Fray by Joss Whedon, Karl Moline, Andy Owens

[katekintailbc]

Fray
by Joss Whedon, Karl Moline, Andy Owens

During a Joss Whedon-related podcast I was accidentally spoiled for the major twist of this story. But even so, I thoroughly enjoyed this strange continuation of the Buffyverse. It is set far in the future, and stars a number of strange monster-like creatures along with a girl who must be told she is a slayer... and who needs to do some slaying. It reminded me a little of the last (unaired) episode of Dollhouse, season 1, where we see what has become of society many years later where there are totally different characters and many changes. Even the vocabulary has changed. Demons and vampires are called lurks, for example. The fascinating vocab is one of the most appealing things about a Whedon story; the dialogue is always fantastic and catchy.

And the characters are irresistible. Malaka Fray is a strong, three-dimensional character. And her arc of discovery and action is a wonderful one to watch. The art is bold and familiar (I've read a lot of Buffy graphic novels) and very well done. The characters, the angles, the details are all great. And the way this story plays out is like watching a car wreck and not being able to do anything about it. You can see where it's going but you're not prepared for how extreme it gets and you can't warn the characters.

I must admit I teared up at one point. And I wasn't at all prepared for how extreme the story would get once the twists were done... twisting. Once again, Joss & friends impressed me. This is an exciting read and part of the 'verse.

I read this during my day after Thanksgiving graphic novel read-a-thon.