So much love for this and the previous day’s comic. This has been an epic Crowning Moment of Awesome for Ed, and I’m now going to wander back and savor it some more…
@Ravalyn, or perhaps it takes a Wombat’s weapon to break it? 🙂 I’m sure that the crowbar was forged by a wombat, though obviously if someone jumps back and shows me it was from someone else lol I’ll rethink.
I think Rivalyn was talking about how that’s a pretty flimsy-looking loop of tissue, considering the heart used to be suspended by it. I figure it’s less a matter of divinity and more a matter of mummification. ^_^;
I’m sure this isn’t quite the end for the heart. After all, the cold servants must have been keeping it beating before it was hauled up there on the chain – they can do so again. Surely it would take an army to stop them.
Actually, I suspect the heart being held up like that *is* a matter of divinity. It’s more the *idea* that it is being held up that matters. The heart has something holding it up, therefore it is held up. QED.
As for the heart beating, that’s less the issue as it’s now falling, and likely to go splat. Hopefully cushioning a certain hyena’s fall in the process.
The figure of Ed looks … scribbly-er than the rest of the page, less polished. Couldn’t quite get it to where you wanted, but ran out of time? Despite the little impatient “I wanna see the next one” voice in all our heads, I for one would be willing to wait an extra day or two if necessary if the art (or Real Life distractions) is being troublesome.
Here’s hoping that either A: Ed has enough time to scramble back to the chain and grab hold of a link of it before the heart falls off completely or (B) it does serve as a cushy soft landing bag of Godsblood.
I am thinking it’s probably a good thing for Ed to fall with the heart and be cushioned by it, than to stay hanging on the chain, where he has no way to get back onto the ledge or, in fact, anywhere else…
SGV’s scream makes me very happy. But also very scared for Ed. I mean…he might not make it to the floor if SGV really *can* affect the material world…
Of course, the fall won’t kill Ed.
The sudden stop at the end might.
@ Greenwood Goat: Thank you, now I have a mental image of a gigantic heart bouncing all over the cavern like a enormous football. With Ed attached! Entirely too funny for such a serious situation sir! 😛
Judging from the motion rays emanating from both Ed, in his proximity to the heart, and Sweetgrass-Voice’s chin impacting the floor as he tries a last-moment save, the fall is fini.
Personally, I see SGV saying “aieeeee” as the bubble is pointing to him directly. I think the fall is still in motion and how and where Ed will land is still up in the air, hopefully above the heart and not falling at an angle downward and faster so that the heart can rebound onto him. Another cliffhanger, well done!
@Robin Bobcat, first paragraph: Yes, precisely. Because the heart fell the moment the chain was broken–the moment the heart was no longer magically defined as “held”–even though it first had to move UP over the broken-link-now-hook to do so.
Is anyone else worried about Digger-Mousie? I could foresee Ed surviving the fall, standing triumphant atop a mound of dead heartflesh, only to find Digger bleeding to death on the floor.
Great comic Ursula! I was looking forward to this page all weekend!
Otookee — I suspect that Ed is *feeling* rather scribbly, or at least scrabbly; I took that to be all his fur standing on end.
Madam Atom — either it was held magically, or the snapped link — once it was snapped — *bent.* In the case of much smaller chains, it’s certainly the case that a chain can bear up a load that, if one of the links is severed on one side, will bend that link out and let whatever’s attached to that link separate and fall. I don’t know if that would be the case with bigger chains and heavier weights, but I don’t see why it *wouldn’t* be.
Bert: “Hear now the tale of Ed of the Two Names and the Crowbar of Doom!” (and his faithful companion S/a/m/w/i/s/e/ Digger…)
@Barry: I figured that the monastery had imported the crowbar. There’s no reason for a group who is, in the main, scholarly monks to make their own tools unless it’s required for some specific religious purpose.
So it’s possible – although it stretches to be plausible – that the crowbar was made by Wombats. (It’s more plausible that the crowbar was made by, say, a blacksmith in the next town over, I’ll admit.)
Of course, the acolyte did say that the crowbar isn’t magical – just very well made. It could be that something that had no magic in it was exactly what was needed to pull this off; I seem to recall there being mention, around the same time, that too much magic makes metal weak and unreliable (“I wouldn’t trust my life to an enchanted sword” are the words I’m remembering).
And what do gods run on? What does a rite to keep a god alive, long past the point when he should have died, inherently require a boat-load of? I think that Ed didn’t just break the chain holding the heart up – he broke the thing holding the web of spells together.
