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William "Bill" Heterodyne and Barry Heterodyne, together called the Heterodyne Boys or Heterodyne Brothers, are major characters in the print-and-web comic Girl Genius by Phil & Kaja Foglio.
Over two decades before the start of the comic, Bill and Barry Heterodyne made a name for themselves as travelling heroes. They twarted malevolent Sparks, gave help to the innocent, battled monsters, and the like all over Europa. They became the stuff of legends and cleansed the Heterodyne family name of much of it's baggage. But around 19 years before the comic's start, they disappeared from the face of the earth, leaving only their name.
Then one day, Agatha Heterodyne learned that Bill was her father.
Biography[]
Early Lives[]
William and Barry were born as the sons of Lord Saturnus Heterodyne and his consort Teodora (Vodenicharova) Heterodyne. Their mother Teodora detested the villainy of the Heterodyne lords, and so chose to raise her sons as far from the influence of their father as she could, even living outside of the Castle with them. The boys grew up not desiring to follow in the Old Heterodynes' tradition of villainy.
Saturnus eventually grew privy to what his wife was doing. He swore to kill his sons and try anew, but Teodora killed him to save her sons. She was herself killed by the Castle shortly after. For this deed, the church declared her a martyr and canonized St. Teodora of Transylvania. The above is explained in the novel Agatha H. and the Voice of the Castle.
Early on in their lives, Bill and Barry created a pair of constructs that they named Punch and Judy. These were their first creations.
William Heterodyne soon inherited his father's title. Virtually the first thing he and Barry did in their reign was tear down the Mechanicsburg Flesh Yards and build the Great Hospital in it's place.
Adventures[]
Bill and Barry spent little time in Mechanicsburg, instead going on assorted adventures all over Europa. As their sidekicks they had their constructs Punch and Judy, along with their fellow Spark and best friend Klaus Wulfenbach. Apparently they weren't accompanied by the Jägermonsters very often. While they had many enemies, the most persistent was Dr. Lucifer Mongfish and his daughter Lucrezia. Their deeds became the works of legend, but since Girl Genius doesn't focus on them, it is unknown in what order these adventures happened.
In no particular order, some of their known deeds include:
- Designing the defences of Holfung-Borzoi, the home of Princess Zulenna (Vol. 3 p. 106).
- The events depicted in The Heterodyne Boys and the Race to the West Pole, which apparently (Vol. 2 p. 51) mostly happened.
- At some point, Barry made contact with the land of Skifander. This is seen in how he used to tell Agatha stories about it (Vol. 4 p. 15). It is unknown if Bill was with him.
- Going to England (Vol. 18 p. 52). This was only done by Barry; Bill couldn't go because he was the Lord Heterodyne, and a decree by Queen Albia forbade the Heterodyne from landing on English soil. Barry convinced Ablia to revoke this law, which is why Lady Agatha could go there without being executed. It seems (Vol. 19 p. 44) Lucrezia came with him.
- Going to Paris (Vol. 15 p. 82). The Master of Paris had a rule that a Heterodyne must earn the right to visit the city, and they earned that time.
- Fighting Sparkhounds used by Dr. Lucifer Mongfish (Vol. 13 p. 80).
- Building a flying bicycle (Vol. 12 p. 169) for Franz the Dragon.
Eventually, after some time fighting the Mongfishes, Lucrezia offered to renounce her father's evil ways and marry Bill. He accepted the offer and Lucrezia lived in Mechanicsburg as the Heterodyne's consort. Two years into their marriage, they had a son whom they named Klaus Barry Heterodyne.
The Other War[]
Somewhere around two to three years after the wedding of Bill and Lucrezia, there was an attack on Castle Heterodyne. Carson von Mekkhan recounts the event first hand in the comic proper (Vol. 7 p. 73). Bill and Barry were away fighting monsters at the time of the incident. The seneschal, Lucrezia's house-servants, and the infant Klaus Barry Heterodyne were dead. Lady Lucrezia (Mongfish) Heterodyne was missing. Within hours, Masters Bill and Barry returned home. Bill was nearly insane while Barry was grimly calm. The day after, they both packed their bags and left the town to fight.
