‘Goblin’ – Eric Grissom & Will Perkins (Dark Horse Books)


Page Count: 184 Pages

Like I said the other day, I’ve been trying to clear my shelves a bit and being me, have ended up with a proliferation of small TBR piles around the flat. Look, it’s a long process, I’ll get there eventually ;o) Going over the comic book shelves, I found far too many comic books that I’d picked up and then completely forgotten I had. This post is the start of me working through that pile before I let myself go out and buy any more. It’s the least I can do for ‘Past Graeme’ and all the effort he went to, buying those books ;o)

I’ll be honest, I’m not a hundred percent sure how ‘Goblin’ ended up on my bookshelf (it’s been a while since I bought it) but there it was and CAM, on Bluesky, suggested I pick it up first… So, lets go.

A young, headstrong goblin embarks on a wild journey of danger, loss, self-discovery, and sacrifice in this new graphic novel adventure.

One fateful night a sinister human warrior raids the home of the young goblin Rikt and leaves him orphaned. Angry and alone, Rikt vows to avenge the death of his parents and seeks a way to destroy the man who did this. He finds aid from unlikely allies throughout his journey and learns of a secret power hidden in the heart of the First Tree. Will Rikt survive the trials that await him on his perilous journey to the First Tree? And is Rikt truly prepared for what he may find there?

‘Goblin’ doesn’t do anything new but that’s ok. For a start, I wasn’t in the mood for anything ‘new’ yesterday morning, when I picked the book up, but more importantly, what ‘Goblin’ does is done so well that you won’t mind retreading familiar ground. I didn’t :o)

Rikt is on a journey, in more ways than one, and he proves to be a really engaging character to spend time with along the way. He is just the right mix of ‘on a mission on revenge’ and ‘no idea about the wide world’ to make that journey an interesting one. I’ll be honest, I’m not too keen on the whole ‘hero learns life lessons’ thing (never have been) but it’s done fairly subtly here and it’s all stuff that Rikt has to learn if he’s going to move forwards. I was cool with that :o) Add all that to Will Perkins’ gorgeously drawn backdrop (honestly, I just sat there for ages getting lost in the scenery, it was great) and ‘Goblin’ ended up being a really easy book to just sit there and enjoy.

The ending was a little too obvious for me but I did like the question that it raised over Rikt’s future and how he possibly may have felt about it. There is a sequel to ‘Goblin’ (and another one to come) but ‘Goblin’ stands well enough on its own that I’ll probably bow out here with no worries about not getting a complete story.

‘Goblin’ is a kids comic book (at least as far as Amazon is concerned) but a good story is a good story, no matter what. Not my usual read but I’m glad I finally made the time for it.

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