http://diggercomic.com/
Synopsis: a pragmatic wombat engineer gets tripped out on bad air underground, wanders lost and eventually emerges in a temple to the God Ganesh, where she gets mixed up in a quest involving a partially-sane priestess, a tribe of talking hyenas and a demonic shadow that only wants to be good. Then things get really weird.
Can't recommend this one more highly. The B&W is a little stark and the artwork on human characters is a bit rough, but the setting and story are amazing. It won the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story, which ought to tell you enough. Go read it. ( )

(Since this is probably my 3rd or 4th full read-through, this should not be considered a complete review of all the things I love about Digger.)

I forgot what a fucker Jhalm is. It's depressing that the hard work of so many people is required to keep one asshole in check. The way Murai goes off at the end to keep an eye on him felt bleak this read around, though I guess she's still a teenager and there's a good chance this isn't actually going to be the rest of her life.

I'm less comfortable with the depiction of different kinds of "madness" this read. There's probably a whole essay there, which I am not writing. For ex, having secondhand experience with psychosis, the throwaway bit about the gifted hyena shaman who has issues with wearing clothes and eating regularly isn't amusing. ( )

Digger of Unnecessarily Complicated Tunnels is a wombat engineer. While at work, she hits a pocket of bad air, gets disoriented, and wanders into a large, creepy cave system. She escapes by digging upwards, and finds herself in a temple consecrated to the god Ganesh, watched over by acolytes and a mysterious theocratic police force called the Veiled. Ganesh informs her that magic in the tunnel is now preventing her from returning home.

While trying to avoid the Veiled, Digger meets a variety of strange creatures, including a nameless hyena living in exile (later named Ed), and a shadow child unsure of what life form it is. He befriends both, but soon encounters hyena hunters led by Grim Eyes, who consider her prey, especially for befriending an exile from their tribe.

Ganesh sends Digger on a mission where she meets the child Murai, one of The Veiled who harbours a dark secret and is half-mad. It becomes clear that the fates of Murai and Digger are intertwined, and that she must face this fate if she ever wants to return home.

This story is nothing short of a masterpiece of the form. Originally published on the web, two pages at a time, it took Vernon about eight years to complete. Keeping multiple story and character arcs in the air for that long is an impressive feat. Vernon's black and white artwork is also outstanding, and she frequently uses black-dominated panels to great effect when evoking the darker moments in the story.

Another notable thing about this book is the preponderance of female lead characters, Digger herself, Murai, nearly all of the hyenas and a healing woman are among the main characters. Others, such as the shadow child have no gender. Of the main characters, only Ed and the captain of the Veiled are identifiably male. This makes a pleasant reversal of the usual cast of characters in most fantasy sagas. ( )

Reading it for the... fourth time? Once online as it was written, and this is my third time through the book itself. Everything about this book was pretty much designed to meet my approval. Excellent art, great story, solid characterization - and whimsy.

Win.

(Fifth time through, now) ( )

I don't really read comics, let alone webcomics, so I don't have a frame of reference for comparison. But I really enjoyed it. Good fun. A great cast of brave characters inching along the edges of destiny (some of them very begrudgingly) and doing what needs to be done. ( )