Phil Foglio | |
|---|---|
 Foglio at Chicago MagicCon in 2025 | |
| Born | (1956-05-01)May 1, 1956 (age 68) Mount Vernon, New York, U.S. |
| Education | DePaul University |
| Occupation(s) | Cartoonist, artist |
| Spouse | Kaja Foglio |
Philip Peter Foglio (born May 1, 1956)[1] is an Americancartoonist andcomic book artist known for his humorousscience fiction andfantasy art.
Foglio was born on May 1, 1956, inMount Vernon, New York, and moved with his family toHartsdale, New York, where he lived until he was 17.[1] He attended theChicago Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago, Illinois, and was a member of the university's science fiction club, art-directing and co-editing the group'sfanzine,Effen Essef.[2] He was nominated for both theHugo Award for Best Fan Artist and theHugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 1976,[3] and wonBest Fan Artist in 1977[4] and 1978.[5] After living in the DePaul dorms for a few years, Phil moved to theRogers Park neighborhood of Chicago and hosted weekly Thursday night meetings of Chicago-areascience fiction fans. He drew the first knownUnixdaemons for a limited series ofT-shirts in 1979.[6][7]
Beginning in 1980, Foglio wrote and illustrated thecomic stripWhat's New with Phil & Dixie forDragon Magazine fromTSR Games, satirizing the world ofrole-playing games. The strip ran monthly for three years. In the early 1980s, after some time in Chicago attempting to find work doingscience fiction magazine and book illustration, Foglio moved to New York City.[1] He formed the independentcomic-book company "ffantasy ffactory" [no capitals] with science-fiction writer-artistConnor Freff Cochran (Freff) and science-fiction book editor Melissa Ann Singer.[2] Working with editorial input fromChris Claremont, Foglio and Freff wrote and drew a single issue of a science-fiction/historical title calledD'Arc Tangent before ending their collaboration in 1984.[2]
He eventually returned to the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago and continued fantasy and science-fiction art.[citation needed] For publisherDonning/Starblaze, Foglio illustrated theMythAdventures series of fantasy novels byRobert Lynn Asprin, and he later adapted the first book,Another Fine Myth, into an eight-issue comic-book series fromWaRP Graphics. The WaRP work eventually led to comic-book assignments fromDC Comics (Angel and the Ape,Plastic Man andStanley and His Monster miniseries),Marvel Comics, andFirst Comics (back-up stories in issues ofGrimjack and scripting overDoug Rice's plots inDynamo Joe). He also joined the Moebius theatre group, and he held regular meetings and poker parties for the local science fiction community.[citation needed]
Foglio initiated his long-running characterBuck Godot for the publicationJust Imagine, published by Denny Meisinger.[1] 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 Godotgraphic novels", two of which followed.
In the 1990s, Foglio met and married his wife,Kaja. The two contributed art to thecollectible card gameMagic: The Gathering,[8] fromWizards of the Coast and resurrected the comic stripWhat's New with Phil & Dixie for that company'sDuelist magazine. During this decade, Foglio co-foundedPalliard Press and published additional comics, including a newBuck Godot series and the whimsicalerotic seriesXXXenophile. The Foglios later founded Studio Foglio and began to produce thesteampunk-fantasy seriesGirl Genius.
In April 2005, the Foglios abandoned publishing periodical-style comic books and began publishingGirl Genius online as a freewebcomic, updated three times a week.[9] 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.[10]
In 1976, theslide showThe Capture, whichRobert Asprin wrote and Foglio illustrated, was nominated for theHugo Award forBest Dramatic Presentation; in the same year, he was nominated for theHugo Award for Best Fan Artist for the first time.[11] Foglio won the Fan Artist Hugo twice, in 1977 and 1978.[4][5] He was nominated for theHugo Award for Best Professional Artist in 2008.[12] He, his wife (Kaja Foglio), and their colorist (Cheyenne Wright) won the firstgraphic story Hugo forGirl Genius, Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones in 2009.[13] The three again won the award for subsequent volumes in 2010[14][15] and 2011.[16] 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).[17] Girl Genius was once again nominated for a Hugo in 2014, but did not win.[18]
In 1993, he was awarded theInkpot Award.[19]
Foglio won a Reuben divisional award from the National Cartoonist Society for Best Online Comics: Long Form for 2022.[20][21]
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