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36-634: Philip Peter Foglio (born May 1, 1956) is an American cartoonist and comic book artist known for his humorous science fiction and fantasy art . Foglio was born on May 1, 1956, in Mount Vernon, New York , and moved with his family to Hartsdale, New York , where he lived until he was 17. He attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago, Illinois, and was a member of the university's science fiction club, art-directing and co-editing

72-521: A haven to many of the worst criminals and other anti-social humans and aliens, and has become even more so now that it offers safety from the Machines (the Law Machine assigned to New Hong Kong "moonlights as its conscience"). New Hong Kong is the home base of the series' eponymous protagonist, Buckminster "Buck" Godot , a quick-witted mercenary whose motto is "Always available, but never free". He

108-428: A healthy sex drive). Lou has employed Buck on several occasions, usually surprised that he prefers payment in cash instead of "trade". Buck's response is generally that she is "too small", a reference to the fact that Hoffmanites are so large, heavy, and strong, once joking that they could have a go if she gained about 400 pounds. Buck's other friend is Asteroid Al , a Thuxian (an eyeless alien species roughly resembling

144-521: A man of his size. Buck is also a fast thinker, shown setting up and executing very elaborate schemes on short notice. His skills are impressive enough to be worthy of respect by no less than Lord Thezmothete, the single most advanced being in the galaxy. Buck is an expert marksman, able to shoot his way out of almost any situation. His normal "zap gun" is Junior , a white or chromed laser pistol which fires cartridge-loaded energy blasts (a much larger gun, Senior , may be glimpsed on his apartment wall). He

180-473: A noticeable decline in "real governments", because they tend not to be able to function in the harsh scrutiny of The Law. In their place have risen guilds like X-Tel, which specialize in helping disgruntled colonists move and resettle to places where The Law has a weaker presence. The sole exception to the Law's jurisdiction is the colony of New Hong Kong . The planetary government there wound up being protected from

216-597: A possible printed (re-)publication of Godot "in late Spring [2016]". Buck's adventures take place in a future where humanity has joined an interstellar coalition known as the Gallimaufry . Human colonization and exploitation has resulted in the development of various human and mutant sub-species, as well as methods such as terraforming (altering marginally habitable worlds into environments where humans can thrive) and pantropy (genetically altering humans to thrive on marginally habitable worlds). Humanity has also become

252-470: A semi-annual basis. After Palliard Press dissolved, the final two issues were published starting in 1997 by Studio Foglio . The series was later collected in a trade paperback as Buck Godot: The Gallimaufry . After successfully moving Girl Genius from a printed comic book series to a webcomic in 2006, Studio Foglio began to serialize the existing Buck Godot stories as a webcomic. The webcomic started running on January 9, 2007, and updated three times

288-747: A week. As of June 2009, the last Buck Godot comic has been posted (except for the second story in the first volume, concerning the Planetary Temperance League and one of Lou's employees that featured some nudity and one page story "The Gauntlet" parodies the old Hostess pie ads from E-Man #9, and a lost short story from GASP! magazine) and updates have now ceased. Though this has been offline since sometime in February 2016, along with webcomic republications of What's New with Phil & Dixie and MythAdventures , when Airship Entertainment's old website broke down. Studio Foglio hinted at

324-553: Is a well-known face at Asteroid Al's, and indeed throughout most of New Hong Kong. Buck's notable antagonists have included the aforementioned X-Tel Corporation , the human collective mind PSmIth (read as "Smithe", referencing the "psi" shortening of " psychic "), the high-grade thief and assassin named Der Rock the Destroyer and the notorious space pirate known as the Pistol Packin' Polaris Packrat (a sentient who has

360-636: Is also an expert pilot, operating small personal craft around New Hong Kong as well as interstellar spacecraft. Buck's best friend is Louisa "Lou" Dem Five , the asteroid -born madam of the Velvet Fist bordello . Lou is a former agent of the Planetary Temperance League, but finds her current profession more to her liking, and has successfully tempted several of her fellow agents to work for her. Her human-variant alteration gives her voluntary control over glands in her body that exude an intensely-powerful pheromone that can entice anyone (at least, anyone with

396-654: The Republican elephant . Comic strips received widespread distribution to mainstream newspapers by syndicates . Calum MacKenzie, in his preface to the exhibition catalog, The Scottish Cartoonists (Glasgow Print Studio Gallery, 1979) defined the selection criteria: Many strips were the work of two people although only one signature was displayed. Shortly after Frank Willard began Moon Mullins in 1923, he hired Ferd Johnson as his assistant. For decades, Johnson received no credit. Willard and Johnson traveled about Florida , Maine, Los Angeles , and Mexico, drawing

