"Digger"

[stoutfellow]

I've mentioned Ursula Vernon's Digger a time or two before, but, prompted by a post on the Bujold list, I'd like to expound a bit. (What lies under the cut comes with a caveat: I'm still working through the archives. I don't know what's currently going on in the strip.)

The central character of "Digger" is a wombat. Like most of her people, she is a miner; when the strip began, she had gotten lost, as a result of events not yet satisfactorily explained. (Initially, she believed that she had stumbled on some bad - hallucinogenic - air and become disoriented for a time, but that explanation has come to seem less and less complete as the story has developed.) She emerged in a temple of the god Ganesh, where she made the acquaintance of a statue of the god. (The statue has taken pains to establish that it is not the god, but merely a statue; nonetheless, the monks and other workers in the temple do follow its orders.) Since then, she has been trying to find a way home, with the statue's assistance. In the meantime, she has been exploring the area.

The characters - and I use the word advisedly - who people the strip are a varied lot. Many are human - the temple staff, local villagers, and the like - but there are also other talking animals, most notably a tribe of hyenas that has tried to kill Digger more than once. Digger has befriended one of the hyenas; unfortunately, he had been exiled for an unspecified crime, and their friendship has not improved Digger's stock with the rest of the tribe. There is also the mysterious Shadow Child, whom I will not attempt to describe. (Even it doesn't know what it is; how could I?)

Vernon employs a variety of voices in the strip. Digger herself is level-headed and skeptical; rather like some of Terry Pratchett's characters, she acknowledges the existence of gods but generally prefers to avoid them. Her speech is colloquial and blunt. The statue speaks formally and seriously; a monkish librarian is by turns pedantic and enthusiastic; Ed the hyena uses an odd syntax and slightly archaic phrasing. Other characters run the gamut from prickly sarcasm through humorous irony to self-importance and suspicion bordering on paranoia.

As a story-teller, Vernon is likewise versatile. At one point, Ed recounts to Digger an origin myth of the hyenas, and it is a sad and affecting tale. On the other end, we have slightly surreal silliness, as Digger encounters (variously) a vampire squash, an oracular slug, and the world's youngest hag. The general aura of weirdness is offset nicely by Digger's straightforward skepticism. The central mystery - how and why Digger got to this place - is developing slowly, with hints of divine involvement and plenty of frissons.

The strip is done in black and white, but with an admirable attention to detail. The artwork is a little impressionistic; at times, it recalls the rock-paintings of Australia, with their slightly off-kilter (to Western eyes) but evocative images.

Some time ago, I posted capsule discussions of the best of the comics that I follow - "Girl Genius", "Freefall", "Schlock Mercenary", and "Questionable Content". I'm not absolutely certain yet, but I'm strongly tempted to add "Digger" to that list.

Comments

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

I see (from the commments there) that you did get past it eventually.