Remember Tunnel Seventeen: my favorite webcomic goes hardcopy · 7:48pm Jun 20th, 2022
There's some things you should probably know about Digger.
* It won a Hugo in 2012. Comics generally don't win Hugos. Webcomics are at the contender level about fifteen floors down. But this is the power of Ursula Vernon. When you have a great story, the medium doesn't matter. The story will still be great.
* This is also the story which told me that the small press had gone online, possibly forever. That you could find a home online.
* It's stayed with me. There are only two webcomic stories which I can revisit and quote: this is the lighter of the two.
* You can still read it for free. I recommend doing so before you consider acting on the rest of this blog. I hope that no matter what happens, you'll read it. This is me, telling you it's worth it.
* As of this writing, the Kickstarter for the print edition has a little less than two days to go.
I'm not asking for help in acquiring one. This isn't the first time the story has gone hardcopy. I missed the original campaign, spent a lot of time chasing the hardcover omnibus on eBay without ever finding one I could actually afford -- and then a six-volume paperback set appeared at my dropbox. It's one of the dearest things I've ever received, and I have no intention of getting a copy from this campaign because that's not the sort of gift where you just tell yourself you'll upgrade. I have the complete tale, and I'm content.
This isn't requesting that my followers push the campaign over the top. It's so far over the top as to need its own Lagrange Point. Ms. Vernon has something of a fanbase. And a Hugo. Also a Nebula. (She's sort of good at her job.)
What I'm asking for is this:
I love this story.
I tell people about it when the opportunity arises.
I hope that they'll love it too. Sometimes they do.
And this is a chance.
If you're willing... please look at the comic through the free link I posted above. And then, if you feel it deserves a place on your shelf -- the Kickstarter is there.
Reading the story comes at no cost.
Excepting the chance of falling in love.
I love that little wombat. She exists as weaponized practicality. And I can't really think about a tribute through bringing any version of her or the species into Equestria, not when the best collective reaction to magic is 'Not again...' But I can point people towards her, and hope they'll love her too.
I feel it's a great story.
"Am I a great story?"
Shadowchild...
...actually, yes. Yes, you are.
Read. Please.
Maybe it'll fill a need.
A hole in your life.
A gap in your shelf.
Thank you for listening.
The Everfree Northwest Ko-Fi campaign ends on the 30th.
If you think that was randomly spammy, you should see what's been happening once a day in the Discord server.
I liked it before it was cool, following along from about 1/3 of the way through. Digger Of Unnecessarily Convoluted Tunnels is the best wombat in the best story. The comments on the original web page are worth a glance too, some are mine! I was totally in on the original printing too. That said, half a grand for a leather bound bibliophile grade collectors edition is kinda crazy, but more power to her if she can move them…
You might check out Spike Trotman and Nina Paley, I think of them in the same way. What is the “heavier” of your two favourite webcomics?
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I need to establish, right now, that Pseudosapien is talking about the top backer tier. The least expensive physical copy is $45, and you can get a PDF for $15.
As for the heavier... that's a slightly awkward topic around here, because the author is on the site. And she is... how should I put this? -- somewhat divisive. More than I am and yes, I do not say that lightly.
But I'll spare you the guesswork.
Clicked on the link. No comic, but a comment that sinister forces fried their video card.
Estee's Luck strikes again!
Digger is so good it's unreal.
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It's working for me! Maybe if I link the first page?
https://diggercomic.com/blog/2007/02/01/wombat1-gnorf/
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OK that worked. Thanks.
It's probably my luck. In the words of an old song
"If it weren't for bad luck
I'd have no luck at all."
Hmmm, I'm so very tempted to snag at least that softcover....
Story idea:
Twilight meets an Oracular Snail. There is great confusion. And Pinkie Pie.
Some other good webcomics are Schlock Mercenary and Girl Genius. The latter has won three Hugos, and the former was a close runner up for all of them...
A crossover, probably not. Maybe the merchant. (No, not that merchant.)
But there's a lot of borrowable elements to sprinkle on earth ponies.
And I definitely put blessed rats in every dnd campaign I can.
Thanks. This wasn't on my radar. Glad you posted in the nick of time.
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I originally dumb-lucked it. Randomly browsing Kickstarter and it came up in Recommended Projects. No idea it had been happening at all.
One person found out in time. Mission accomplished.
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Digger is awesome. I'm really sad it's a bad month, I'd snap up a PDF.
I've 'found' Ursula a few times. Digger, then on her old webpage, now redwombatstudios, and fell in love with the stories there. And her books are fun, exasperating reads, too. ^^ Fantasy and horror, take your pick. I'm getting What Moves The Dead next month, can't wait!
The Hugo's created an entire category just for comics in 2009; Digger was the fourth recipient. It dethroned Girl Genius, which took the award all three of those inaugural years. So at the time it was continuing an unbroken trend of ONLY webcomics winning the comic award.
Let me just echo Estee's recommendation. I read Digger the last time she recommended it and it is indeed awesome.
Add me to the crowd recommending consumption of this media in your preferred form. I love Murai and Ed especially. Ed's Philosophy about Good, Evil and Reason in particular gives me complicated feelings that I cherish.
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Allow me the honor of having existed in a pre-2009 world, when sequential art of all kinds was still mostly kicked into the darkest corners.
A lot of people are having trouble remembering what it was like before Twitter.
What worries me are the ones who think Tik-Tok was eternal.
(I am tired and did not comb the blog. Apologies.)
I'd be really sad about my inability to budget for one of the nice hardcovers right now, except that the original kickstarter omnibus hardcover still has pride of place on one of our shelves.
I was there while it was running (SPark and I met in a webcomic's IRC channel), and I still return to reread it every now and then. Ursula is superb.
Beware the Vampire Squash
Damn it, I already have the small-press softcover printings ... maybe I can scrape together some cash ....
Thanks for the notice! I signed up for the PDF.
Thanks for the rec! Read it in under 12 hours straight. I've got covid and maybe strep (or something similar) at the same time rn, and it got me through another awake-period. I needed that!
Like several others, thanks to you I discovered this wonderful little webcomic. Also backed it. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Read Digger long ago & loved it. Backed.
Last year I tripped over A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, by T Kingfisher… aka Ursula Vernon. Superb.
Then I saw her Hugo acceptance speech at Worldcon. (Paraphrasing: “Acceptance speeches are boring. Let me tell you about slime molds.”) Then she won the Lodestar for AWGTDB… yep, more about slime molds.
After that I had to read everything else she wrote, which is a _lot_.
(Aside: Free library ebooks FTW! Also, a $40 Worldcon supporting membership includes the Hugo packet: ebooks of Hugo-nommed novels, novellas, novelettes, short stories, graphic novels, fan works, podcasts, etc, etc,etc. Worth every cent.)
Ursula Vernon! I love her work. I have a hard time with audiobooks and podcasts thanks to my ADHD, but The Hidden Almanac is a great podcast that tells an amazing story with episodes that are only about 5 minutes long. I adore Reverend Mord and Pastor Drom. You guys should definitely check it out.
I'd second the recommendation, but -- even a quick skim through the comments told me the position of second had already been taken. :D
So I'll just add my own onto the end of the line. :) Been years since I read it, but I recall it being quite good!
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re the heavier of the two:
Ah, hey, another one I read and enjoyed back in the day!
Despite not having much use for weather normally, Digger would be annoyed that Equestria uses magic to manage their weather. When it came to Equestrian ground-based construction, she probably wouldn't have too much to complain about. (She would've used more bracing.)