… a comic book, webcomic, and book series centered on the character Agatha Heterodyne:
(Hat tip to Tom Wasow, and then to Paul Armstrong, who got it from Opal Armstroing Zwicky.)
From Wikipedia:
Girl Genius is an ongoing comic book series turned webcomic, written and drawn by Phil and Kaja Foglio and published by their company Studio Foglio LLC under the imprint Airship Entertainment.
… Girl Genius has the tagline of “Adventure, Romance, MAD SCIENCE!”. It features a female lead character in an alternate-history Victorian-style “steampunk” setting, although elements veer from what is usually thought of as steampunk. Kaja Foglio, one of the co-creators, describes it as “gaslamp fantasy” instead to suggest its more fantastic style. {Note the reflections on the classification and labeling of genres.]
The Foglios have also written three Girl Genius novels, Agatha H. and the Airship City. Agatha H. and the Clockwork Princess and Agatha H and the Voice of the Castle, all published by Night Shade Books
[The major characters:] Agatha Heterodyne, also known as Agatha Clay: the Girl Genius of the title. Agatha is a powerful Spark, especially talented at creating and repairing electrical and mechanical devices. Among her creations is an ever-present, highly versatile coaster-sized clank named Dingbot Prime, capable of performing complex tasks without supervision; it can even build similar small clanks to assist it, (making it a self-replicating machine,) though each generation of these clanks is slightly less well-made than its predecessor (ensuring that they do not replicate endlessly), together they are capable of truly amazing feats of engineering
‘Gilgamesh Wulfenbach’ (“Gil” to his friends) is the only son and heir of Baron Klaus Wulfenbach. He is a rather likable fellow, more interested in building aircraft and constructs than designing weapons or defending his father’s empire. Despite Gil’s general lack of ambition and tendency to put his foot in his mouth when discussing non-technical subjects, his own father believes Gil has potential to be an even greater Spark than he; he bases his hopes for lasting peace on his son’s generally pacific nature, and his friendships built with heirs of other countries in and outside of direct Wulfenbach influence.
‘Baron Klaus Wulfenbach’ is one of the greatest Sparks of his generation with a particular interest in the workings, origins and nature of the Spark. When the Heterodynes began their heroic crusades, he was among the first to ally with them, moved by their idealism and hoping to bring an end to the constant battles between Europa’s Sparks.
Yes, it’s complicated
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