Philbert redirects here. We also have an article for Philbert Olio.
Professor Phil Foglio of Transylvania Polygnostic University, and his wife Professoressa Kaja Foglio, known to fans as the Professors, are the primary chroniclers of the early life of Agatha Heterodyne. Their work is rendered in spectacular full color by the preeminent authority on transdimensional color frequencies, Professor Cheyenne Wright.
Phil, the Character[]
To date in the Girl Genius story proper, Phil (which appears to be short for Philbert) is an itinerant storyteller always in search of that perfect story ✣ , a vocation which seems to constantly get him into trouble ✣ . Being close to the action, however, often gives him a unique ✣ first-hand perspective. Originally from Mechanicsburg, his Jägermonster great-great grandfather[2], the lovable and dangerous goofball Ognian, occasionally pesters him about continuing the family line.[3]
He is later seen at the Great Hospital at Mechanicsburg boring patients into a stupor lulling patients gently to sleep with his tales ✣ . There he is found by Bangladesh DuPree, who has a job for him—making the Baron sleep. But instead of telling the Baron a story, Phil hears one from the Baron. It is a story of the Storm King, one Phil has never heard before. When Phil learns that it is a lost tale of the master storyteller Masat, he is desperate to find the book containing it, which the Baron tells him is in the possession of his son, Gil.
Self-portrait as a youth
Phil finally makes his way onto Castle Wulfenbach and is brought before ✣ Gil, who—when he hears Phil retell his father's story—says he has never heard of any such book. It seems the Baron tricked Phil into bringing the story, which the Baron completely fabricated, to Gil, who completely misses its hidden meaning. Fortunately, Tarvek figures it out. ✣ Phil is then caught in the time stop ✣ with the rest of the townspeople, but is eventually extracted with minimal harm ✣ .
We know that he eventually marries Kaja, as they appear as newlyweds in the future-set Mechanicsburg Solstice side-story. As for how the two lovebirds meet, we've now seen two seemingly contradictory scenes, the first one set in an unidentified library, where she accidentally drops ✣ a copy of the works of Masat on his head, and then a chance roadside encounter: ✣ Phil idly strums a tune on the outskirts of Mechanicsburg when he is hailed by a comely and newly-arrived traveler who rewards his supplying of information (Agatha is even now inside the city, Pushing The Button on the Take-Five Bomb) with a dud coin.
There are unconfirmed reports that he will join the faculty at Transylvania Polygnostic University teaching modern dance.
The Works[]
Do not think about a monkey...
The Works has a card for Philbert, depicted in his typical garb, with the Winslow peeking out from behind. His detail is Rumormonger. You are instructed not to think about a monkey.
Outside world[]
Phil stands back to admire the magnificence of the Acorn Hat. (Photo: Chronographia von Strangehours)
Misunderstood and persecuted for some of their more creative interpretations of Agatha's history, the Professors Foglio seem to have fled to our dimension, where they have turned their arduous years of work into an extremely successful print and web comic. Before Girl Genius, Phil Foglio was probably best known for his D&D gamer comics, "What's New...?"[4] in Dragon magazine; illustrations for Robert Asprin's Myth Adventures series[5]; campy, sexy XXXenophile (requires a sense of humor and being old enough to vote); and the adventures of high gravity spacer, Buck Godot (currently being prepared for re-release with coloring by Cheyenne Wright).[6]
Phil, Kaja and Cheyenne Wright pick up their Hugos in 2011 for Best Graphic Story.
He won two Hugos for "Best Fan Artist", one in 1977 and the other in 1978, and has now come full circle; he was nominated again in 2008, this time for "Best Professional Artist" and collected one in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2014 (See the list of his awards.)
He is sometimes seen with The Winslow, a small plush alligator[7] who may be the cornerstone of all creation.
See also[]
- Kaja Foglio
- Victor Foglio
- List of Professorial Interviews
- Other works
- Stanley and his monster. Phil Foglio 4 comic series.
References
- ↑ His card in The Works says the "P." stands for "Philbert".
- ↑ This relationship is probably not exact. We can be relatively certain that Philbert is a direct descendant of Ognian, but it is very possible that one or more 'great-'s was omitted for brevity's sake. Ognian has been stated by Word of God to be 250 to 300 years old, and four generations (i.e. literally great-great-grandfather/son) spanning 200+ years is implausibly long even for the modern era, let alone the usually-faster generations of the time.
- ↑ According to one of the coolest con reports ever, they never decided if Oggie had a family before or after he became a Jäger. At any rate, the Professor is wholly human and not part Jäger. However, later pages of the comic ✣ showed a decision on that point; Oggie fathered his first child just before taking the draught, though possibly some more afterward.
- ↑ "Growf?"
- ↑ Myth Adventures Collection on Studio Foglio Store
- ↑ Buck Godot, Zap Gun for Hire!
- ↑ As seen on The Kid's head in Kaja's LiveJournal. (The Foglio's LiveJournals have been deleted. The link has been replaced by one from the Internet Archive.)