonal pictures do seem to go out of their way to emphasize it.