Phil Foglio

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Kaja and Phil Foglio.

Philip "Phil" Foglio is an American cartoonist and comic book artist best known for his humorous science fiction and fantasy art. His most famous works include Girl Genius (co-written with his wife Kaja), XXXenophile and Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire.

He is also the writer and artist of the classic gaming comic What's New with Phil and Dixie, published for many years in Dragon magazine.

Other career highlights include a comic book adaptation of Robert Asprin's Myth Adventures, and a number of miniseries for DC Comics (including a well-received revival of Stanley and His Monster that managed to make the fluffy whimsical series into part of The DCU without making it Darker and Edgier). He's also done the artwork for a number of Magic: The Gathering cards and for the Exile and early Avernum series of games.


Works by Phil Foglio with their own trope pages include:

Phil Foglio provides examples of the following tropes:
  • Air Vent Passageway: Lampshaded and played with in Illegal Aliens.
  • Author Appeal: Part of a three-way tie with Oh Great & Ross Campbell for the title of king of this trope.
  • Author Avatar: A fellow in a white turtleneck sweater and black bowler hat who makes cameo appearances in various works, is Phil the presenter of What's New?, and is a minor but significant character in Girl Genius. He also appears in one Munden's Bar story as a fill-in bartender while the regular one is on holiday.
  • Awesome McCoolname: All his illustrations for the Magic: The Gathering set Unglued are credited to Claymore J. Flapdoodle.
  • Bleached Underpants: XXXenophile, as the name suggests, consists of sci-fi and fantasy themed porn (albeit with a generous helping of plot), which may be a surprise to people who discovered Girl Genius first. Though Phil will still cheerfully refer to himself as a "Gentleman Pornographer", the series is on hiatus while he and Kaja are raising kids[when?].
  • Extreme Omnivore: His adaptation of Myth Adventures gives Aahz a penchant for literally chewing on the scenery.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: Some of the Avernum pictures in particular demand a closer look.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Almost any female character under the age of 40 (and undoubtedly a few over) who appear in his comics.
  • Nice Hat: The black bowler hat worn by his author avatar, sometimes hinted to have amazing powers.
  • Nigh Invulnerability: The Winslow. Disintegrator beams just tickle a bit. He's reputed to have survived the end of the universe more than once.
  • Noodle Implements: The assassin's tools in Illegal Aliens.
  • Running Gag: The Winslow, a little plush alligator with a cheery attitude who may or may not be the cornerstone of creation, appears all over Phil's work. All hail.
    • Hi!
    • Also the "Growf" dragons. These were pink, cute, harmless, and subject to explosive parthenogenesis - getting them wet caused them to duplicate at extreme speed. Introduced in What's New with Phil and Dixie, reappeared in Myth Adventures.
  • Signature Style: A very distinctive and recognisable one.