What surprises me is the amount of time the typical fantasy/SF protagonist spends worrying about saving the world, as opposed to worrying about their mortgage!
What, she couldn’t just dig a new one? One presumes the burrow, therefore, is in a “city”, where space is at a premium, and densely populated enough one doesn’t just go digging into any convenient nearby wall.
@ fixman88: Don’t knock on Wood, he might get a concussion! 😛
On the comic: Well, wombat practicality to the – forefront. It’s not to the rescue exactly, is it.
This reminded me about the earlier comic (I don’t know how to link) where DIgger is getting Murai out of the crevasse and all, on their way up the mountain.
“Not everyone gets to go home” … Which appears to be a statement that Digger can regard with equal parts of sadness and relief. After all, at least for right now she isn’t having to face the “consequences” of her disappearance.
The first time I read this I thought it said, “On that happy note, Descending Helix demoralized our ragged band…
LOLZ
on another note: we don’t know why Digger left home. So it could be that everyone knew she wouldn’t be coming back for some time and, rather than assuming shes dead, kept all of her stuff in order while she was gone. Wouldn’t that be nice… Also does Digger know why she left?
I totally sympathized with Digger on the idea of having to move back in with her parents. As much as you might love your parents, it is demoralizing to have to move back home due to circumstances beyond your control.
This makes me wonder what the rules are for hyenas. How long does Bright Eyes have on this quest before people start eying her stuff?
Well, Digger did say that she was worried that the skin lizards at the start of the comic were the creatures that had attacked her warren, so I think that it can be assumed that she knows why she left– She just isn’t sure that there will be anything to go back to.
Maybe she and a small area were attacked while working, and she tunneled away and into the White Rabbit-ian hole?
A year and a day sounds suspiciously magical for down-under-the-earth Wombats, doesn’t it?
I bet she already left her things with relatives and friends, kind of a “keep this for me until I get back, but if I don’t come back you can have it.” Hyenas seem to be real optimists that way! 🙂
Dang it, I caught up. Ah well, thanks for a few evenings awesome comic reading. Digger is going on my list of favorite webcomics to keep an eye on.
I have to say I’m loving how you portray your characters,and I like that they all get to show a few different sides of their personality.
Please continue.
Suddenly our Digger is sounding rather young and vulnerable again. Not worrying about how to deal with the undead god but rather worrying about having to live with her parents again…
Well, the benefit of having a kid around is that you have someone to take care of, and to be wiser than. I feel amazingly competent and sensible when I’m around kids. 🙂
But in a way, it’s rather cheerful. Digger’s expecting the quest to end with her _alive_.
I just finished my first run through the archive and I loved every minute of it. At least I finished on a Wednesday so I’ll get a fix tomorrow before going back for a second read through. This comic is quite addictive.
I think I’d wind up as one of the humorous little lizards. So dkkauwe, you thinking that you’d *want* to be a wombat in this story, or that you’d *wind up* as one, or that you’d *most closely match* a wombat in this story?
@Rowanmdm Grim Eyes, not Bright Eyes. Confining those two would however have made the Art Garfunkel song in the middle of ”Watership Down” FAR more interesting. : )
@ KNO3 ( In my mind i have mentally labeled you “Saltpeter” because”Potassium Nitrate” is a bit of a mouthful and being very dyslexic I get uncomfortable when formulas invade my phonetic thinking and visa versa, hence why i cut all the text out of my six-form chemistry books and glued it into a separate book. it was all out of context but i could see the chemistry without troublesome words in the way and i got a high B so something must have worked. ) If that is a Monty Python reference I am most happy. Although to be honest larch is very resistant to rot, so good for any wooden structures that will be whole or partly buried as it resits damp and decay well. Very popular in Scythian /pazarak culture burial structures in Russia.
@Lica I know, Its a great pose.