Wow, I came across this comic yesterday and spent the whole day reading through the archives.
This is a fantastic peice of work! It made me laugh and cry and think about morality and spiritual what-not. I’m really disapointed I didin’t hear about this earlier, and that I’v only walked in on the climax of a story thats taken several years to tell.But suppose there are still afew months to go before the story wraps up entierly so yeah!
I hope Ed dosen’t die! I’m really fond of the sad little bugger.
@Just Here: Why, yes, I was just wondering that. 🙂
Given that we’re dealing with a god’s heart here, it’s not hard to credit that the chain would give out before the heart tissue would. And going by the earlier comics, that chain’s the only thing actually holding it up; the ropes the lizards were pulling on were tied around the heart itself.
I suspect the heart was beating on its own before SGV had it chained up, i.e. before He-is’ deathwish started to take effect. Probably the system was only rigged up after the god’s life, and therefore his heartbeat, began to wane — like putting a failing patient on life support.
This is the first time I realized what’s at stake for Ed. I didn’t think about it until I saw poor Ed’s face.
Okay, Alondro, I’m not crazy. We’ll I am, but not about this one point. When I was a kid, I distinctly remember when I was learning about vowels it was A.E.I.O.U and sometimes Y and W. Everyone laughed and shunned me, but I really remember that. When does W work as a vowel though?
I suspect that if Ed *does* die, he might survive in another way: Remember the black mother(I think), a god created by belief? Perhaps Ed survives that way if he doesn’t successfully land on a certain divine “airbag”.
@Duckwhisperer and Alondro
People, for years, have laughed at me for the same reason. I tell them to head for the dictionary and look up “cwm,” which is a synonym for “cirque.”
Yep, having lived in Cardiff I can attest that many English vowels self-destruct when taken west of the Seven. “Ambwlance” was always one of my favourite, although it must be said my favourite welsh word has to be cwrw.
also: @Alex: it’ can’t be a pear; where are the teeth? 🙂
I realize that the chain, the heart and the crowbar are all important; but the most striking think in this scene for me is Ed. He’s more detailed than anything else in the scene and he has no shadows covering him. This has got to be the clearest most distinct image of Ed I have seen in the entire run of Digger.
Major Kong rides the bomb down. But, he doesn’t have a cowboy hat, and probly won’t have time to yell “Yahoo!”
Still, it’s gonna make a heck of a splat.
@Ix: I think you’re right with that last paragraph. Which is why Just Here is right. It looks to me like SGV just got hoist on his own petard.
Are those impact lines around Ed, or is he starting to glow? (Yes, I know that sounds weird, but I have my own ideas about the relationship between He-Is, SVG, and Ed.)
@Nicole B: You mean Digger of Unnecessarily Convoluted Tunnels tight? Not Digger of Convoluted Tunnels, that’s probably Digger of Unnecessarily Convoluted Tunnels’s second cousin twice removed or some such I’m sure.
So much love for this and the previous day’s comic. This has been an epic Crowning Moment of Awesome for Ed, and I’m now going to wander back and savor it some more…
Was it just the one chain? Or does Ed have to go do that all over again?
Anyway, woo! Go Ed!
Why does it look like the pear to me? The curve of the heart and SGV’s body make a very pear-like shape…
Finally caught up with my archive trawl, just as the next page is uploaded!
Hold on Ed, don’t fall off the heart! It’s soft and squishy, it will break your fall. 😀
Godflesh must be really sturdy or else barely there, otherwise that link should have ripped right out long since.
Given how many lizards were hauling on the ropes, I’m gonna go with sturdy.
@Ravalyn, or perhaps it takes a Wombat’s weapon to break it? 🙂 I’m sure that the crowbar was forged by a wombat, though obviously if someone jumps back and shows me it was from someone else lol I’ll rethink.
I think Rivalyn was talking about how that’s a pretty flimsy-looking loop of tissue, considering the heart used to be suspended by it. I figure it’s less a matter of divinity and more a matter of mummification. ^_^;
@Alex, I see what you mean! Freaky.
Vote, people! http://topwebcomics.com/vote/10180/default.aspx
Am I the only one terrified for Ed?
I mean, he IS falling now.
I’m sure this isn’t quite the end for the heart. After all, the cold servants must have been keeping it beating before it was hauled up there on the chain – they can do so again. Surely it would take an army to stop them.
