# Is Phil Foglio worth your time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 26, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-phil-foglio-worth-your-time/530519 "2010-02-26T14:46:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-phil-foglio-worth-your-time/530519/1 "2010-02-26T14:46:03Z")
This is just me trying to find an excuse for Phil Foglio. I have nostalgia for his old Dragon magazine comic, and I can remember seeing some of his artwork in the M:TG from my (short) day, but every time I read a recommendation for the F man’s work, I check out a few comics and wish I hadn’t. Girl Genius, Buck Zap or watevas, and now it looks like he, at some point in his life, did a [botch job](http://www.airshipentertainment.com/mythcomic.php?date=20100112) on Robert Asprin’s _Myth_ series. Not that Asprin was so great, but again, I enjoyed his work as a youth and have a certain fondness. Anybody have a taste for Foglio’s work? Maybe can point me to something of his that doesn’t suck? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-phil-foglio-worth-your-time/530519/2 "2010-02-26T14:48:09Z")
Read [Illegal Aliens](http://www.amazon.com/Illegal-Aliens-Nick-Pollotta/dp/1933274131/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267195661&sr=8-1). ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-phil-foglio-worth-your-time/530519/3 "2010-02-26T14:51:36Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > This is just me trying to find an excuse for Phil Foglio. I have nostalgia for his old Dragon magazine comic, and I can remember seeing some of his artwork in the M:TG from my (short) day, but every time I read a recommendation for the F man’s work, I check out a few comics and wish I hadn’t. Girl Genius, Buck Zap or watevas, and now it looks like he, at some point in his life, did a [botch job](http://www.airshipentertainment.com/mythcomic.php?date=20100112) on Robert Asprin’s _Myth_ series. Not that Asprin was so great, but again, I enjoyed his work as a youth and have a certain fondness. > > Anybody have a taste for Foglio’s work? Maybe can point me to something of his that doesn’t suck? I don’t think I’ve ever read anything by Foglio that I _didn’t_ like, so obviously any recommendations from me are going to be coming from an alien planet as far as your perceptions are concerned. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-phil-foglio-worth-your-time/530519/4 "2010-02-26T14:53:53Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I don’t think I’ve ever read anything by Foglio that I _didn’t_ like, so obviously any recommendations from me are going to be coming from an alien planet as far as your perceptions are concerned. This. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-phil-foglio-worth-your-time/530519/5 "2010-02-26T15:02:26Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > Anybody have a taste for Foglio’s work? Maybe can point me to something of his that doesn’t suck? [_Girl Genius._](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_genius) Most awesome webcomic **evah.** Read it [here.](http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/) For naughtier tastes, [_Xxxenophile_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XXXenophile) comix. Collect the whole set! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-phil-foglio-worth-your-time/530519/6 "2010-02-26T15:13:59Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [_Girl Genius._](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_genius) Most awesome webcomic **evah.** Read it [here.](http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/) > > For naughtier tastes, [_Xxxenophile_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XXXenophile) comix. Collect the whole set! 😉 He actually mentions _Girl Genius_ in the OP. He didn’t like it. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-phil-foglio-worth-your-time/530519/7 "2010-02-26T15:17:03Z")
I like Girl Genius, though your OP seems to indicate it’s not your taste. I really enjoyed the two mini-series he did for DC Comics in the early 90’s or so: Angel and the Ape and Stanley and his Monster. The Stanley one was a hilarious send-up of the Vertigo line of comics (as it existed back then), if you were into them. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-phil-foglio-worth-your-time/530519/8 "2010-02-26T15:21:00Z")
I love his stuff. I see that no one has recommended his **Angel and the Ape** series for DC. He included the supposedly comic _Inferior Five_ and actually made me like them. A foiur-issue series worth reading for any fan of DC’s Silver Age. He also did a run of **Stanley and his Monster** which I didn’t like as much, but you can see glimmerings of Girl Genius in it – it even has the Heterodyne Brothers! ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-phil-foglio-worth-your-time/530519/9 "2010-02-26T15:25:51Z")
I liked everything I’ve ever seen by Foglio. What about his Myth adaptations did you think was a “botch”? ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-phil-foglio-worth-your-time/530519/10 "2010-02-26T15:30:10Z")
OK, thanks for the link, went back and re-read the opener to Girl Genius and going to try to relate it from memory. Standard start-- blah blah, nice art. Our hero has big tits and glasses. You can tell she’s the hero by her position in frame. Something happens, metal arcs. Ka bam, some chick’s face appears, our hero runs away into an alley. She gets in a fist fight with soldiers, loses. Has a lot of emotions. She’s late for something. Run run run, still late. Still late again. Yells loud, doesn’t matter that she’s late. Man, this comic sucks. I remember somebody criticizing Lovecraft is Missing for the characters being all Plotty McExposition, but at least it stuck with a story and didn’t treat female characters like exceptionalist dopes. And then I gave up, thinking I will look at further links in the morning because I can only take so much suck at once. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-phil-foglio-worth-your-time/530519/11 "2010-02-26T15:31:42Z")
