Rich Morris' Comics - YAFGC and The ComixBlog

Oh yes. That kind of thing can smart for years.

On an unrelated note, funny bucket hlmet in panel two!

why does the queen look so old? she looks like shes 80 in human years, not drow

Because she's old for a drow? Even elves don't stay pretty forever.

As we've already seen: http://yafgc.net/?id=1717

arent elves suppose to be long lived? just a few comics ago they referred to her being young(at least in elven terms)

The age discrepancy is odd... Unless Lolth has been sucking the juice out of her, ageing her ahead of her time so Neph can ascend to the throne? *shrug*

Something else is odd. Okay, the Scorpii want to move in, so they sent a spy forward. Why spy on a bunch of teenagers in training? o_õ I have a funny feeling about this. It all feels... like a master schemer's plot.

Incidentally, is anyone else creeped out by the fact that the old queen is apparently such a dab hand at torture?

The fact that a bunch of teenagers spotted and caught a spy doesn't necessarily meant that she was sent to spy after them. Still strange that the spy is dressed in nothing like a camouflage. Just dying her skin black would help greatly.
And about the queen's torturing expertise -- I guess that Arachne (at least when already adult) could rip out that information much faster (if she wanted). Anyway she is supposed to have both great skill and talent at this.

P.S. Rich strives to avoid plot inconsistencies, and the queen being both old and young at one time would be a major one. She might be ugly from birth (although we never saw such examples among the drow) or, most probably, disfigured because of some more prosaic reasons.

Maybe she's got a disease or something? Might explain why they're already plotting to replace her despite her being only 80ish.

Maybe they gave her a disease? Hello, evil priestesses here.

And yes, you turned out to be right.