huh. Every segment of society has its own way to honor and remember their ancestors. Why do none seem sufficient in this case? Perhaps some honor, some remember, but none but digger-mousie is truly able and willing to do both. Maybe someone will write an epic poem, or a biography, or just tell his story with neat little black and white pictures …
You people do realize what happens when someone is loved and honored for centuries upon centuries, right?
I’vejust had a vision of another wombat centuries from now ending up in the same region and saying, “Oh, blood and shale, I’m not going to have to deal with a nameless god like in that old story, am I?” Cue ancient voice from beyond the mortal realm saying, “Has… a… name…”
I still love the idea idea of a tribe covered entirely in fur having a tradition of tattoo artists. It didn’t really hit me until I started wondering why the Skins kept calling it a “secret painting.”
So, if Ed was supplied with a shadow, would he be resurected? I think I see a certain symmetry developing-, but small and humble not large and powerful, good shadow, not evil.
Ed died from impact trauma not shadow deficiency. I thought the trip out to Quartzclaw caverns would start in a month, or is the trip itself going to take a year. Ewww, Ed would be awfully stinky by then.
“He will be loved” just about broke my heart. The skins, weeping…
This is having to move on before you’re ready, before resignation has a chance to turn into acceptance. Even though others are taking on the physical burden that you cannot, they can’t shoulder the emotional burden.
Digger will be carrying Ed for years to come – perhaps for the rest of her life; at first as a shadow on her own heart, but later as a light within it.
(Vote! We’re up to 33 now. Go, borrow your brother’s computer, your aunt’s, your crazed neighbors’ computer! Go vote on every computer in your school that has Net access! *rawr*)
Also: The pain here is of breaking the inertia of grief. Moving on hurts as much as dwelling on the pain.
Panel two: is this a genuine facepalm? Do I add it to the list?
The emotional tone is still overwhelmingly laden with grief, of course. But there’s an element here of frustrated acceptance – or maybe surrender is the better word – that seems to be appropriate to a facepalm. The humor element is entirely missing, though; so I’m just not sure whether this qualifies as a facepalm or not.
@TekServer: I think it’s closer than the last one, but still not quite there–more “rub face while thinking” than “smack face to keep from smacking someone else”.
But this time I can easily see how others would disagree. I was much more certain about the last one.
I still kinda think Ed would like his liver carried upstairs–but also that he would understand that doing so would be just too hard for Digger. Especially since there’s a good chance the tribe would just reject it anyway, and then she’d’ve cut up a friend for nothing.
Clay, I think that Digger is so much better then Bear Nuts that people will find it and know that. generally vote for the ones that beg for the vote like Precocious. But with all the asking in this forum, I will do so now.
C. Sapiens, and BiggerJ, you are both geniuses. Thank you for your remarks. So the heart of the God turned into a kingfisher.
No face palm, that is a forehead hit and this is to the side. Also agree with Madam atom’s reasons.
Tek- I’m with Barry. I think she is hiding tears. I don’t think it’s a true facepalm.
I don’t think we’re quite done with Ed. I don’t think he’s getting resurrected especially if the Skins are going to take him. What would be there for him to return to. I do think we might see Ed in Spirit form one last time before this is done.
Digger is the first Web comic that I’ve ever followed. Since meeting Digger and all her pals and voting for her I have been introduced to many other web comics. They are all great, wonderful displays of art, but Ursula is just amazing all around. Her story is king, her characters are wonderful , her art is beyond amazing. This comic deserves so much more recognition than it gets. I really hope that the Gospel According to Digger is being spread. This is a class act story.
Time for those when she gets out and Boneclaw mother tells Digger:
“After what happened we need to have a BIG ceremony to honour and restore him, so. Where is the liver?”
I’m wondering if we’re going to get a visit from Helix. I’m also wondering if Jhalm has done what he thinks he has to, or has seen the error of his ways. Either way, I wouldn’t count on knowing what’s going on topside until we’ve resolved Ed…. it just wouldn’t seem right to cut away and back, would it?
Poor Digger. At times like these, people (and wombats too I suppose) often are in a dream-like state, nothing seems real. But Digger seems to be doing OK.
I think Grim Eyes is going to come to terms with how much Ed has really done for her. When the reality hits Grim Eyes, I’m not sure she’ll be ready to deal with it. I don’t think she knows or has ever been told the true story of what happened between her folks.
Yup. Feet-on-the ground (or feet-under-the-ground) Digger makes the sensible decision. It is not that she doesn’t feel the emotion, it is just that she doesn’t let emotion get in the way of digging straight and propping well.
