Ed, yestercomic I mourned with song that your flame went out, as all eventually do.
Tonight, this comic, I raise my finest glass of vodka in your honour.
Ursula, you have touched many of us here, me included with the beautifull story you’ve been telling. Please go on being awesome, for it is the sign of a great writer that you’re able to touch so many of us.
I must say, these last two pages have been the most powerful two pages of anything I have ever read. Dostoevsky has made me weep and Hugo has made me rage, but Ursula Vernon has made me mourn and that is something no writer has ever before been able to inspire in me. And for that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing this story with us all, Ursula.
See, Ian Sattler? THIS is how you lend “weight and emotion” to a character death. Not by picking the most lovable and innocent character to kill off so her father can turn into an angsting, brooding psychopath who beats people up with a dead cat.
Brings to my mind (at the moment) a scene of Ed being borne back to his tribe’s camp in state to be “buried like a person” or whatever Hyenas do for heroes who free their major deities from evil influences.
There is certanly a lot of ceremony to be done and liver to be split, whether the tribe wants to or not.
And if it finally comes to that I suspect Boneclaw mother would take Digger’s side.
@Lunah – excellent find. “Skins: ‘heart became kingfisher, soul became owl'” That seems to make it less likely that the kingfisher was Ed as opposed to the god’s heart… one the other hand, Ed was all heart, so I’m still not 100%.
Doesn’t anyone feel the slightest bit sorry for the god, who’s been imprisoned against his will for thousands of years, and now is finally free, and led Digger to Ed’s body…only to be told to bugger off?
Sorry, I can’t think of Charlie Brown or Woodstock, or quotes, or kingfishers or anything else. The only think I keep thinking about is that four pages ago Ed was here… and now he’s just not.
Christ, this is the fourth time I’ve teared up over this.
Totaly off topic, Ursula, The first frame http://www.diggercomic.com/?p=3 of this series is so hilarious to me, it makes me smile every time I open this thread! You have done a wonderful job with Digger!
Took me a while to notice, but with the way her head-fur is sticking up, Digger looks a bit kingfisher-y herself in the first panel. Think that means anything?
I still see the makings of a trilogy in the storyline. You may find,like Tolkien and Roddenberry, that you have created something that won`t let go of you.
FWIW, I have not added this page to the compiled list of facepalms. Although the gesture is right in the first panel, the emotional tone is all wrong for a true facepalm. There is no humorous element (aside from the later parallel to Snoopy & Woodstock, of course, but that’s entirely irrelevant here), and the overriding emotion in Digger is grief, not frustration. Ergo, not a true facepalm.
(I’m willing to be argued with, though, if someone has a different opinion on this.)
Nah, I’m with you, TekServer. That’s not a facepalm, that’s covering the eyes while weeping. They’d look like totally different actions if animated rather than condensed into one panel.
well……now this is a problem how do you get out of a dark cave that you don’t know well while carrying a body (maybe) and keep it from becoming incredibly sad or creepy moment Ala …………..”Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia”.
talking to the dead is a lot easier when you don’t see them : (
It occurs to me- the god was dead for a very long time, and we know what that looked like. But when a god is really and truely dead, for good and (possibly) ever, what is left over? What is the soul of a god?
After all, He-Is lost his name, and mortal hyenas believe that this has implications in the afterlife when it happens to them. If there is almost-soon-to-be nothing left of He-Was, what happens to the hyena who lost his name, and then became Ed?
I wonder if “hope is that thing with feathers” here too.
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Why would the god of the hyenas feel such an affinity for the kingfisher in particular?
@BunnyRock: I needed that, thanks. 🙂
I’ve already said this, but any musician who reads Digger HAS to write a song for this moment. And it shall be called “Requiem for a Hero.”
i fell very sad now and might be crying a bit
@JewelWolf: Musician no, parodist yes. I did my best. It’s over on Ursula’s blog because the server here seems to’ve choked on it. http://ursulav.livejournal.com/1413268.html?thread=42497940#t42497940
All I could think of was this quote;
“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.”
This certainly qualified. Thank you.
@MadamAtom
Possibly because the youtube link has triggered a trap here and will be held until Ursula checks the moderation queue.
Anyway, I saw it earlier. Read it while listening to the music from another browser tab and that was a great work you did.
Ed, yestercomic I mourned with song that your flame went out, as all eventually do.
Tonight, this comic, I raise my finest glass of vodka in your honour.
Ursula, you have touched many of us here, me included with the beautifull story you’ve been telling. Please go on being awesome, for it is the sign of a great writer that you’re able to touch so many of us.
http://www.diggercomic.com/?p=221
Maaaan. I feel like curling up in a corner and crying.
