Digging Deep

(review by Kiana S)

I first came upon the online graphic novel Digger by Ursula Vernon by finding this list (Problem Sleuth, is there, too), and its description intrigued me. Digger is the story of Digger, a tough, pragmatic wombat, who has tunneled far away from her home, the warren, and ended up in a strange land filled with magic, gods, demons and talking snails. She first finds herself talking with a statue of Ganesha, who's trying to figure out what forces brought her to the land of Rath.

Digger isn't quite as silly as other online graphic novels. Despite being humorous and having plenty of quips, you get a sense of seriousness from the story, and I think that comes from some of its content. The characters Digger comes in contact with are the type of people she's never had contact with, and she's learning how to respond to the stimuli of being in this strange land.

Almost everyone Digger meets is a little strange, at least from her perspective. The first character she meets is the benevolent statue of Ganesha that represents said god, and he's just as curious as she is as to why she ended up in his temple. Digger can't even remember why she dug away from her home in the first place, and the god is very persistent in trying to help her out.

She also meets a hyena with no name, exiled from his savage tribe, and a child who consumes, and appears to be made out of, shadows.

The land is an interesting hodgepodge of legends and religious figures from across our world, including the Ganesha statue, as well as Druids and natives. The author's included inspiration from folktales from around the world, including Brazil and those of the Balkans.

Digger is a character who is totally out of her element in the land of Rath. Her species is a pragmatic one, with their beliefs based off of hard work and what they can see. Digger has to put her more realistic sensibilities aside to understand and survive in a place based off of legends and curses and witchcraft. She's not only a foreigner, but someone who's forced to grow in a way that she wouldn't have otherwise experienced.

The setting is curious. We've ended up in this magical land that has properties not even fully understood by gods themselves, in a time period where electricity and modern invention obviously don't exist. The natural world is very pertinent in this story, and most scenes take place outside or underground as Digger comes into contact with strange and sometimes terrifying beings. Of course, not having any modern conveniences like cellphones and the internet makes it especially difficult for Digger to figure out how to get home. The librarians and mapmakers haven't even heard of the place where she's from and didn't think wombats actually existed, making the rift between Digger and her home even larger.

The plot is engaging in that it drops little petals of information at a time. Throughout reading I was so curious about what could possibly happen next, and what could be discovered, hoping for explanations. Things are typically implied with ominous conversations and suspicion from those who don't trust Digger's arrival, and I slowly became more immersed in what I was reading.

This comic can range from funny to creepy, and the art style seems consistent despite whatever atmosphere is apparent. Black and white through and through, it has this nice relaxed sketchy style that is experimental but cohesive. Vernon's experimented with different types of panel design and degrees of character simplification.

Most people, I think, would relate to Digger in how she reacts to her situation. I think most people believe that they're practical, and how she manages to deal with getting thrown into a world she doesn't understand would be a sanity that most people would hope for themselves, those basic desires being getting home and not getting killed. Even as a wombat, her character design is very simple and has a lot of empty space, perfect for people to project themselves onto her. The black and white style also adds to the "amplification through simplification" theory that's outlined in Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud.

Vernon's word balloon designs stay very consistent, even in heated moments. Sometimes the shapes will change, depending on who's talking, such as the statue of Ganesha, who's word balloons stay consistently angular and square-ish compared to everyone else's round ones. Some characters have a different typeface that alludes to the strangeness of their voices, such as the creepy Skin Lizards whose disjointed typewriter font makes them all the more skeezy.

The artwork can be really beautiful which contrasts the simplicity of most of the characters. The environment is important to Digger and her species, and she normally uses it to meet her own goals. In this new place, she has to bend to its rules.

Digger is such a cool story. I thought I'd get bored reading it from its first few pages, but it only became more of a mystery that I found myself trying to understand alongside our eponymous character. There are some twists that you wouldn't expect thrown in and some really heart-wrenching moments. You can easily fall prey to getting wrapped up in this world and it's characters, and it's likely you'll see someone in this story that's like someone you know in real life. There's a reason this novel has won numerous awards. Check it out!