It makes sense

The Foglio's true talent is in fun pulpy worldbuilding and stories centered around a cool concept.

The weakness of Girl Genius is that they try to apply those skills/inclinations to an overarching story, leading to frustratingly slow pacing as the story has to stop for 30 pages so Agatha and CO can learn about the Immortal Library or whatever.

These side-stories don't need to be advancing the main plot, or any of the countless subplots the story is juggling, so they get to be smooth, well-paced, and focused.