I must say, these last two pages have been the most powerful two pages of anything I have ever read. Dostoevsky has made me weep and Hugo has made me rage, but Ursula Vernon has made me mourn and that is something no writer has ever before been able to inspire in me. And for that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing this story with us all, Ursula.
You tell him, Digger-mousie.
Grr. Stupid Pyrrhic victories. 🙁
@Madam Atom – Your best is pretty damn good. I certainly found it a beautiful tribute to a beautiful soul
See, Ian Sattler? THIS is how you lend “weight and emotion” to a character death. Not by picking the most lovable and innocent character to kill off so her father can turn into an angsting, brooding psychopath who beats people up with a dead cat.
JewelWolf are you a Protomen fan? : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zniur_5NsfA
Brings to my mind (at the moment) a scene of Ed being borne back to his tribe’s camp in state to be “buried like a person” or whatever Hyenas do for heroes who free their major deities from evil influences.
I still want to see a ghost scene with Ed saying he’s ok now, and digger-mousie doesn’t need to worry.
There is certanly a lot of ceremony to be done and liver to be split, whether the tribe wants to or not.
And if it finally comes to that I suspect Boneclaw mother would take Digger’s side.
@JewelWolf: http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/271457 is a beautiful song that would fit something like this.
Of course she would, Jassius. She’s the kind who would give in to anything her daughters would ask of her.
@Lunah – excellent find. “Skins: ‘heart became kingfisher, soul became owl'” That seems to make it less likely that the kingfisher was Ed as opposed to the god’s heart… one the other hand, Ed was all heart, so I’m still not 100%.
Doesn’t anyone feel the slightest bit sorry for the god, who’s been imprisoned against his will for thousands of years, and now is finally free, and led Digger to Ed’s body…only to be told to bugger off?
Sorry, I can’t think of Charlie Brown or Woodstock, or quotes, or kingfishers or anything else. The only think I keep thinking about is that four pages ago Ed was here… and now he’s just not.
Christ, this is the fourth time I’ve teared up over this.
@Wolf – I wept, all over again, listening to that.
I have a lot of music to write, and a lot of singing to do.
I agree with Matt.
Totaly off topic, Ursula, The first frame http://www.diggercomic.com/?p=3 of this series is so hilarious to me, it makes me smile every time I open this thread! You have done a wonderful job with Digger!
You know, the kingfisher looked a little Ed-like. ‘S a good bird.
I’m gonna go cry now.
Beautiful minimalism in that last panel…… 7;=e
A god who can’t handle being told to bugger off is worth considerably *less* than one-tenth of Ed.
Took me a while to notice, but with the way her head-fur is sticking up, Digger looks a bit kingfisher-y herself in the first panel. Think that means anything?
“Bugger off” is so very very Australian, and i know this is not earth and all, but Ursula, you still have the vocab down pat for this one!
I still see the makings of a trilogy in the storyline. You may find,like Tolkien and Roddenberry, that you have created something that won`t let go of you.
FWIW, I have not added this page to the compiled list of facepalms. Although the gesture is right in the first panel, the emotional tone is all wrong for a true facepalm. There is no humorous element (aside from the later parallel to Snoopy & Woodstock, of course, but that’s entirely irrelevant here), and the overriding emotion in Digger is grief, not frustration. Ergo, not a true facepalm.
(I’m willing to be argued with, though, if someone has a different opinion on this.)
🙂
Nah, I’m with you, TekServer. That’s not a facepalm, that’s covering the eyes while weeping. They’d look like totally different actions if animated rather than condensed into one panel.
well……now this is a problem how do you get out of a dark cave that you don’t know well while carrying a body (maybe) and keep it from becoming incredibly sad or creepy moment Ala …………..”Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia”.
talking to the dead is a lot easier when you don’t see them : (
Okay, tears didn’t fall last page. My eyes just watered up and I stared in awestruck sorrow.
Now the tears are falling. Ed was worth more than any god.
Does anything bad happen to the males of the hyena species, now? o.o
What cn you say when you read something, and then hear your heart cracking into bits?
It occurs to me- the god was dead for a very long time, and we know what that looked like. But when a god is really and truely dead, for good and (possibly) ever, what is left over? What is the soul of a god?
After all, He-Is lost his name, and mortal hyenas believe that this has implications in the afterlife when it happens to them. If there is almost-soon-to-be nothing left of He-Was, what happens to the hyena who lost his name, and then became Ed?
I wonder if “hope is that thing with feathers” here too.
–
–
–
Why would the god of the hyenas feel such an affinity for the kingfisher in particular?
His comrades fought beside him, Van Owen and the rest
But of all the Thompson gunners, Roland was the best