Considering who raised GrimEyes (which I beleive would be her aunt) I’d be willing to bet that not only has she not been told the whole story, but has likely been outright lied too; especially about the ultimate reason behind Ed’s crime.
*saddest face*
…It’s fitting, though. He’s not a person up there. Even if she *could* bring him back, she’s right–he wouldn’t be honoured, he wouldn’t be loved. And the skin lizards, bizarre as it is, will honour him as a person.
How about if there are rescuers (or busybodies) from the surface, and the group includes Grim Eyes? She might undergo an epiphany and take some liver back to the tribe, leaving the skins to take care of the rest.
Okay, it looks like we have a general consensus, then: not a facepalm. (I was already leaning that way myself … )
Boy, Digger’s foundation has taken a heck of a tremor. She seems to be holding up as well as could be expected, but I bet she could use some additional bracing.
@BiggerJ – I love your comment, but really do hope that another wombat doesn’t get stuck in Digger’s position.
…unLESS that young wombat makes a glorious trek down, down into an unusual cavern, and hears a familiar ethereal disgruntled muttering…aaaand up pops a snarky old wombat ghost who tells the young’un to pack extra crampons for the trip. (“…What trip?” “The one that’s coming, if I know Ganesh.”)
There’s been considerable discussion over the last few months about Jhalm and/or Grim Eyes showing up down here, but remember that Digger is experienced with finding her way underground, and TWICE has needed the help of the skins to find this place. True, with a fresh scent trail it’s possible the hyenas could follow her (though Ed said the scents down there were all weird, and like cold metal). But I have a hard time imagining that Jhalm and friends would have much luck even finding their way to where Digger is.
why can’t the skins just help digger carry Ed back out ……………..it’s more then just them right couldn’t be that hard to have them help bring the body up to the surface and skin him there it he’s not going to rot that fast.
@ Waffles I’d say her aunt and Boneclaw Mother (who I personally suspect to be not her grandmother but her great-aunt, but that’s my personal Epileptic Tree, based solely on just how bitter Boneclaw seemed towards Bloodmare, which tallies nicely my own experience of that special fratricidal [or sororicidal] species of resentment found only in deep family feuds, and is pure Wild Mass Guessing) may have both tried to raise her, and given that she seems to be as good a well-balanced person as could have been hoped for given the circumstances, I’d say she probably leans more towards Boneclaw, and so knows full well the truth of the matter.
Weather she Likes it, or has properly come to terms with it is another matter altogether.
I also bet one internet that Digger takes a look at the secret painting on Ed’s fur, and finds that it’s a picture of Grim-eyes as a child, and cries.
“After it is bones, after all real people are bones, after all names are eaten, someone will find pictures, maybe. Will not matter then that it doesn’t have a name. Someone will remember pictures.”
Ed’s own words. In a way, that is what the skins are giving him. It might be weird and a bit creepy for most people, to have their skin kept after death, but really. Ed’s tribe did their very best (and by their ways, the only way) to ensure that nothing of Ed would survive.
He never cared about being remembered personally, not once his tribe ate his name. But to leave an indelible mark on the world that would persist until all punishments became meaningless…
“an herbivore”
I do like that Digger can speak English. I daresay that it’s pretty unfashionable, but whenever I come across what I suspect is bad grammar rather than a character’s true “voice” whilst reading, it snags the flow… sets up little annoying interference patterns in one’s enjoyment of the process of reading + imagination = story.
I agree with MadamA: nice quotation, Rivalyn.
Called it.
I foresaw Digger giving us another begrudging facepaw in this page… and I was not disappointed!
ουκ εστιν ωδε….
I foresee a resurrection! Perhaps Ed shall continue…
Cause, or effect?
http://www.diggercomic.com/?p=221
Also, I sense a cut to happenings above-ground.
*sad face* *saddest face*
Go say goodbye, Digger.
“Oh no! A sad face! The saddest face!!”
Mind, I’m willing to bet that the skins know which bit is the liver, if she wanted to bring him back to the tribe…
huh. Every segment of society has its own way to honor and remember their ancestors. Why do none seem sufficient in this case? Perhaps some honor, some remember, but none but digger-mousie is truly able and willing to do both. Maybe someone will write an epic poem, or a biography, or just tell his story with neat little black and white pictures …
Saying goodbye without a burial always sucks.. 🙁
I hope one of the next pages has an owl, kingfisher, deer, tapirs and butterflies…
*sad face*
You people do realize what happens when someone is loved and honored for centuries upon centuries, right?
