GFT Retrospective #121: Grimm Universe #3 - Goblin Queen
a.k.a. The Retrospectre.
Welcome to June, Ticketholders!
If you're reading this on or after the first Wednesday of the month, consider yourselves lucky because a combination of high winds and electrical storms has caused utility and service outages in my area and it's taking a long time to get repaired (I'm drafting this up in Notepad as of Sunday night because there's no internet, my data plan is running on fumes, and we can't get anything fixed until Tuesday at the earliest, assuming that goes well).
That's also why I was able to post the June Time Drops calendar but not promote it, so if the repair goes smoothly, I will have been able to copy all of this text, add formatting, and include a link to that post, where I said I would have an image in this post sharing the final view count for May 2026, and it should probably go right here:
Just...make sure I didn't give you a goblin heart by mistake, okay?
Grimm Universe #3
Featuring Goblin Queen
Granted, there isn't really much to talk about from my perspective aside from a few name references. But I'll do my best as I always do.
At an unspecified time in the past (because Venus killed the Goblin Queen in Bad Girls), the village of Yorick (alas, I knew him, the dead fool) has been ravaged by goblins (where's the Slayer when we need him?), with only one scrappy, female survivor whose skill and demeanor prompt the Goblin Queen into a flashback.
In the kingdom of Agentess (the name of which means a female agent, as in, a woman who acts in the interests of another, so it's a kingdom nominnally destined to be someone's bitch), focus shifts to a girl named Olivia, daughter of the Captain of the King's Guard, who hopes to join their ranks one day (not out of nepotism like her lazy, incompetent older brothers, but through her actual skill) despite Myst's medieval levels of chauvinism and misogyny to the contrary.
Most interesting here, aside from Zenescope doing the girl-boss prequel concept really well so far (especially with Belinda, Robyn, Britney, and Tiger Lily), is that Olivia's childhood friend is a brown-haired boy named Thomas. Whether this is meant to be a "small world" case of it being Sela's brother (he is treated as mildly important later, as if there was unfulfilled intent to follow up his appearance here in the future), or if Zenescope were just reusing common white guy names again, but like I say, it's fun to notice these things sometimes.
Whatever the case may be with this Thomas, the Agentess Kingdom is soon attacked by goblins because Olivia's brothers had to say a Bubsy, 
and they die thinking they have to protect her instead of fulfilling their knightly duty to the Kingdom because of plot convenience and medieval chauvinism. I appreciate that the issue doesn't frame their deaths as being her fault (like, she didn't demand protection or do something stupid to get in their way while proving herself; they were just terrible knights who got overwhelmed in a relatively confined space), and the issue from then on follows an imprisoned Olivia as she plots her revenge against the goblins. Good setup lore here, as Olivia exchanges words with an unnamed hag who reveals the nature of goblin hearts and prisoner nutrition (prisoners are each other's nutrition, if you get my meaning, and sometimes a goblin heart is snuck into the...food...to turn hungry prisoners and replenish the goblin ranks). The human skull bowl in this sequence is a nice Hamlet callback, too.
The only thing that could be construed as disgusting (aside from the mass murder and Soylent cannibalism, obviously) is the suggestion of what...happened...to Olivia between what we see in the panels and how it contextualizes her transformation into the Goblin Queen by the end of the issue (let's just say that after she escapes and slaughters several goblins, including the Goblin King who killed her father, the remaining goblins urge her to eat the Goblin King's heart because they're "already family;" like, best case scenario, her father and brothers were fed goblin hearts and survived as goblins so it's literally true, but Olivia was stated to have been tortured in some way, and with the clear focus on psychological trauma here, it's easy to make the inference that maybe the Goblin Queen and Robyn Locksley...share a particular experience).
Returning to the relative present, the Goblin Queen merely beheads the survivor of Yorick, saying she would have been "no fun" as a "plaything." Shallow analysis (and the simplicity of the average Hollywood narrative) would lead one to believe it is to protect her own throne and title. But I think it's darker, deeper, and more personal than that. I think it was to spare the young woman from the same fate of...abuse...and corruption she suffered as Olivia, and as uncomfortable of an analysis as this has been, it turned what would have been a bog-standard villain origin with flat characterization (like Pan) into something tragic and nuanced that still had badass combat paneling and decent dialogue. So whether or not you grasp its uncomfortable depth, Grimm Universe #3 is worth the read.
I will try to get the next (and last, for awhile) TBT '26 post updated as connectivity permits and have a Godzilla vs Biollante review ready for Friday publication, so cross your fingers and Stay Tuned for that and please remember to Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, leave a comment at the bottom of this post and any others you have opinions about, help out my ad revenue as you read because cable is expensive, and follow me on BlueSky, Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and LinkedIn to like what you see and receive the latest news on my content.
Retrospectre,
Out.
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