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432-483: The 'protection' of the Law Machines when a hacker entered a new 'law' to be voted into place (and it was, overwhelmingly): There shall be no laws on New Hong Kong . The hacker was subsequently arrested, but since the Law Machines are programmed not to interfere in society except when enforcing official laws, they became powerless to act on New Hong Kong thanks to this new (and only) 'law'. The planet had already been

468-500: The 18th century, poked fun at contemporary politics and customs; illustrations in such style are often referred to as "Hogarthian". Following the work of Hogarth, editorial/political cartoons began to develop in England in the latter part of the 18th century under the direction of its great exponents, James Gillray and Thomas Rowlandson , both from London. Gillray explored the use of the medium for lampooning and caricature , calling

504-563: The Ape , Plastic Man and Stanley and His Monster miniseries), Marvel Comics , and First Comics (back-up stories in issues of Grimjack and scripting over Doug Rice 's plots in Dynamo Joe ). He also joined the Moebius theatre group, and he held regular meetings and poker parties for the local science fiction community. Foglio initiated his long-running character Buck Godot for

540-517: The Chapel of Bones in 2009. The three again won the award for subsequent volumes in 2010 and 2011. Having won the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story in all three of its first three years, Kaja, Phil, and Cheyenne announced that, in order to show that the category was a "viable award" (with quality competitors besides themselves), they were refusing nomination for the following year (2012). Girl Genius

576-473: The Coast and resurrected the comic strip What's New with Phil & Dixie for that company's Duelist magazine. During this decade, Foglio co-founded Palliard Press and published additional comics, including a new Buck Godot series and the whimsical erotic series XXXenophile . The Foglios later founded Studio Foglio and began to produce the steampunk -fantasy series Girl Genius . In April 2005,

612-471: The Foglios abandoned publishing periodical-style comic books and began publishing Girl Genius online as a free webcomic , updated three times a week. Foglio told an interviewer that as of November 2005, "[W]e've quadrupled our number of readers, and tripled our sales" of traditional comics and related merchandise. In 1976, the slide show The Capture , which Robert Asprin wrote and Foglio illustrated,

648-540: The Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago and continued fantasy and science-fiction art. For publisher Donning/Starblaze , Foglio illustrated the MythAdventures series of fantasy novels by Robert Lynn Asprin , and he later adapted the first book, Another Fine Myth , into an eight-issue comic-book series from WaRP Graphics . The WaRP work eventually led to comic-book assignments from DC Comics ( Angel and

684-643: The amount of property damage he causes, those expenses can be pretty high. He follows strict ethical standards in all his dealings, which sometimes surprises his clients. One of the mottos of New Hong Kong is, "Just because there are no laws, that doesn't mean there are no rules". Buck Godot is a Hoffmanite, a variant human race from a world with a heavy gravity environment. His rotund appearance conceals high muscular density, giving him incredible (but not quite superhuman) strength, stamina and metabolic endurance (he can drink high amounts of alcohol with little effect). He can also move deceptively quickly and efficiently for

720-480: The creatures from the Alien franchise), who is known for being stingy about money and contracts. The drinks served at his bar can intoxicate the unwary almost immediately. Buck's drink of choice is the "ion sucker", whose containers also make useful weapons (as well as components for flower arranging). Other cronies at Al's Bar include Spug , a frog-faced alien cabbie who has trouble keeping secrets. Beyond these, Buck

756-462: The custodian of The Winslow, an immortal, indestructible, sentient small fuzzy alligator-like creature that usually doesn't do anything more than say "Hi!", and is highly sought after by other species for various reasons. However, the chaotic nature of human expansion into space has resulted in two Great Checks: a powerful alien intelligence known as Lord Thezmothete, who prevents humans and other species from exploiting pre-spaceflight civilizations; and

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792-422: The dubious honor of being the only creature Buck will deal with for free; Al suspects that there's someone out there paying Buck to breathe) with his two talking laser pistols, Smith and Wesson , who have some history with Junior and lament that he "isn't speaking to them". In the 8-part "Gallimaufry" series, Buck travels to the eponymous space station – acting as a sort of United Nations in space - and meets

828-532: The emergence of the Law Machines , intelligent robots that enforce the law in all places. The Law Machines always enforce the letter of the written law, to the extent that several planets were forced to change governments when corrupt or neglectful officials were arrested en masse. Since someone arrested by the Law is never seen again, human colonies are wary about accepting the presence of a Law Machine in their society. The Law's presence and methods have led to

864-476: The first known Unix daemons for a limited series of T-shirts in 1979. Beginning in 1980, Foglio wrote and illustrated the comic strip What's New with Phil & Dixie for Dragon Magazine from TSR Games , satirizing the world of role-playing games . The strip ran monthly for three years. In the early 1980s, after some time in Chicago attempting to find work doing science fiction magazine and book illustration, Foglio moved to New York City. He formed

