Crossed Genres:
Where did your individual careers, either writing or art, begin? (Whatever you consider the “beginning”.)

Phil & Kaja:
Phil’s career began back in the late ’70s when he started working in the Science Fiction illustration field. Kaja’s career really began in the early 90’s with Magic: The Gathering, the original trading card game. This does not reflect any intrinsic laziness on Kaja’s part, as she is 14 years younger than Phil.

CG:
When you two first met, did you begin working together right away, or was it something that occurred gradually? What was the very first project you worked together on? Was that collaboration smooth, or rocky?

Phil & Kaja:
It started gradually. The first time was on a set of Magic cards, the “Mishra’s Factory” foursome. After that, we started talking things over more and more, which was inevitable since we shared an art studio, and eventually we started actually writing together. It’s worked out exceedingly well.

CG:
In 1995 you founded Studio Foglio; since then, you’ve been able to rerelease a number of discontinued projects, including the space opera Buck Godot and the tabletop RPG comic What’s New With Phil & Dixie. Was bringing back these projects always part of the plan for Studio Foglio?

Phil & Kaja:
Absolutely. They weren’t making us any money sitting around being fondly remembered out-of-print books.

CG:
Both of you take on a number of roles for Studio Foglio: publisher, promoter, convention hawker, blogger, writer, artist, and more. That’s in addition to being parents, and husband & wife. Has it been difficult to wear so many hats at once? Or have you dumped much of the excess on your poor office minion?

Phil & Kaja:
Very difficult. Ideally we could use three more people. We’re in a very awkward stage of our business: We’re small enough that we can do everything ourselves, but we would be able to do a lot more if we didn’t have to do everything. Unfortunately, if we hired those hypothetical three other people, it would take an inordinate amount of time to generate enough additional revenue to be able to pay them what they would want to make. Thus we continue to clunk along.

CG:
Each of you has experienced either creating art based off someone else’s writing, or writing based off someone else’s art (or both). Have you ever found this process complicated by clashing perspectives between you and your collaborator? How did you deal with it?

Phil & Kaja:
Remember that the material in question does belong to someone else, and treat it like a job. Do a good job, and feel free to enjoy it, but don’t allow yourself to become too emotionally attached to it.

CG:
You go to a fair number of conventions, and seem to have a good time. Phil does guest panels; Kaja has an open blog. You’ve been known to do call-in phone interviews too. It appears that you both enjoy interacting directly with your fans. What are the best and worst parts of being so available to your fans?

Phil & Kaja:
The best part [of our work] is the “contact high” we get from meeting our fans. Dealing with people at a distance is all very well, but for the conveyance of genuine enthusiasm, you can’t beat meeting people face-to-face. The down side is that going to conventions throws a real monkey wrench into our production schedules. You’d think we’d be able to do what we do while on the road, but you’d be wrong. If it wasn’t for that, we’d do a convention every weekend.

CG:
Girl Genius was originally a print comic only, but in 2005 you made the decision to switch it to an online comic. What prompted the move, and did you in any way anticipate the remarkable success of the decision?

Phil & Kaja:
For years, when young artist asked our advice on how to “break into the business”, we’d tell them that if we’d had it to do all over again, we’d start as a webcomic. In 2005, for a variety of reasons, we decided that we should actually follow our own advice. We had no idea that this would be the best thing we ever did.

CG:
How have you handled the different schedule necessary to release Girl Genius on a three-times-a-week schedule instead of the full-length comic once per month? Has it been easier or more difficult to maintain the schedule?

Phil & Kaja:
Surprisingly, it’s been much easier. In fact, Phil once ran the numbers and discovered that we’re actually producing more Girl Genius material per year than we ever did under the old system.

CG:
Occasionally, the names of other various and sundry webcomics can be found subtly written into the backgrounds of Girl Genius panels - Schlock Mercenary, Gunnerkrigg Court, The Devil’s Panties and Bob the Angry Flower are just a few to have gotten some of this subconscious marketing on your pages. Were these part of a vast webcomic cross-marketing conspiracy, or simply shout-outs to comics you admire? How much did those artists pay for those plugs, anyway?

Phil & Kaja:
Those are just shout outs. The creators are just as surprised as anyone else, which, for us, is part of the fun.

CG:
There’s been recent talk about a Girl Genius GURPS book, a novelized GG, and even enthusiasm for the idea of a GG film, TV show or even console game. Would you care to set the record straight on these, and any other “Coming Soon” projects in the works?

Phil & Kaja:
We are indeed working on many of these things. Further details will be released as soon as the lawyers say we can talk about it.

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Phil & Kaja Foglio are the geniuses behind the remarkable webcomic Girl Genius, which in 2008 won the Web Cartoonists’ Choice Awards for Outstanding Writer, Outstanding Environment Design and Outstanding Comic. Phil and Kaja are both accomplished artists and writers. Phil has won two Hugo awards for his art. The two met while collaborating on art for Magic: The Gathering. They live in Seattle, Washington. The Foglios can be found online at Studio Foglio.