Girl Genius

LOLOL! The Foglio's never disappoint. Man, I'm going to keep looking at that last panel, and I'm going to laugh every time.

Hi! Totally new to Girl Genius (pretty much just started it). As of writing this post I'm currently on the March 31, 2003 entry. So sorry if this question gets answered later in the comic.

I noticed that Agatha gets mad at Baron Wulfenbach for killing Beetle [1] [2]. But ... the Baron didn't kill Beetle. His son Gilgamesh did. The Baron (while not as emotional) is still upset at his death and gets mad at Gilgamesh for it - he even gives him a "hero's funeral" [3]. Agatha saw all of this happen too.

So what's up?

The Baron is The Baron. The buck stops there.

This is an excellent example of why close reading is a life skill, not just a classroom skill. No, this isn't discussed later in the story. But let's start here, where she discovers Beetle's death. In the first panel of the bottom row, she says, "You killed him!", laying the blame squarely on Gilgamesh. In the next page, several characters are commenting on his death. Now Ms Clay is saying "How dare you!" Gilgamesh, Boris, and a jagermonster are also in the panel, implying that the "you" here refers to the three of them in both the first and second panels. So when she says "You murder one of the greatest scientists in Europe and you're treating it as some sort of kitchen accident?!", she's not speaking to the younger Wulfenbach, she's speaking to the entire group.

She's also engaging in what's called victim blaming. Gilgamesh is someone she's heard about for all of maybe an hour. The Baron Klaus Wulfenbach has been a figure who shapes her life, her fiction, and her country. When he shows up and her favourite teacher dies, she blames the Baron because he came, when it was Beetle who was trying to commit murder and Gilgamesh acted in self-defense. She also doesn't (yet) realize how often the others are in life-or-death situations, only really remembering the sheltered life of a townie.

Update: I'm on the November 17 page now. Really enjoying it, I can see why so many images on this very wiki come from this comic.

That's an interesting analysis. I noticed that she didn't originally blame the Baron but that she later shifted the blame. But I didn't think of her blaming the Baron as a sort of victim-blaming - I assumed it was just her memory failing because it would be traumatic. But the idea of it being victim-blaming is an interesting way to look at it, gives a different perspective on Agatha's character. Perhaps it's her memory altering events to fit with her (limited) worldview.

Given what I've read since first posting here that would make sense. I noticed she doesn't have much animosity towards Gilgamesh. Maybe she's just looking over what happened before? I noticed that in one of the pages you cited ([1]), Gilgamesh remarks "That doesn't make her wrong, father" (even though he was one of the people accused by her).

Dr Beetle was trying to kill the Baron & company. Blaming any of them for Beetle starting the attack is victim blaming. Later, you'll discover how dangerous those "wasp" things are, too. Dr Beetle was essentially preparing to destroy the entire town, which is why Baron Wulfenbach forbids the study of them except under his control (a bunch of his sparks and scientists are working on them).

Her desire to blame the Baron doesn't need her to misremember anything, merely blame him for the sequence of events that lead to being kicked out of school.

Oh, I'm not denying that it's victim-blaming, just that I didn't think of it that way at first.

But as for the part where she blames the Baron; I was more so confused by how she isn't really mad at Gilgamesh (or at least not later on) since he was the one who actually did the killing (albiet in self-defence). This was mostly cleared up in the last post of yours. where you pointed out how she initially got mad at Gilgamesh but ended up blaming the Baron later.

"Blaming any of them for Beetle starting the attack is victim blaming."

That's not what "Victim Blaming" means. It's not simply when anyone is accused of doing something they didn't do, it's a more specific thing. Victim blaming is attributing the cause of a source of suffering to the person who is experiencing the suffering. Such as blaming the poor for being impoverished ("they're just lazy"), or people of color for living in high crime zones ("they are criminal in nature"). It's important to be specific because this is historically how society avoids addressing systemic forms of exploitation.

The only way this could have been victim blaming is if Beetle had succeeded in killing the Wulfenbachs, then blaming the Wulfenbachs for having been killed ("they deserved it").

Ehhhh, Attempted Murder is still a crime. The description still fits.

Comic for Monday, May 23, 2022

Noticed.

I think Lu just noticed that Agatha is missing something.

And she's not happy about it.

Comic for Wednesday, May 25, 2022.

Definitely not happy. Also, those two are just gonna burn themselves out fighting each other.

Edited by Cronosonic on May 25th 2022 at 6:07:44 PM

They're also going to burn everything else out. Including Agatha and her group if they don't get through that portal to Skifander

The portal is buried under a mountain of rubble. They need an airship or hope Great Cetaceans show up offering a ride.

If Agatha's definitely dealt with the cursed waters, then they might because of that.

Ah, a boot to the head. So satisfying. Let the carnage continue.

They're going to escape on Bang's father's airship while the island blows up, leaving the two Queen's fate unknown for now.

Looks like Clank Other will deal in murder-suicide making Agatha's life a whole lot easier.

New page btw.

Yeah, she's kinda boned on all fronts. She can't deal with the queen, and bombing the whole island is also the best hope to try and eradicate the knowledge of how to delete her imprints as Agatha did.

Comic for Monday, May 30, 2022

Ain't we having some fun now?

Wednesday's mayhem. [1]

Nah Krosp, I don’t think she’s really helping right now.

Meh. Cats are used to managing creatures larger and stronger than they are. This should be cake.

Ah, but you’re forgetting that Krosp is useless.