In September, we told you about Riese, the astonishingly good-looking new steampunk web series co-created and executive produced by Foundation Visual Art & Design grad Ryan Copple.

Riese‘s first episode hit this week to some fanfare and a lot of positive buzz. (Watch it here.) In fact, it’s gotten a writeup at NYTimes.com (by way of GigaOM) called Dr. Horrible-Sized Budget Creates Steampunk World of Riese – a reference to Joss Whedon‘s Emmy-winning web musical comedy. One of the stars of Dr. Horrible, Felicia Day (who also happens to be behind the insanely popular web series The Guild) tweeted some kind words about Riese yesterday. It’s been a good week.

The first episode is a great prologue before we get to dive deeper into Riese‘s world, and really shows the care with which Ryan and crew are approaching the series. Check it out!

Riese – Official Site
Watch Riese Episodes
VFS Blog: Foundation Grad Goes Steampunk