I’vejust had a vision of another wombat centuries from now ending up in the same region and saying, “Oh, blood and shale, I’m not going to have to deal with a nameless god like in that old story, am I?” Cue ancient voice from beyond the mortal realm saying, “Has… a… name…”
Has a name. Name is Ed.
I feel so sorry for Digger right now, with the decision she has to make…
Too bad for Plan A: “shove the liver down some throats”.
Cue plan B: “work here is done, walk back to the surface, don’t bother answering questions” 🙄
Time to vote:
http://topwebcomics.com/vote/10180/default.aspx
At the time of tis posting Digger is at the 35 postitio. Come on people lets get the word out. Don’t you think Digger is better then Bear Nuts?
GO VOTE: http://topwebcomics.com/gpages/default.aspx?id=10180
I still love the idea idea of a tribe covered entirely in fur having a tradition of tattoo artists. It didn’t really hit me until I started wondering why the Skins kept calling it a “secret painting.”
Pragmatism hurts as much as anything else.
So, if Ed was supplied with a shadow, would he be resurected? I think I see a certain symmetry developing-, but small and humble not large and powerful, good shadow, not evil.
Ed died from impact trauma not shadow deficiency. I thought the trip out to Quartzclaw caverns would start in a month, or is the trip itself going to take a year. Ewww, Ed would be awfully stinky by then.
“He will be loved” just about broke my heart. The skins, weeping…
This is having to move on before you’re ready, before resignation has a chance to turn into acceptance. Even though others are taking on the physical burden that you cannot, they can’t shoulder the emotional burden.
Digger will be carrying Ed for years to come – perhaps for the rest of her life; at first as a shadow on her own heart, but later as a light within it.
god dammit uv you are so good at this
(Vote! We’re up to 33 now. Go, borrow your brother’s computer, your aunt’s, your crazed neighbors’ computer! Go vote on every computer in your school that has Net access! *rawr*)
Also: The pain here is of breaking the inertia of grief. Moving on hurts as much as dwelling on the pain.
Okay, I need some help from the audience.
Panel two: is this a genuine facepalm? Do I add it to the list?
The emotional tone is still overwhelmingly laden with grief, of course. But there’s an element here of frustrated acceptance – or maybe surrender is the better word – that seems to be appropriate to a facepalm. The humor element is entirely missing, though; so I’m just not sure whether this qualifies as a facepalm or not.
Thanks in advance for weighing in!
Voting is good, but BUY THE BOOKS WHEN THEY COME OUT!
Like Yakko Warner used to say, “Change is good. Dollars are better.”
@TekServer: I think it’s closer than the last one, but still not quite there–more “rub face while thinking” than “smack face to keep from smacking someone else”.
But this time I can easily see how others would disagree. I was much more certain about the last one.
I still kinda think Ed would like his liver carried upstairs–but also that he would understand that doing so would be just too hard for Digger. Especially since there’s a good chance the tribe would just reject it anyway, and then she’d’ve cut up a friend for nothing.
Tek, I see it more as wiping a tear than as a facepalm, FWIW.
Tekserver — I think it’s Digger wiping her eyes.
just make they eat his liver
Clay, I think that Digger is so much better then Bear Nuts that people will find it and know that. generally vote for the ones that beg for the vote like Precocious. But with all the asking in this forum, I will do so now.
C. Sapiens, and BiggerJ, you are both geniuses. Thank you for your remarks. So the heart of the God turned into a kingfisher.
No face palm, that is a forehead hit and this is to the side. Also agree with Madam atom’s reasons.
Tek- I’m with Barry. I think she is hiding tears. I don’t think it’s a true facepalm.
I don’t think we’re quite done with Ed. I don’t think he’s getting resurrected especially if the Skins are going to take him. What would be there for him to return to. I do think we might see Ed in Spirit form one last time before this is done.
Digger is the first Web comic that I’ve ever followed. Since meeting Digger and all her pals and voting for her I have been introduced to many other web comics. They are all great, wonderful displays of art, but Ursula is just amazing all around. Her story is king, her characters are wonderful , her art is beyond amazing. This comic deserves so much more recognition than it gets. I really hope that the Gospel According to Digger is being spread. This is a class act story.
I agree. Not a facepalm for me either.
Time for those when she gets out and Boneclaw mother tells Digger:
“After what happened we need to have a BIG ceremony to honour and restore him, so. Where is the liver?”
“Cut his liver out and shove it down GrimEye’s throat?”
That would be rather appropriate, considering Ed’s relationship to her. Although, probably a lot more healing for her if she were to do it willingly.
Definitely not a face palm. This is sorrow, not disgust.
