Digger, Volume Two

Digger #2

by Ursula Vernon

The second collection of Digger is here, featuring the third and fourth chapters of the highly acclaimed webcomic. Digger is still lost in the strange land she discovered at the end of a one-way tunnel, which now seems more intentional than accidental. A seemingly innocuous fossil she picked up on the way is suspected of having more to it than meets the eye, and the beneficient talking statue of Ganesh has a need that sends Digger and a decidedly unhinged acolyte deep underground in search of answers.

Genres: Fantasy, Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Adventure, Webcomic, Mythology

128 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2006

About the author

Ursula Vernon, aka T. Kingfisher, is an author and illustrator. She has written over fifteen books for children, at least a dozen novels for adults, an epic webcomic called “Digger” and various short stories and other odds and ends.

Ursula grew up in Oregon and Arizona, studied anthropology at Macalester College in Minnesota, and stayed there for ten years, until she finally learned to drive in deep snow and was obligated to leave the state.

Having moved across the country several times, she eventually settled in Pittsboro, North Carolina, where she works full-time as an artist and creator of oddities. She lives with her husband and his chickens.

Her work has been nominated for the Eisner, World Fantasy, and longlisted for the British Science Fiction Awards. It has garnered a number of Webcomics Choice Awards, the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story, the Mythopoeic Award for Children’s Literature, the Nebula for Best Short Story, the Sequoyah Award, and many others.

Reviews

[Mir]

The first volume took a little while to get going, but now we're on a roll.



It's not all vampire squash and masked insane acolyte education jokes, though, there is some pretty dark stuff going on. I can't wait to find out more about the buried gods.

[Mary Catelli]

Spoilers for volume one ahead.

Recovering from her injuries in the cottage of the nineteen-year-old hag, Digger has a few more incidents. She had been drugged with poppy because she had been seen with a demon -- or so the Veiled think the shadowchild is. Fortunately, the statue put its foot on it. So we have many things -- a visit to Ed, digging a root cellar, the shadowchild dancing about at the notion of being a demon (since it wonders what it is), another attempt to eat Digger, cute little winged rats -- and the statue wants Digger to go back into the tunnel. It involves a beneficent offer to Digger and his companion to skin them, eating lunch, cold servants, and a lot more stuff that shifts the tale to a significantly more serious level, with the plot picking up pace.

[Marjorie]

Winged rats are way cuter than they deserve to be

[Mitchell Friedman]

This is a pretty cool book. Weird, and not sure if this will hold together to some end. Not sure how much sense it is making. But Digger as a character is great. And her dialogue is witty - I kind of want a list of all the stuff her mom said. And the art works - even the tunnel and caves by glowstick. Turning back and forth to the footnotes isn't a lot of fun, but a lot of the footnotes are worth it. Hauling around the omnibus is a pain - it makes me wonder if this web comic doesn't actually read better as a web comic.

[Octavia Cade]

The story continues. Digger the awesome wombat is sent by the statue of a god she doesn't believe in down creepy skin-infested caves, with a mad and fainting teenager from a cult of suspicious and religious bastards, and down in the caves are metal headed bird monsters and an eviscerated god, with a heart kept alive by minions who don't believe in the engineering power of pulleys and levers.

Totally mad, but it's certainly entertaining.

[McKenna Deem]

It’s not everyday that a wombat finds the almost-corpse of an almost-dead god, but today is that day.

Though the first volume of Digger took a second to get into, the second volume dives right in and continues Digger’s philosophical journeys with gods, demons, and the devout.

Personal favorite moment is the Ganesh statue reminding Digger that “without the mad, we would be deprived of many fine saints and holy men.” Sounds about right.

[Christopher]

Vampire squash.

You had me at the ineffective vampire squash.

The dead god is creepy and there's more of an over-arching mystery getting built in this volume. But I'm still interested in this strange world and a main character who can both take it in stride and reject the more esoteric parts as just not being relevant to her grounded life.