Actually, I suspect the heart being held up like that *is* a matter of divinity. It’s more the *idea* that it is being held up that matters. The heart has something holding it up, therefore it is held up. QED.
As for the heart beating, that’s less the issue as it’s now falling, and likely to go splat. Hopefully cushioning a certain hyena’s fall in the process.
Also.. Nooooo! Ed!
The figure of Ed looks … scribbly-er than the rest of the page, less polished. Couldn’t quite get it to where you wanted, but ran out of time? Despite the little impatient “I wanna see the next one” voice in all our heads, I for one would be willing to wait an extra day or two if necessary if the art (or Real Life distractions) is being troublesome.
And what shoulder, and what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? And what dread feet?
What the hammer? What the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
– From The Tyger by William Blake
Just came to me, looking at that chain parting.
Come to that, The Chain by Fleetwood Mac sort of fits as well.
So, what comes next? Heart go splat? Or heart go boing?
I’m sure Ed will be fine – he has something soft to land on, after all (icky, but still squishy)…
Awww snap!
(I’m sorry, but somebody had to do it!)
Here’s hoping that either A: Ed has enough time to scramble back to the chain and grab hold of a link of it before the heart falls off completely or (B) it does serve as a cushy soft landing bag of Godsblood.
Hang on to your hats, kids, it’s going to be a wild ride.
Actually, for Ed it might be more of a case of ‘hold on to the HEART. And your liver.’
I am thinking it’s probably a good thing for Ed to fall with the heart and be cushioned by it, than to stay hanging on the chain, where he has no way to get back onto the ledge or, in fact, anywhere else…
The *snap* heard ’round the world…..
SGV’s scream makes me very happy. But also very scared for Ed. I mean…he might not make it to the floor if SGV really *can* affect the material world…
Of course, the fall won’t kill Ed.
The sudden stop at the end might.
@ Greenwood Goat: Thank you, now I have a mental image of a gigantic heart bouncing all over the cavern like a enormous football. With Ed attached! Entirely too funny for such a serious situation sir! 😛
Judging from the motion rays emanating from both Ed, in his proximity to the heart, and Sweetgrass-Voice’s chin impacting the floor as he tries a last-moment save, the fall is fini.
–Perfesser
I would have thought that “AIIIIEEEEE!” would be Ed’s line. He’s the one falling after all.
Don’t die Ed! D-:
Personally, I see SGV saying “aieeeee” as the bubble is pointing to him directly. I think the fall is still in motion and how and where Ed will land is still up in the air, hopefully above the heart and not falling at an angle downward and faster so that the heart can rebound onto him. Another cliffhanger, well done!
@Robin Bobcat, first paragraph: Yes, precisely. Because the heart fell the moment the chain was broken–the moment the heart was no longer magically defined as “held”–even though it first had to move UP over the broken-link-now-hook to do so.
Aww, come on, SGV! Treat Ed nicer! Have a heart! *rimshot*
(alternate line: SGV: I’ll never forgive Ed, for breaking my heart)
Is anyone else worried about Digger-Mousie? I could foresee Ed surviving the fall, standing triumphant atop a mound of dead heartflesh, only to find Digger bleeding to death on the floor.
Great comic Ursula! I was looking forward to this page all weekend!
Dr. Freeman would appreciate it if he could get his crowbar back after Ed is done with it. :p
SGV’s heart fell when he saw Ed with the crowbar of doom…
I’m waiting for the cartoon *BOING*BOING*BOING* as the heart bounces like a rubber ball…
@Lethe
http://www.diggercomic.com/?p=800
The crowbar was provided by the monastery, not by Digger.
Otookee — I suspect that Ed is *feeling* rather scribbly, or at least scrabbly; I took that to be all his fur standing on end.
Madam Atom — either it was held magically, or the snapped link — once it was snapped — *bent.* In the case of much smaller chains, it’s certainly the case that a chain can bear up a load that, if one of the links is severed on one side, will bend that link out and let whatever’s attached to that link separate and fall. I don’t know if that would be the case with bigger chains and heavier weights, but I don’t see why it *wouldn’t* be.
Bert: “Hear now the tale of Ed of the Two Names and the Crowbar of Doom!” (and his faithful companion S/a/m/w/i/s/e/ Digger…)
@Gramina: His faithful companion Digger-of-Convoluted-Tunnels, you mean. 😉
*finishes SGV’s cry* OOOOUUUUUUU!!! And sometimes YYYY and WWWWWW!!! ;D
Anyone else wonder if the lines through SGV are showing the beginning of his shadow form’s dissolution?
