Digger (webcomic)

Story

Characters

• Digger-of-Unnecessarily-Convoluted-Tunnels, the title character, "Digger" for short. A young hard-headed wombat, lost far from home after tunnelling into a miasma of unknown magic. She comes from a mining background, and speaks with unironic delight about the digging of ditches and cellars. She has an extreme dislike of all things magical, and by extension of all things divine, though she increasingly tolerates the Statue and what it represents, as he has shown himself to be trustworthy.
• "Ed": A hyena, outcast from his tribe. Once a famous skin-painter, in his isolation he has turned his skills to cave-wall painting. His actual name is unknown, having been "eaten", but Digger named him "Ed" shortly after their first meeting. His people consider him a pariah. Ed insists upon referring to Digger as "Digger-mousie" and has a rather shaky grasp of whatever language is spoken by the other main characters – although he is otherwise highly intelligent and capable of complicated philosophical conversations. Both his broken language and philosophical outlook are most likely the result of having spent seventeen years in exile. A later strip reveals he was in an abusive relationship with a hyena known as Blood-Eyes, whom he killed after realizing that she was also abusing their daughter. This led to his expulsion from the tribe.
• Shadowchild: A small supernatural creature, unsure of what it is and wanting to know. There is a running gag based on Digger assuring the Shadowchild of various unlikely things it definitely is not, e.g.: a leaf; a water sapphire. Shadowchild is, apparently, a demon and has some disturbing powers, but it seems friendly and well-intentioned. Shadowchild recently left the series after an encounter with the demon Sweetgrass-Voice, who attempted to get it to eat its friends. Shadowchild then ate it, causing it to grow. It said goodbye to Digger before going to attempt to persuade other demons to be peaceful or die trying.
• The Statue: A living statue of the Hindu god Ganesh, located in the temple where Digger surfaces after first getting lost underground. Friendly and generous with the temple food-offerings, representative of his dedication to compassion. The priests and staff at his temple are human, as are the local villagers.
• The Veiled: The local theocratic police force, not entirely friendly. They conceal the lower half of their faces with veils, that the gods might rely on the Veiled as a whole and not individually.
• Captain Jhalm: The leader of the Veiled. Claims to be fond of Digger, due in part to her unusually open dislike of the Veiled. He definitely distrusts Digger, and may intend her serious harm.
• Murai: A lapsed member of the Veiled, who apparently was once an acolyte of the Statue and the god of which it is an avatar. She is the most amicable of the Veiled whom Digger has met, but is troubled in her mind as a consequence of a previous uncomfortably close encounter with a goddess: she is prone to mad fits of babbling when she hears children screaming, or "the darkness begins to shine."
• Grim Eyes: Hyena warrior and leader of a hunting party from the local tribe. Started out as an enemy of Digger, they became friends when she was saved by her from falling from a bridge. Now Digger's cousin by adoption, she has joined her and Murai on an important journey. In addition, she is all but outright stated to be Ed's daughter.
• Boneclaw Mother: The matriarch of the Hyena tribe. There's a council of elders, but most of them don't have much sense in Boneclaw Mother's view. Boneclaw Mother is blind, and relies on a highly-developed sense of smell, and despite her laidback attitude and tendency to say what she thinks, she's by no means senile.
• The Hag: The local healer and witch. Human. Young for the job, and sensitive about her age.
• Oracular Slug: A slug gifted with knowledge of the future thanks to an old, depressing incident at a druid's microbrewery.
• Surka: A professional bridge troll who is not actually a troll at all, but rather a female warrior shrew with a colorful past.

Reception

Publication