And that, as they say, is that.
Well.
Huh.
I have been doing this for so long that I find myself somewhat at a loss for words. For the last six months or so, I have been very focused on finally finishing Digger’s unexpectedly epic journey (some of you undoubtedly remember those first five pages, and my constant refrain that I was just doodling and not to get attached!) but I didn’t actually spend much time thinking about what to say once I did.
I guess the only thing to say is “Thank you!” So many readers have given me so much encouragement and support and time over the years that I won’t even try to name them all. I’d say it has been a labor of love, but that’s both a cliche and doesn’t really cover the obsession and stubbornness and the desire to prove that I really COULD finish a giant project, damnit, and the vague fear that if I just stopped in mid-comic, I would be hunted by an angry mob, which all factors. Also, love.
The final print volume of Digger should be available from Sofawolf Press later this year. I’ll put up a post here, and of course the comic will remain up as long as the hosts are willing to host it.
Possibly I’ll have something clever to say in a few days, in which case I’ll put up a post or something, but right now, about all I got is…dude. 759 pages. How ’bout that?
Wow, fantastic. Really. Glad I discovered this when I did. OF course, I’d love more, but who wouldn’t? A fitting ending, and I can’t wait for your next work.
Wow, congratulations.
It’s been a great ride, and I’m sure I will keep my bookmark for many happy rereads to come – as well as buying the final volume when it comes out! 😀
Thanks for telling this story. It’s become one of my favorites.
Ooh, and I get to say it this time! Vote!
I always feel a little let down when a comic Ends. It’s sorta like a death, sadder in some ways than the infinite Hiatus end to a comic, ’cause then you are always hoping.
Looking forward to your next comic, and hopefully it is as good as this one was.
All I have to say is: thank you! It has been a pleasure reading. 🙂 Please, feel encourage to tell other great epics like this!
Aw, it’s over?
Bye bye, Digger! You’re one of my favorite webcomics!
Well, I thought it was a good end. It wrapped up the main story, tells us the main characters’ intended fates, but doesn’t preclude further stories.
IN ANY CASE! I’m just glad you didn’t try to go on forever. It’s so easy to ‘run out of story’ if you try to do that, only a handful of authors have avoided that. Others… Well, jump the shark and are never as good.
Allie: you’re right. The comments add to the story, just like the letter column of some print comics adds to the story. Reading a story in tiny bites over time gives people time to discuss what’s happening. (Perhaps too much, sometimes…)
This is actually a fine place to end a long and wonderful story: congratulations to Ursula. The journey home is, after all, just a journey home, no matter how strange it is…and having a relative you thought was dead suddenly appear is great until you realize they’ll be sleeping on your couch. I wrote “After The Fall” because what happened on page 898 rang false to me.
Part of me is really sad it’s over, but most of me is really happy for Ursula’s achievement. Ursula, this comic is hands-down my favorite webcomic, and congratulations on completing it. Thank you so much for sharing this with us!
Wuh. That was like getting to the top of a stairway one step before you expected it to end. A good way to avoid anticlimax (‘Well, I’m back.’) but it’s hard to let go, y’know? So congratulations and many thanks, as everyone’s been saying.
I’ll certainly finish my collection with volume 6 when it comes out–soon, I hope. Maybe at Anthrocon in June?
*STANDING OVATION*
Treesong said it about the way I felt it – sort of a sudden hollow feeling…..
Ursula, all I can say is WOW – what a long strange trip it’s been 😉
Thank you for bringing us along for the ride!
Thanks Ursula, I look forward to buying vol 6 when it comes out. I really enjoyed Digger, thanks for all your hard work!
Farewell, dear wombat: may your pick never grow blunt, and may your tunnels endure……. 7;=e
Thank you for introducing us all to this most remarkable of wombats.
Thank you Ursula Vernon! I’m gonna miss Digger.
Just want to chime in on this flood of gratitude, congratulations, and wistful goodbyes. Well done, Ursula!!