@Barry: I figured that the monastery had imported the crowbar. There’s no reason for a group who is, in the main, scholarly monks to make their own tools unless it’s required for some specific religious purpose.
So it’s possible – although it stretches to be plausible – that the crowbar was made by Wombats. (It’s more plausible that the crowbar was made by, say, a blacksmith in the next town over, I’ll admit.)
Of course, the acolyte did say that the crowbar isn’t magical – just very well made. It could be that something that had no magic in it was exactly what was needed to pull this off; I seem to recall there being mention, around the same time, that too much magic makes metal weak and unreliable (“I wouldn’t trust my life to an enchanted sword” are the words I’m remembering).
And what do gods run on? What does a rite to keep a god alive, long past the point when he should have died, inherently require a boat-load of? I think that Ed didn’t just break the chain holding the heart up – he broke the thing holding the web of spells together.
Wow, I came across this comic yesterday and spent the whole day reading through the archives.
This is a fantastic peice of work! It made me laugh and cry and think about morality and spiritual what-not. I’m really disapointed I didin’t hear about this earlier, and that I’v only walked in on the climax of a story thats taken several years to tell.But suppose there are still afew months to go before the story wraps up entierly so yeah!
I hope Ed dosen’t die! I’m really fond of the sad little bugger.
@Just Here: Why, yes, I was just wondering that. 🙂
Given that we’re dealing with a god’s heart here, it’s not hard to credit that the chain would give out before the heart tissue would. And going by the earlier comics, that chain’s the only thing actually holding it up; the ropes the lizards were pulling on were tied around the heart itself.
I suspect the heart was beating on its own before SGV had it chained up, i.e. before He-is’ deathwish started to take effect. Probably the system was only rigged up after the god’s life, and therefore his heartbeat, began to wane — like putting a failing patient on life support.
And Ed just pulled the plug.
This is the first time I realized what’s at stake for Ed. I didn’t think about it until I saw poor Ed’s face.
Okay, Alondro, I’m not crazy. We’ll I am, but not about this one point. When I was a kid, I distinctly remember when I was learning about vowels it was A.E.I.O.U and sometimes Y and W. Everyone laughed and shunned me, but I really remember that. When does W work as a vowel though?
“When does W work as a vowel though?”
mostly in Welsh, I think.
I suspect that if Ed *does* die, he might survive in another way: Remember the black mother(I think), a god created by belief? Perhaps Ed survives that way if he doesn’t successfully land on a certain divine “airbag”.
@Duckwhisperer: in words like “raw”, “few”, and “row”: that is, as part of a vowel digraph.
@Duckwhisperer and Alondro
People, for years, have laughed at me for the same reason. I tell them to head for the dictionary and look up “cwm,” which is a synonym for “cirque.”
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cwm?db=*
Yes, in Welsh, Y and W are practically always vowels.
Cwm and coomb are pretty much the same thing, and pretty much pronounced the same, also.
Yep, having lived in Cardiff I can attest that many English vowels self-destruct when taken west of the Seven. “Ambwlance” was always one of my favourite, although it must be said my favourite welsh word has to be cwrw.
also: @Alex: it’ can’t be a pear; where are the teeth? 🙂
I realize that the chain, the heart and the crowbar are all important; but the most striking think in this scene for me is Ed. He’s more detailed than anything else in the scene and he has no shadows covering him. This has got to be the clearest most distinct image of Ed I have seen in the entire run of Digger.
Thanks everybody.
ED!
Major Kong rides the bomb down. But, he doesn’t have a cowboy hat, and probly won’t have time to yell “Yahoo!”
Still, it’s gonna make a heck of a splat.
@Just Here: Yes. SGV just got owned, hard.
@Ix: I think you’re right with that last paragraph. Which is why Just Here is right. It looks to me like SGV just got hoist on his own petard.
Are those impact lines around Ed, or is he starting to glow? (Yes, I know that sounds weird, but I have my own ideas about the relationship between He-Is, SVG, and Ed.)
@Nicole B: You mean Digger of Unnecessarily Convoluted Tunnels tight? Not Digger of Convoluted Tunnels, that’s probably Digger of Unnecessarily Convoluted Tunnels’s second cousin twice removed or some such I’m sure.