Digger (webcomic)

Last updated

Digger
Digger omnibus cover.png
Cover art for the omnibus edition
Author(s) Ursula Vernon
Website www.diggercomic.com
Current status/schedulecompleted
Launch dateMarch 18, 2003 (2003-03-18) [1]
End dateMarch 17, 2011 (2011-03-17)
Genre(s) Fantasy

Digger is a webcomic drawn and written by Ursula Vernon, and published in print form by Sofawolf Press. Digger won a Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story and a Mythopoeic Award, and was nominated for an Eisner Award.

Contents

Story

In the opening pages, Digger is tunneling alone through the ground, lost and dazed after being intoxicated by a pocket of bad air. Digging to the surface, she emerges in a temple, where she meets the Statue of Ganesh. Here she finds that something or someone has "magicked up" her tunnel, cutting off her route home. The comic describes her experiences and encounters in the temple, nearby village and surrounding area as she seeks information on the whereabouts of her warren, how she came from there to her present location, and how she might get back.

Characters

Other characters encountered include the hyenas of Grim Eyes' tribe, human villagers and farmers, human bandits, the acolytes of Ganesh's temple (some of whom hide a disturbing secret beneath their hoods), metaphorical pigeons, skin lizards, a dead god and its servants, and vampiric squash. Dwarves exist in Digger's world, noted for their reliance on magic, but none have appeared in the comic as yet.

Reception

Digger has won the Web Cartoonists' Choice Award for "Outstanding Black and White Art" in 2005 and 2006, [2] [3] [4] and for "Outstanding Anthropomorphic Comic" in 2006. [5] [4] In 2006, Digger was nominated for an Eisner Award in the category "Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition". [6] The collected Digger won the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story [7] and the 2013 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature. [8] [9] [6]

Tor.com has described Digger as "fantastic-in-all-senses-of-the-word", praising Vernon's pacing and "tone-perfect mythology", [10] while SF Signal declared that Digger "deserves to be appreciated" [11] and Black Gate lauded Vernon for her portrayal of cultural relativity. [12] Lauren Davis of io9 and ComicsAlliance called Digger an "oddball epic" [13] and praised the titular heroine as an unusual fantasy protagonist and "a delight to watch", citing her pragmatic but softhearted nature, her frankness, and her strong moral center and sense of etiquette. [14] [15]

The series has drawn comparisons to Bone , [16] [17] Cerebus , and Discworld . [16]

Publication

The series has been published in six volumes by Sofawolf Press between 2005 and 2011. In 2013, a Kickstarter was successfully held to have the entire series printed in omnibus form. [17] In 2022, a Kickstarter was successfully held for a 10th anniversary collection from Underthing Press, an imprint of Grim Oak Press. Underthing Press's founder, Patrick Rothfuss, stated that he'd always daydreamed of starting his own imprint and he decided to create Underthing Press when he realized he couldn't buy a new copy of the Digger omnibus after giving his copy to a friend. [18]

VolumeYearISBNChapters
120050-9769212-2-71–2
220060-9769212-6-X3–4
320070-9791496-3-05–6
42009978-0-9819883-3-77–8
52010978-0-9819883-9-99–10
62011978-1-936689-06-411–12
Omnibus2013978-1-936689-32-3 (softcover)
978-1-936689-33-0 (hardcover)
1–12
Omnibus
(Unearthed)
2022978-1-956000-25-2 (softcover)
978-1-956000-26-9 (hardcover)
1–12

References

  1. Date listed next to wombattest1.jpg here
  2. "The 2005 Cartoonists' Choice Awards". Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards . Archived from the original on March 5, 2016.
  3. "Outstanding Black and White Art". ryanestrada.com. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  4. 1 2 "Digger - Sofawolf Press". Sofawolf Press.
  5. "Outstanding Anthropomorphic Comic". ryanestrada.com. Archived from the original on December 23, 2017. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  6. 1 2 "Chris Ware & Warren Ellis Lead 2006 Eisner Nominations". Comic Book Resources . April 5, 2006.
  7. "2012 Hugo Awards". The Hugo Awards . World Science Fiction Society. April 7, 2012. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
  8. "Mythopoeic Awards – 2013". Mythopoeic Society . Retrieved March 19, 2017.
  9. "Ursula Vernon Awards". Science Fiction Awards Database . Locus Science Fiction Foundation. Archived from the original on July 2, 2021. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  10. Starr, Joshua (March 14, 2009). "Ursula Vernon's 'Digger' now free to read". Tor.com . Retrieved March 19, 2017.
  11. Cuinn, Carrie (December 11, 2012). "(Outside the Frame) A Wombat, A Dead God, and A Hugo: Ursula Vernon's 'Digger'". SF Signal . Archived from the original on December 14, 2012. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
  12. Abbott, Alana Joli (October 8, 2013). "Spotlight on Fantasy Webcomics: The Dirt on Ursula Vernon's Hugo Award Winner, Digger". Black Gate . Retrieved March 19, 2017.
  13. Davis, Lauren (March 5, 2014). "17 Fantastic Completed Webcomics to Binge-Read from Beginning to End". io9 .
  14. Davis, Lauren (October 16, 2010). "The peculiar, pragmatic adventures of a wombat engineer". io9 .
  15. Davis, Lauren (May 1, 2012). "A No-Nonsense Wombat Leads a Peculiar Cast in the Fantasy Webcomic 'Digger'". ComicsAlliance .
  16. 1 2 Lien-Cooper, Barb (January 1, 2004). "Digger". Sequential Tart.
  17. 1 2 Murray, Noel (June 18, 2013). "New comics releases include a high-profile Superman title and a musician's return to comics". The A.V. Club .
  18. Armstrong, Vanessa (December 14, 2021). "Patrick Rothfuss and Grim Oak Press Create New Imprint, Underthing Press". Tor. Retrieved December 17, 2021.