The perpitrator of this attack would later go on to wipe out fourty-three Sparky families. They used slaver wasps to turn people into their mind-controlled revenant slaves. The public didn't know who the attacker was, and since the usual suspects were killed, the attacker was simply dubbed "the Other". The subsiquent period of strife was known as the "Other War". Unknown to most people, the Other was really Lucrezia herself. Bill and Barry spent their time fighting the Other's forces; the novel Agatha H. and the Airship City shows that Bill was grim, quiet, and utterly obsessed with defeating the Other while Barry was worried for his brother's mental health.
After a long period of time, Bill and Barry would disappear, and the Other War would come to an end. The fate of Bill is unknown. However, Barry would go on to raise his niece Agatha Heterodyne, presumably after rescuing her from Lucrezia. Barry gave the young Agatha a locket designed to supress her Spark so that nobody (not even herself) would know that she was a Heterodyne. Eleven years before the comic's start (Vol. 1 p. 44), he disappeared too. Agatha was put under the care of Punch and Judy, under the pseudonyms Adam Clay and Lilith Clay.
Legacy[]
| “ | Oh, we all know they're out there somewhere, fighting the good fight, but right here and right now, the Heterodyne Boys are gone. Their lands are overrun, their machines destroyed, their servants scatterd, and nothing remains but their name. | „ |
| ~ Part of the opening narration of Vol. 1 |
The Heterodyne Boys were legendary figures both in their own days and afterwards. More than anything else, they were a beacon of hope to the people of Europa.
In their home town of Mechanicsburg, their reputation is a bit more mixed, as their reforms led to the city being something of a tourist trap. But they are admired there nonetheless. At some point, a statue of the Bill and Barry was built in the town square of Mechanicsburg.
In their travels, the Heterodyne Boys helped to establish town councils that could govern long-term. Their work helped change the public image of the Heterodyne name, as the house's association with villainy was overshadowed by the charity of Bill and Barry.
All across the European continent, stories of their exploits called "Heterodyne stories" are spread. Many of these are preformed by travelling actors in what are called "Heterodyne shows". The historical accuracy of these tales differs from story to story; one titled The Heterodyne Boys and the Race to the West Pole is noted as being largely based in truth, while another called The Heterodyne Boys and the Dragon from Mars is purely fictional. These stories often take liberties with characterization; Punch & Judy are depicted as dumb, Lucrezia as genuinely turning to good, and Klaus as a target of slapstick comedy. The shows are a popular entertainment for the common people of Europa. They're often read as bedtime stories for children. In fact, Agatha Heterodyne was quite familiar with the stories before she learned about her heritage.
Powers and Abilities[]
While they aren't the stars of the comic, we do know about some of their abilities:
- The Spark: The Heterodyne Boys, like all their ancestors, were Sparks. They had superhuman intelligence and heightened intuition. They were noted to have made very human-like biological constructs in their youth, and were also known to have made many machines to aid in their heroics.
- Physical ability: If the stories are any indication, the Boys were quite physically active. Dimo noted (Vol. 16 p. 70) that Bill was "more stitches den [sic] skin" from his adventures; whether this is hyperbole or not, it still shows he could take a lot of hits.
Trivia[]
- The concept for the Heterodyne Boys was recycled from Phil Foglio's older work. Phil used to do side-stories for the comic series Grimjack in the 1980s. In Grimjack issue #40 (November 1987), Phil did a side-story titled Bill and Barry - The Heterodyne Boys, which was mostly an affectionate parody of 1930s pulp stories. The idea of Agatha being their daughter was in the original draft for Girl Genius, but as Phil and Kaja had more ideas, the concept for the boys became less like that of the old 1980s comic. The old comic can be found on the Girl Genius website, re-uploaded by Phil and Kaja.
- Phil got the names for the "original" Heterodyne Boys - and by extention the ones from Girl Genius - from two of his real-world scientist friends, Bill Higgins and Barry Gehm.
External Links[]
- The Heterodyne Boys on the Girl Genius Wiki.
- William Heterodyne on the Girl Genius Wiki.
- Barry Heterodyne on the Girl Genius Wiki.
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