Ursula, thank you so very much for letting the story end.
I’ve seen too many excellent stories ruined by creators that couldn’t let go of their creations.
Excellent art, wonderful characters, superb story.
I’m going to miss it, but…
Thank you for letting it end.
I’d go on, but I don’t want Bone Claw Mother to come out and do the Thing at me.
If you have another story, I eagerly await it.
*insert heartfelt standing ovation here*
And a sincere cry of “Encore!”
Aww, it still feels kinda unfinished to me. I coulda gone for some anticlimax.
I guess now I can imagine what the hyenas have to say about Ed, and how the trip with Trader Manuel goes, and how Digger’s folks react to her unexpected return, and whether they really have rented out her room and whether all the good jobs are really gone. And that’s nothing to sneeze at, even if I’d rather have seen it done by Ursula. :-}
Nicely done, and a fun ride from beginning to end.
I hopped on during the Cold Servant attack. I’ve yet to regret any time spent reading this. It was wonderful and quirky and awesome. Great job and thank you.
This is actually making me regret being in Costa Rica without internet for the past 10 days. It means I missed… THIS! But… I think it was better reading those last four or five pages all at once. I broke into an uncontrolable smile, then squeeled when I saw the “the end”. Thank you, Ursula. This was my first ever webcomic, and it was an honor to read it for the past year or so.
It’s been an absolutely amazing ride. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Thank you so much for this comic. I’ve been following for a few years and I’m going to miss Digger now that it’s ended, the unique heroine and all the other characters, as well as the unique storytelling. It’s been wonderful 🙂
While it pains me to have to say goodbye to Digger, I am so happy she will be able to go home.
Thank you Urula Vernon, thank you. You have given us all a great gift, a gift of laughter, a gift of tears, a gift of wonder, sorrow, joy, and even wisdom.
Digger has been, and will always be, something special in this world and the world is richer for her.
Again, from the bottom of my heart,I thank you.
Well. it’s been a bit of a rush for the last times and the end was quite sudden.
Kind of many things left open. Ursula, Are you leaving room for a Digger trilogy? 😉
All in all it has been a great epic story and I enjoyed all of it, good and bad moments. Thanks for it all.
And BIG {{hug}} to Crocuta sapiens for the alternate text!
Sorry, but I feel I have to say it…
As much as I love Ursula’s art & stories in general and Digger in particular, this was a weak ending, it feels rushed and, in my opinion, just isn’t up to her usual high level of quality.
I know I’m just one person and my opinion means less than nothing to anyone else, but I’m disappointed in how this great story was ended.
@JewelWolf
*groans*
It that was your first webcomic, I wish you good luck in finding many more up to the level of Digger.
Muhahahahaa!!!!
aw, man, am i going to miss this. thank you so much for writing digger, truly one of the best webcomics around.
I always feel sad at the end of a story. Even the happily ever after of the Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings and others leave me with a pang in my heart. I reread the entire archive, and I have to admit I will miss this work. It gave me a wonderful read during the off days of the other webcomics, but more importantly, the compelling characters, fleshed out storyline and delicious dialog really made it a fun journey. Much joy and much sadness all at the same time. Magnificent.
Well dang! I hadn’t expected the end to arrive quite so quickly…but of course, dragging out the goodbyes and such would have diluted the emotional whammy of the climax. So, wow, okay then.
Thank you, Ursula, for this long, strange, but wonderful trip. I’ll look forward to re-reading it all on the printed page (a different and less communal experience than the web, to be sure, but more immersive).
…though I’m still waiting for anything beyond Vol. 3 to make it to Amazon. *discreet cough*
Thanks for this wonderful and moving story. I feel a little bit sad to see this ending, but stories must comme to and end ^_^
@Marrock – you know, if this had been primarily Ed’s story, or Murai’s, or the Shadowchild’s or Grimeyes’ or just about anyone else’s, I’d have to agree with you. But as Digger’s story – well, all Digger ever wanted was to do right by her friends and to get home. She doesn’t need and wouldn’t want fanfare, and the confirmation that she is going to be able to get back to her warren and an acknowledgment of her fundamental wombat-ness seems like a very apt way to end the story.