One Year and a Day does seem a little short to my mind ‘though. Admittedly as Digger points out, the chances of someone lost underground surviving that long is pretty slim, where as someone lost at sea could at least in theory cling onto a handy bit of driftwood and end up on some foreign shore. I’d have expected something close to the seven-year mark from Diggers culture, although to be honest that’s conditioning from modern societies leaking into my reasoning again. At least they have a fixed period that prevents people stealing all their stuff the moment they vanish and gives relatives a definitive “we’d better put that tombstone up” point so they have some closure.
Oh, and as for what I’d end up as if i were in that ‘verse, although i’d love to be one of The People because statistical hunter gatherers have an excellent quality of life compared to farmers, who in a pre-industrial society have hard work, bad-food and poor health compared to hunter gatherers. Provided the farmers don’t decide to mess their lives up and as happened with nearly all hunter-gather groups still in existence today, being a hunter is far better for your health than pulling a plough or weeding all day. Plus there is a certain romance to it: the thrill of the hunt, the noble savage and that entire post-Georgian western fallacy tied up with idealizing that lifestyle. It’s better for you than farming but its not perfect. But I’m kidding no-one, not even myself. I obsess over minute technical details. I try to pan things out to minimize risk but I still pray to my self “please lord, if this screw up, can it at least be in a way than I can handle and endangers no-one”. I have the WW1 “don’t panic” instructions as a poster*. I know how to fill in a risk assessment form in four counties. I know how much I am insured for to cope with medical expenses abroad and how much my life is insured for. I know when I had my last tetanus shot (July, 2009). And I know how deep by law you can dig in the UK before you need bracing of some kind.
Like any archaeologist and anyone else in the hard-hat and hi-vis-waterproof owning classes, I cant deny I’ve got more of a wombat about me than hyena, and in a quiet way I’m proud about that.
* There a dozens of variations on this little aid. Most started appearing about 1915, and since then you can find similar ones everywhere. Mine is on a big poster in 1910’s style font
“All officers and Enlisted men to be serving in Europe or on any other front are to consider at all times the need for calm and effective reflection and the avoidance of panic. To this end the following considerations are to be noted:
One: You can at any time be in one of either two states: Combat or rest. If at rest there is no cause for panic.
Two: In combat you can be in either one of two places: a safe place or a dangerous place. If you are in a safe place there is no cause for panic.
Three: If you are in dangerous place you can be in either two states: Wounded or unharmed: If you are unharmed there is no cause for panic.
Four: If you are wounded it will be one of two things: Serious or slight. If it is slight there is no cause for panic.
Five: If your wound is serous one of two things will happen: You will either recover or you will die. If you recover there is no cause for panic. Under no circumstances does a British soldier give in to panic.”
…To be perfectly honest, I think my best match in this comic is something like Shadow’s current state. Being an adult with the heart of a child, every family gathering finds me with my youngest cousins, carefully encouraging their imagination as I was (and still am, occasionally) encouraged by my single mother.
Apparently I never tossed my $0.02 into this conversation regarding what I would be. A wombat is a little too obvious, though with 20 years of I.T. experience there’s more than a little of the engineer in me. I’m currently a family caregiver, so there’s a bit of the Hag in me as well.
But I think the best fit for me would be Librarian Vo. I could be heroic if I needed to be, but I’m much better suited to doing the research that helps the hero solve a problem they can’t hero their way through. ( In my I.T. days, I was often referred to by my co-workers as a “Google Guru” for my ability to wield search terms like a vorpal blade and cut snicker-snack through the ads and bad results to find the useful nuggets of information.)
😎
Well, it could always be worse (but hopefully won’t be, knock on wood)
Just like Bilbo coming back home to find all his possessions being auctioned…
What surprises me is the amount of time the typical fantasy/SF protagonist spends worrying about saving the world, as opposed to worrying about their mortgage!
What, she couldn’t just dig a new one? One presumes the burrow, therefore, is in a “city”, where space is at a premium, and densely populated enough one doesn’t just go digging into any convenient nearby wall.
Oh! Called it! Check Thursday’s comments, and I called all that! I feel special. ^_^
That’s a long way back home. Much longer that her way in through the tunnel if you want to avoid magic and such.
How long has it been since she arrived at this “crazy gods land” anyway?
