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102 of 105 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Joss Whedon's comic book adventure of a future Slayer, December 15, 2003
If the pivotal moment in the original story of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was when the blonde walked down the alley and kicked the butt of the monster that attacked her, thereby reversing generations of horror movie stereotypes, then the key moment in the story of "Fray" is when her Watcher shows up to train her in the fight against the vampires and our heroine pauses a beat (i.e., a frame with no dialogue) before asking "What is a vampire?" This is because Joss Whedon's story is set in the 23rd century, some two hundred years after "a Slayer, possibly with some mystical allies, faced an apocalyptic army of demons. And when it was done...they were all gone. All demons, all magics, banished from this earthly dimension." What happened to that particular Slayer? The chronicles do not say, apparently, but we learn that she was the last to be called. That is, until Melaka Fray.Fray is a grabber, who works for Gunther, a guy who has been mutated into a fish (this is a future where apparently a hole in the ozone and other ecological problems create mutations on a Stan Lee-like level), grabbing artifacts and sundry items of value, all the way trying to avoid her sister, Erin, a copy. In an interesting parallel to "BtVS," Melaka develops a relationship with and is trained by her second Watcher, the demon Urkonn of the D'avvrus, who looks like a demon with the lower half of his face ripped off, and who is frequently enraged by the young woman he is trying to teach to be a Slayer. This is because Fray has no frame of reference regarding why anybody should want to fight the lurks. If Urkonn cannot get Fray to accept her calling, then (altogether now) it could be the end of this futuristic world as we are learning to know it. The result is interesting and can certainly help to fill the void left by the end of Whedon's cult classic television show. Ultimately, the eight issue of Dark Horse Comics' "Fray" are about the calling of a Slayer. After all, there has to be something pretty interesting going on if a Slayer has finally been called after two centuries, and there are several familial entanglements with which Fray has to contend. Besides, you should not be surprised when you get to Fray's final battle to learn that once again Whedon is playing with our expectations, albeit this time within the context of his own Slayer mythos. He is also obviously setting us up for a sequel that should have more of a payoff than this first effort. Working with Whedon on this project are penciller Karl Moline, who created Fray's look, inker Andy Owens, and colorists Dave Stewart and Michelle Madsen. The artwork is growing on me, because while the backgrounds are a lot sparser than I would like to see in a futuristic setting, Fray's face has some nice qualities and you can actually see how she matures over the course of the mini-series. The back of the book has an extended sketchbook by Moline showing the development of the characters and alternative cover ideas.
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by Joss Whedon
by Tim Sale