[Kir]

Vol 2 = chapters 3 & 4 which I read online.
I love the wacky worldbuilding, crazy creatures and dry humour. The comments of the pages are often pretty good as well. I really wish this was available to buy in hard copy.

[OLLI at WVU]

Digger is still healing from wounds she incurred earlier, and is seemingly not trusted by both the Hag caring for her and the captain guarding the town / temple.

But she still has friends.

This story is so adorable.

[Howard]

Volume two continues to entertain. The author's occasional asides [told in footnotes] are especially enjoyable, especially the translations of Wombat curses.. The vampire squashes are not to be missed.

[Donny Forbes]

This is too much fun.

[Sylvia]

Still on my Kingfisher/Vernon binge. This is an awesome webcomic: great art, fantastical and creepy story. Also I love Digger and her scary friends.

[Sarah Schulz]

This series continues to be awesome.

[Michelle]

http://klishis.com/reading/archives/1...

TLDR: Fun!

[B.]

Digger is just what I need these days. There's hope there, as well as complaining. Plus Ed. We love Ed and Shadowchild.

[J]

Digger is a fantastic graphic novel/on-line comic, and Volume Two continues the amazing story.

[Falkor]

The continuing adventures of the eminently practical wombat Digger, who is drawn more deeply into the mysteries of the odd land to which she was transported in the previous volume. She has to cope with a pack of hyenas who want to eat her, a priest who wants to arrest her for consorting with demons, and a strange shadow creature who may in fact be a demon. As if she didn’t have enough stress, Ganesh sends her on a dangerous mission: to go back down the tunnel she dug to his temple and try to find out what sort of being guided her to create it.

Vernon’s story grows in scope and complexity in her second volume, while still keeping its humorous flourishes, intriguing secondary character sketches and emotionally expressive art. A fun, engaging continuation of Digger’s story that leaves readers eagerly waiting for the next volume.

[Lily]

Ursula Vernon improves in the second volume of Digger. The artwork has come together into a cohesive style, and the plot really gets going. I particularly like how Vernon changes her style when illustrating Ed's story; she transitions from a fairly realistic (considering that the main character is a talking wombat that walks upright) style to a more "primitive" style that reflects the nature of the mythology that Ed is relating.

Superb. You have to read it.

[Knitography]

As a whole, Digger is one of the best stories I've ever read. Every character is a delight - Shadowchild, the wombat, the statue of Ganesh, THE SNAIL. It's utterly charming and I love everything about it, except for the fact that it ended. I can see myself re-reading this somewhere down the line, which I rarely do.

[Horizon]

This is my new favorite author! I was very excited to be able to carry her books at Horizon. I have been making myself not devour them all at once, but to savor them one at a time. Deliciously quirky!

[Mark]

Second volume in the digger saga introduces what will develop into the core plot of the series - the cold ones and their undead god. the tone is darker, but the humor is still there and the art is still lovely.

[Christiane]

I very much enjoyed the continuation of the story. There is humor, magic, adventure, cute flying rats, and some serious creepiness. Fans of “Coraline” and other Neil Gaiman books for kids might well enjoy this comic.

[Fraser Sherman]

The story of Digger, a female wombat whose tunnel mysteriously dumps her in a far-eastern realm continues. As Digger tries to figure out who she can rely on until she gets home, Ganesh the elephant god asks her for a small favor. Very funny, including the vampire squash.

[Cloud]

Read online.

[Rose]

A really fun, quick read with a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor. The art style compliments the quirky cast of characters well; who'd have thought a story about a wombat would be so enjoyable?

[Nicholas Whyte]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1961056...

[Catherine]

A bunch of people told me that I would love this and they were totally right! The snark, the wombat, the gods--now I need to go and buy the rest of them.

[kvon]

Graphic novel. A nonspiritual wombat has to deal with gods, demons, assassins. Part of an ongoing story that I haven't read. Nice storylines and clean art, but not personally compelling.

[Alexis]

Lots of good scenes and quotes that hit home.

[R]

The plot continue and you can't stop watching her trying to understand what she found at the end of the tunnel