@ fixman88: Don’t knock on Wood, he might get a concussion! 😛
On the comic: Well, wombat practicality to the – forefront. It’s not to the rescue exactly, is it.
This reminded me about the earlier comic (I don’t know how to link) where DIgger is getting Murai out of the crevasse and all, on their way up the mountain.
“Not everyone gets to go home” … Which appears to be a statement that Digger can regard with equal parts of sadness and relief. After all, at least for right now she isn’t having to face the “consequences” of her disappearance.
0.o Are those a pair of glowing eyes in the darkness just about the lower text box?
The first time I read this I thought it said, “On that happy note, Descending Helix demoralized our ragged band…
LOLZ
on another note: we don’t know why Digger left home. So it could be that everyone knew she wouldn’t be coming back for some time and, rather than assuming shes dead, kept all of her stuff in order while she was gone. Wouldn’t that be nice… Also does Digger know why she left?
*WILL NOW REVIEW FIRST PAGE OF DIGGER*
@12Many: I don’t think she planned to leave, it just happened when she dug into the magical one-way tunnel that led to the temple.
oh and fixman88 I agree with Hawk, it’s not nice knocking people ;P
Wow, home doesn’t sound quite so appealing anymore. It’s still home, though …
🙂
(Oh, and kudos to Wood on the Bilbo parallel!)
I totally sympathized with Digger on the idea of having to move back in with her parents. As much as you might love your parents, it is demoralizing to have to move back home due to circumstances beyond your control.
This makes me wonder what the rules are for hyenas. How long does Bright Eyes have on this quest before people start eying her stuff?
Well, Digger did say that she was worried that the skin lizards at the start of the comic were the creatures that had attacked her warren, so I think that it can be assumed that she knows why she left– She just isn’t sure that there will be anything to go back to.
Maybe she and a small area were attacked while working, and she tunneled away and into the White Rabbit-ian hole?
A year and a day sounds suspiciously magical for down-under-the-earth Wombats, doesn’t it?
I bet she already left her things with relatives and friends, kind of a “keep this for me until I get back, but if I don’t come back you can have it.” Hyenas seem to be real optimists that way! 🙂
Still my favorite webcomic. Keep up the good work.
It depends on which Wood you are knocking on. Some woods deserve it, like “the Larch.”
Dang it, I caught up. Ah well, thanks for a few evenings awesome comic reading. Digger is going on my list of favorite webcomics to keep an eye on.
I have to say I’m loving how you portray your characters,and I like that they all get to show a few different sides of their personality.
Please continue.
The Larch.
Suddenly our Digger is sounding rather young and vulnerable again. Not worrying about how to deal with the undead god but rather worrying about having to live with her parents again…
Every single problem adds up to become a big-ass mess.
I like Grim Eyes pose in this panel, walking with her hands behind her back.
Well, the benefit of having a kid around is that you have someone to take care of, and to be wiser than. I feel amazingly competent and sensible when I’m around kids. 🙂
But in a way, it’s rather cheerful. Digger’s expecting the quest to end with her _alive_.
I just finished my first run through the archive and I loved every minute of it. At least I finished on a Wednesday so I’ll get a fix tomorrow before going back for a second read through. This comic is quite addictive.
yeah, i think i’d probably be a wombat in this story.
I think I’d wind up as one of the humorous little lizards. So dkkauwe, you thinking that you’d *want* to be a wombat in this story, or that you’d *wind up* as one, or that you’d *most closely match* a wombat in this story?
@Rowanmdm Grim Eyes, not Bright Eyes. Confining those two would however have made the Art Garfunkel song in the middle of ”Watership Down” FAR more interesting. : )
@ KNO3 ( In my mind i have mentally labeled you “Saltpeter” because”Potassium Nitrate” is a bit of a mouthful and being very dyslexic I get uncomfortable when formulas invade my phonetic thinking and visa versa, hence why i cut all the text out of my six-form chemistry books and glued it into a separate book. it was all out of context but i could see the chemistry without troublesome words in the way and i got a high B so something must have worked. ) If that is a Monty Python reference I am most happy. Although to be honest larch is very resistant to rot, so good for any wooden structures that will be whole or partly buried as it resits damp and decay well. Very popular in Scythian /pazarak culture burial structures in Russia.