I’ve been reading Digger religiously ever since it was the ‘megascribble experiment’; you are a born storyteller. Every Tuesday and Thursday is going to have an conspicuous hole in it for a long while.
I’m gonna go back to the beginning now, bookmark it, and re-read the whole thing.
And then later, when I have some coin to burn, I’m gonna buy the books. 🙂
Bravo. Applause. And, here at the end, we have only Warren Zevon’s words:
Requiescat In Pace, and that’s all she wrote.
@jassius: Thank you! I”m glad you enjoyed it.
I figured I wasn’t the only one who wanted to hear more about what happened with Boneclaw Mother, Grim Eyes, and the rest of the hyenas…but since Ursula didn’t tell us, I had to write it myself.
Between the biweekly installments and the comments, experiencing Digger has been less like reading and more like a twenty-first-century version of gathering around the fire night by night to share the sort of story that gives one heart for the days to come.
initially i was angry at the sudden ending, but upon further reflections, this was the perfect way to end it. i’m super sad we won’t be hearing about digger’s adventures anymore, but i look forward to rereading/re-experiencing the story again 🙂
thank you so much for this epic, uh, epic! much love <3
From the very bottom of my heart ……….
Thank You for the great story and I wish you luck in all your future projects
This has been one of my favorite webcomics, heck, one of my favorite comics in general, since it started. I am sorry to see it go. Brilliant work, Ursula. At turns very funny, creative, moving, and just plain quirky. Will have to order the rest of the print versions soon so I can reread this. Hope you do more comics in the future.
Remember Tunnel 17!
Another one ends. *sighs* One of the best stories i have read over the years ends. Thank you for that great epic. Note me down for the book please. One question stands thought: After so many years of digger wehat will you do with all the spare time?
And hel yeah “Remember Tunnel 17!”
Thank you, Ursula, for a wonderful tale. Amazing, isn’t it, how tales “grow with the telling”. I think you ended it very well. Anything more would probably be redundant.
I found Digger about 2/3s of the way through. Right off, I was hooked, and read the entire archive in a couple of days. Now I can do the same for the entire story. Reading it as a twice-a-week serial is okay, but I really prefer the un-interrupted form of the archive trawl. One of these days, when I’ve got some spare cash, I’ll be buying the books. Even better than the archive trawl. It’s so hard to curl up with a computer. 🙂
Once again, thank you for a delightful story. I look forward to your next project!
My heart just sank.
It’s over.
But…. it’s so great… I am definitely going to buy this.
Congratulations to you, Ursula, and a job so well done I cannot compare it to anything else.
Ursula Vernon!
I salute you in an unneccesarily formal way, and wish you the best of well-beings. I love what you have done here, and though the ending of an epic this size is sad, I think you ended it very well. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. This is truly memorable.
Thank you Ursula. It was a joy to read.
Of course now I could post a link to the beginning for those people who don’t like reading things that don’t have an end.
<3
I’m gonna miss Digger, Grim -Eyes, and Boneclaw Mother most of all. Goodbye, Little Mother Of Earthquakes. May your pick never break.
Technically, there’s no more reason to keep Digger in my Morning Coffee (Firefox extension that allows opening a bunch of web pages in tabs with one button press, depending on the scheduling: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/morning-coffee/ ) list, but I can’t really bring myself to remove it just yet.
Like most others, I’m sad it’s over, but I understand that there’s more to life than creating a webcomic, and I do appreciate that there is an end instead of just letting the comic drift off into boring crud, or just one day deciding “eh, screw this” without saying a word to the readership. It was a heck of a ride while it lasted, though. 🙂
You are a fantastic author, one of the top on my list. I’ll always have quotes from digger burned in my mind.