I’m wondering if we’re going to get a visit from Helix. I’m also wondering if Jhalm has done what he thinks he has to, or has seen the error of his ways. Either way, I wouldn’t count on knowing what’s going on topside until we’ve resolved Ed…. it just wouldn’t seem right to cut away and back, would it?
Poor Digger. At times like these, people (and wombats too I suppose) often are in a dream-like state, nothing seems real. But Digger seems to be doing OK.
I think Grim Eyes is going to come to terms with how much Ed has really done for her. When the reality hits Grim Eyes, I’m not sure she’ll be ready to deal with it. I don’t think she knows or has ever been told the true story of what happened between her folks.
Yup. Feet-on-the ground (or feet-under-the-ground) Digger makes the sensible decision. It is not that she doesn’t feel the emotion, it is just that she doesn’t let emotion get in the way of digging straight and propping well.
Considering who raised GrimEyes (which I beleive would be her aunt) I’d be willing to bet that not only has she not been told the whole story, but has likely been outright lied too; especially about the ultimate reason behind Ed’s crime.
*saddest face*
…It’s fitting, though. He’s not a person up there. Even if she *could* bring him back, she’s right–he wouldn’t be honoured, he wouldn’t be loved. And the skin lizards, bizarre as it is, will honour him as a person.
@BiggerJ: Dibs on the apotheosis……… 7@=e
http://www.diggercomic.com/?p=881
How about if there are rescuers (or busybodies) from the surface, and the group includes Grim Eyes? She might undergo an epiphany and take some liver back to the tribe, leaving the skins to take care of the rest.
Poor Digger *hugs her* Poor Ed! *hugs him…and then huddles in ball*
Okay, it looks like we have a general consensus, then: not a facepalm. (I was already leaning that way myself … )
Boy, Digger’s foundation has taken a heck of a tremor. She seems to be holding up as well as could be expected, but I bet she could use some additional bracing.
😉
@BiggerJ – I love your comment, but really do hope that another wombat doesn’t get stuck in Digger’s position.
…unLESS that young wombat makes a glorious trek down, down into an unusual cavern, and hears a familiar ethereal disgruntled muttering…aaaand up pops a snarky old wombat ghost who tells the young’un to pack extra crampons for the trip. (“…What trip?” “The one that’s coming, if I know Ganesh.”)
There’s been considerable discussion over the last few months about Jhalm and/or Grim Eyes showing up down here, but remember that Digger is experienced with finding her way underground, and TWICE has needed the help of the skins to find this place. True, with a fresh scent trail it’s possible the hyenas could follow her (though Ed said the scents down there were all weird, and like cold metal). But I have a hard time imagining that Jhalm and friends would have much luck even finding their way to where Digger is.
why can’t the skins just help digger carry Ed back out ……………..it’s more then just them right couldn’t be that hard to have them help bring the body up to the surface and skin him there it he’s not going to rot that fast.
One must be practical about these things
@ Waffles I’d say her aunt and Boneclaw Mother (who I personally suspect to be not her grandmother but her great-aunt, but that’s my personal Epileptic Tree, based solely on just how bitter Boneclaw seemed towards Bloodmare, which tallies nicely my own experience of that special fratricidal [or sororicidal] species of resentment found only in deep family feuds, and is pure Wild Mass Guessing) may have both tried to raise her, and given that she seems to be as good a well-balanced person as could have been hoped for given the circumstances, I’d say she probably leans more towards Boneclaw, and so knows full well the truth of the matter.
Weather she Likes it, or has properly come to terms with it is another matter altogether.
I also bet one internet that Digger takes a look at the secret painting on Ed’s fur, and finds that it’s a picture of Grim-eyes as a child, and cries.
“After it is bones, after all real people are bones, after all names are eaten, someone will find pictures, maybe. Will not matter then that it doesn’t have a name. Someone will remember pictures.”
Ed’s own words. In a way, that is what the skins are giving him. It might be weird and a bit creepy for most people, to have their skin kept after death, but really. Ed’s tribe did their very best (and by their ways, the only way) to ensure that nothing of Ed would survive.
He never cared about being remembered personally, not once his tribe ate his name. But to leave an indelible mark on the world that would persist until all punishments became meaningless…
@Rivalyn: Well done, and thank you; I’d forgotten that bit.
“an herbivore”
I do like that Digger can speak English. I daresay that it’s pretty unfashionable, but whenever I come across what I suspect is bad grammar rather than a character’s true “voice” whilst reading, it snags the flow… sets up little annoying interference patterns in one’s enjoyment of the process of reading + imagination = story.
I agree with MadamA: nice quotation, Rivalyn.