@Lica I know, Its a great pose.
One Year and a Day does seem a little short to my mind ‘though. Admittedly as Digger points out, the chances of someone lost underground surviving that long is pretty slim, where as someone lost at sea could at least in theory cling onto a handy bit of driftwood and end up on some foreign shore. I’d have expected something close to the seven-year mark from Diggers culture, although to be honest that’s conditioning from modern societies leaking into my reasoning again. At least they have a fixed period that prevents people stealing all their stuff the moment they vanish and gives relatives a definitive “we’d better put that tombstone up” point so they have some closure.
Oh, and as for what I’d end up as if i were in that ‘verse, although i’d love to be one of The People because statistical hunter gatherers have an excellent quality of life compared to farmers, who in a pre-industrial society have hard work, bad-food and poor health compared to hunter gatherers. Provided the farmers don’t decide to mess their lives up and as happened with nearly all hunter-gather groups still in existence today, being a hunter is far better for your health than pulling a plough or weeding all day. Plus there is a certain romance to it: the thrill of the hunt, the noble savage and that entire post-Georgian western fallacy tied up with idealizing that lifestyle. It’s better for you than farming but its not perfect. But I’m kidding no-one, not even myself. I obsess over minute technical details. I try to pan things out to minimize risk but I still pray to my self “please lord, if this screw up, can it at least be in a way than I can handle and endangers no-one”. I have the WW1 “don’t panic” instructions as a poster*. I know how to fill in a risk assessment form in four counties. I know how much I am insured for to cope with medical expenses abroad and how much my life is insured for. I know when I had my last tetanus shot (July, 2009). And I know how deep by law you can dig in the UK before you need bracing of some kind.
Like any archaeologist and anyone else in the hard-hat and hi-vis-waterproof owning classes, I cant deny I’ve got more of a wombat about me than hyena, and in a quiet way I’m proud about that.
* There a dozens of variations on this little aid. Most started appearing about 1915, and since then you can find similar ones everywhere. Mine is on a big poster in 1910’s style font
“All officers and Enlisted men to be serving in Europe or on any other front are to consider at all times the need for calm and effective reflection and the avoidance of panic. To this end the following considerations are to be noted:
One: You can at any time be in one of either two states: Combat or rest. If at rest there is no cause for panic.
Two: In combat you can be in either one of two places: a safe place or a dangerous place. If you are in a safe place there is no cause for panic.
Three: If you are in dangerous place you can be in either two states: Wounded or unharmed: If you are unharmed there is no cause for panic.
Four: If you are wounded it will be one of two things: Serious or slight. If it is slight there is no cause for panic.
Five: If your wound is serous one of two things will happen: You will either recover or you will die. If you recover there is no cause for panic. Under no circumstances does a British soldier give in to panic.”
“If you die, you CANNOT panic.” 🙂
If that poster mysteriously disappears in the middle of the night, it … er … wasn’t me.
Lessee… Wombat? Hyena? Something else entirely?
…To be perfectly honest, I think my best match in this comic is something like Shadow’s current state. Being an adult with the heart of a child, every family gathering finds me with my youngest cousins, carefully encouraging their imagination as I was (and still am, occasionally) encouraged by my single mother.
Apparently I never tossed my $0.02 into this conversation regarding what I would be. A wombat is a little too obvious, though with 20 years of I.T. experience there’s more than a little of the engineer in me. I’m currently a family caregiver, so there’s a bit of the Hag in me as well.
But I think the best fit for me would be Librarian Vo. I could be heroic if I needed to be, but I’m much better suited to doing the research that helps the hero solve a problem they can’t hero their way through. ( In my I.T. days, I was often referred to by my co-workers as a “Google Guru” for my ability to wield search terms like a vorpal blade and cut snicker-snack through the ads and bad results to find the useful nuggets of information.)
😎