Buffy The Vampire Slayer 2: No Future for You [Anglais] [Broché]

Warning! Spoilers ahead!

This Faith arc is the second major story to be told in BUFFY Season 8 and is a wonderful spin on Faith's own story.

Anyone who has seen BUFFY knows the story of Faith (and not merely in Andrew's fanciful version from "Bad Girls" in Season Seven). Faith is essentially what you get when someone from a broken home with all the attendant emotional difficulties becomes a slayer. Without a stable support network, in Season Three Faith falls prey to the Mayor, who gives her the kind of fatherly care she received from no other place. Largely thanks to Angel, she gradually gets her life back under control, but even so she remains an outsider compared to Buffy and her gang of new slayers.

In "No Future for You" Giles approaches Faith with a proposition. One of the new slayers had been killing other slayers. If Faith could get close to her and kill her, he would give Faith financial backing to go anywhere she wanted. What follows is a tragic story as Faith realizes that the killer slayer had been profoundly misinformed about Buffy (who she intended to kill). Instead of killing her, she hopes to give her the kind of second chance that Angel had given her. Unfortunately her good intentions are for naught, resulting not only in the new slayer's death, but in Buffy becoming more suspicious than ever of Faith's good intentions. Giles, however, understands more fully the nature of the situation, and with a newfound respect for how much Faith has grown as a person, asks her to team with him to take care of other challenging situations in the future regarding out of control slayers.

"No Future for You" was written by comics superstar Brian K. Vaughan, author of some of the best graphic work of the past few years, including PRIDE OF BAGHDAD, the wonderful series Y: THE LAST MAN, and, an especial favorite of mine, THE RUNAWAYS, Marvel's youngest and hippest group of superheroes. Anyone who has read THE RUNAWAYS will instantly sense how deeply it was influenced by BUFFY. So it was natural for Whedon to ask Vaughan to write one of the arcs in BUFFY Season 8. Interestingly, while Vaughan was writing "No Future for You," Whedon was taking a shot at writing the first post-Vaughan arc for THE RUNAWAYS. I actually have some hope that Vaughan might be able to contribute a script for Whedon's new series DOLLHOUSE, but that could be difficult since Vaughan is currently serving as executive story editor on the TV series LOST. But in a couple of years?

I actually preferred this arc to the first group of issues written by Whedon. Those were very good, but not quite as focused as these. But as Michael Scott might say, "They're all good."

Some fans were on the fence about the first volume of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight. If "No Future For You," the second volume of the series, can't pull them off that fence and over to the rabid fan-boy/girl side, then nothing can, because this is just a solid, solid book.

Brian K. Vaughan takes on writing duties for the main part of this volume, the titular "No Future for You" miniseries. In the story, we catch up with Faith, who is still adjusting to living live as one of the good guys. Like most Joss Whedon (and Brian K. Vaughan, for that matter) works, this is a dark book with a lot of moral ambiguity that perfectly suits Faith and Giles, who is also a major part of this arc. Brian K. Vaughan's writing is great and his intricate knowledge of the medium of comic books makes this a better arc than Joss's own "The Long Way Home."

The story has Faith going up against a rogue slayer, which has her reflecting a lot on her own evil days. Through flashbacks, Vaughan makes strong parallels between Faith's past and the main action of this story, which takes place at a "fancy dress party" in England. Vaughan doesn't let us forget about the Scoobies, who are dealing with their own problems back at the Scottish castle. Another big plus about this story is that the Big Bad of the season is revealed on the final page of #9 (the conclusion to the "No Future for You" arc).

Also included in this book is a one-shot called "Anywhere But Here" (written by Joss Whedon), which is been one of the fan favorites from Season Eight. Artist Cliff Richards (the artist who drew many of the old Buffy comics) takes on art duties for this one issue, which shows Buffy and Willow having a very revealing heart-to-heart conversation... while they go up against a demon that causes reality to buckle around it. This issue alone is worth the price, because not only is it the best example of Joss's writing we've seen up until that point, but it's also a "very special issue" because it pays tribute to a disabled fan of the show who won a Buffy contest. Further comments on the artwork and stories of the individual five issues can be found here: Buffy #6, Buffy #7, Buffy #8, Buffy #9, and Buffy #10.

Overall, this isn't only a book that every Buffy fan should have, it's something that every fan of graphic storytelling should own. It's a perfect example of why this is such a great medium and how the comic book has evolved. It packs an emotional wallop, it's true to the heart of the show, and it's written by two great writers.

9/10

For me, this is the best one of the Buffy Season 8 so far. I love the stories with Faith and that no matter how good Faith's intentions are, she always ends up with her face meeting Buffy's fist. I also love the idea that Giles and Faith will team up in the future to protect Buffy from those things that she just shouldn't need to deal with.