900-571: The group's fanzine , Effen Essef . He was nominated for both the Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist and the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 1976, and won Best Fan Artist in 1977 and 1978. After living in the DePaul dorms for a few years, Phil moved to the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago and hosted weekly Thursday night meetings of Chicago-area science fiction fans . He drew

936-420: The independent comic-book company "ffantasy ffactory" [no capitals] with science-fiction writer-artist Connor Freff Cochran (Freff) and science-fiction book editor Melissa Ann Singer. Working with editorial input from Chris Claremont , Foglio and Freff wrote and drew a single issue of a science-fiction/historical title called D'Arc Tangent before ending their collaboration in 1984. He eventually returned to

972-775: The king ( George III ), prime ministers and generals to account, and has been referred to as the father of the political cartoon. While never a professional cartoonist, Benjamin Franklin is credited with the first cartoon published in The Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9, 1754: Join, or Die , depicting the American colonies as segments of a snake. In the 19th century, professional cartoonists such as Thomas Nast , whose work appeared in Harper's Weekly , introduced other familiar American political symbols, such as

1008-585: The literary and graphic components of the work as part of their practice. Cartoonists may work in a variety of formats, including booklets , comic strips , comic books , editorial cartoons , graphic novels , manuals , gag cartoons , storyboards , posters , shirts , books , advertisements , greeting cards , magazines , newspapers , webcomics , and video game packaging . A cartoonist's discipline encompasses both authorial and drafting disciplines (see interdisciplinary arts ). The terms "comics illustrator", "comics artist", or "comic book artist" refer to

1044-475: The picture-making portion of the discipline of cartooning (see illustrator ). While every "cartoonist" might be considered a "comics illustrator", "comics artist", or a "comic book artist", not every "comics illustrator", "comics artist", or a "comic book artist" is a "cartoonist". Ambiguity might arise when illustrators and writers share each other's duties in authoring a work. The English satirist and editorial cartoonist William Hogarth , who emerged in

1080-440: The publication Just Imagine , published by Denny Meisinger. Basing the humorous science-fiction detective on a real-life friend, John Buckley, Foglio "did a couple of those in the black-and-whites and then Donning said they wanted Buck Godot graphic novels ", two of which followed. In the 1990s, Foglio met and married his wife, Kaja . The two contributed art to the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering , from Wizards of

1116-478: The strip while living in hotels, apartments and farmhouses. At its peak of popularity during the 1940s and 1950s, the strip ran in 350 newspapers. According to Johnson, he had been doing the strip solo for at least a decade before Willard's death in 1958: "They put my name on it then. I had been doing it about 10 years before that because Willard had heart attacks and strokes and all that stuff. The minute my name went on that thing and his name went off, 25 papers dropped

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1152-544: The strip. That shows you that, although I had been doing it ten years, the name means a lot." Societies and organizations Societies and organizations Buck Godot The first Buck Godot story appeared in issue #2 (summer 1982) of the anthology comic book Just Imagine , published by Just Imagine Graphix. More Buck Godot stories followed in issues #3 (1982) and #5 (spring 1983). A fourth story written by John J Buckley, Jr. and penciled by Doug Rice, which has never been reprinted, appeared in #8 (winter 1984). In 1986,

1188-629: The three stories by Foglio were colored and compiled along with a new fourth story in Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire , a graphic novel published by Starblaze Graphics . This was followed in 1987 by a full-length graphic novel, Buck Godot: PSmIth , also published by Starblaze. A single-page Buck Godot story also appeared in E-Man #9 (December 1983). In 1993, Foglio began publishing the 8-issue limited series Buck Godot - Zap Gun for Hire through Palliard Press . Six issues were published on

1224-513: Was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation ; in the same year, he was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist for the first time. Foglio won the Fan Artist Hugo twice, in 1977 and 1978. He was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist in 2008. He, his wife ( Kaja Foglio ), and their colorist (Cheyenne Wright) won the first graphic story Hugo for Girl Genius, Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and

1260-443: Was once a security chief of the corrupt X-Tel Corporation, but "retired" from their service after an ethical dispute, damaging their headquarters and stealing a starship as he left (in what Godot later cheekily described as "taking his pension in a lump sum"). Buck mostly hangs around Asteroid Al's bar on New Hong Kong, waiting for work to come to him. His normal fee is in the five to six-figure range, plus expenses and sometimes, given

1296-638: Was once again nominated for a Hugo in 2014, but did not win. In 1993, he was awarded the Inkpot Award . Foglio won a Reuben divisional award from the National Cartoonist Society for Best Online Comics: Long Form for 2022. Cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators / artists in that they produce both

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