Clearly, if he does not like Girl Genius, my taste and his diverge too greatly for me to make any suggestions. (ETA: sounds as if you gave up on Girl Genius at about the fifth page. ) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-phil-foglio-worth-your-time/530519/12 "2010-02-26T15:32:57Z")
To the OP: what you listed is, in my humble opinion, fairly typical of Foglio’s work. If you didn’t care for any of the above I doubt you’ll find much to like anywhere else in his repertoire. As for “Is Phil Foglio worth your time?” - having met the man and being a former neighbor, I’d say he can be quite personable face-to-face and yes, he is well worth the time to sit down and have lunch or a cup of coffee with. This did, however, put me in the awkward position that I’m not wildly enthusiastic about his work, despite having done a teeny bit of background art for _Buck Godot: Psmith_. But hey, when you do art for money it’s all about what the customer wants, not what you want. I have not, however, forgiven him for naming his pet snake “Trouser”. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-phil-foglio-worth-your-time/530519/13 "2010-02-26T15:33:56Z")
Phil isn’t for everyone, and he obviously isn’t for you. Don’t worry about it. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-phil-foglio-worth-your-time/530519/14 "2010-02-26T15:35:49Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > Man, this comic sucks. I remember somebody criticizing Lovecraft is Missing for the characters being all Plotty McExposition, but at least it stuck with a story and didn’t treat female characters like exceptionalist dopes. I’m in the “If you don’t like Girl Genius you won’t care what I recommend” crowd, but I _will_ mention that there’s a plot-based reason she’s a bit dopey at the beginning. (Although, of course, all Foglio’s characters are a bit dopey anyway - at its heart, it’s a steampunk farce.) ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-phil-foglio-worth-your-time/530519/15 "2010-02-26T15:42:36Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > [botch job](http://www.airshipentertainment.com/mythcomic.php?date=20100112) on Robert Asprin’s _Myth_ series. Not that Asprin was so great, but again, I enjoyed his work as a youth and have a certain fondness. I like Asprin too, but even if you don’t like Foglio’s work, he _improved_ Another Fine Myth. To this day, I have no idea what was supposed to be happening in that last fight with Isstvan (in the novel). Foglio actually made the climax of the book coherent. And I’m another one who loves Foglio’s work. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-phil-foglio-worth-your-time/530519/16 "2010-02-26T15:44:17Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I love his stuff. > > I see that no one has recommended his **Angel and the Ape** series for DC. He included the supposedly comic _Inferior Five_ and actually made me like them. A foiur-issue series worth reading for any fan of DC’s Silver Age. > He also did a run of **Stanley and his Monster** which I didn’t like as much, but you can see glimmerings of Girl Genius in it – it even has the Heterodyne Brothers! The Heterodyne brothers appeared even earlier than that: As far as I know, they first appeared in a “Munden’s Bar” backup in GRIMJACK in the mid/late '80s! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-phil-foglio-worth-your-time/530519/17 "2010-02-26T15:45:14Z")
I like Foglio’s work. I would complain that Girl Genius has a problem with resolutions – you occasionally need to see a plot arc come back to earth in order to support the whole story. I have a copy of Illegal Aliens, though I haven’t read it. Years ago, one person among the gamers in our dorms got ahold of a copy, and the jokes from it went into heavy rotation. Yet, it didn’t turn into the next Hitchhikers’. But I do mean to read it one day. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-phil-foglio-worth-your-time/530519/18 "2010-02-26T16:25:36Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I love his stuff. > > I see that no one has recommended his **Angel and the Ape** series for DC. He included the supposedly comic _Inferior Five_ and actually made me like them. A foiur-issue series worth reading for any fan of DC’s Silver Age. I was about to. I loved what he did with it. The information about Sam’s family tree was one of those “Why didn’t anyone think of this before?” moments. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-phil-foglio-worth-your-time/530519/19 "2010-02-26T17:48:20Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Read [Illegal Aliens](http://www.amazon.com/Illegal-Aliens-Nick-Pollotta/dp/1933274131/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267195661&sr=8-1). I hated it. I actually told him this when I met him at a con a few years ago. I didn’t realize it was him that I was saying it to. So then I felt I had to justify it so I explained my reasons. He shrugged and said “Yeah, valid points.” ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-phil-foglio-worth-your-time/530519/20 "2010-02-27T00:18:46Z")
> [@](#): > > Is Phil Foglio worth your time? Yes. Next Question. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-phil-foglio-worth-your-time/530519.md?page=2)