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shadowkatOver the weekend I picked up and read the final chapter in the Brian K. Vaughn Faith miniseries entitled No Future for You in Joss Whedon's fascinating if somewhat flawed comic book/graphic novel rendering of Buffy the Vampire Slayer S8. The most interesting thing about this series may be the fact that it is amongst the few times that the original creator of a television series got fed up with television long enough to choose to continue the series in a medium outside of television or film, changing the series just enough to fit the challenges of that medium. (Has anyone else done this that you know of? Not sure Heroes counts since it is more or less a graphic novel come to life on the screen and tailor made for the comic medium.) While comics and tv series do have some things in common, they are at heart extreemly different. In some ways not even comparable. The thing about comics is you either like the medium or you don't. It's probably safe to say that the majority of Buffy fans aren't into comic books - doesn't matter, since comics don't require as large an audience as television does to be profitable. So even though, not all the fans of the tv series are reading the comics, enough are to make this series the biggest seller in Dark Horse (the series producer) if not comic history.
While No Future For You is far from perfect and has some serious flaws, read![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
londonkds for the flaws in British Slang and British Setting, it was in some respects more enjoyable than The Long Journey Home which I found a tad silly in places and out of character in others. [See my posts on Long Journey Home for reasons why.] Also I should add that of the four issues in this arc, this one was by far one of the best. Maybe not the best drawn (that would have been issue 8 or last month's issue) but certainly the most satisfying.
One of the best things about this mini-series is the title. It expresses Faith's fears regarding her own future and the rogue slayer who she is ordered to befriend and kill. The twist is that Faith comes up with a way of creating a peacable future for them all, well everyone but the rogue slayer, Gigi, who she is too late to save. But it is Gigi that gives Faith the desire and it is in part for slayers like Gigi and herself that she decides at the very end to go this route, with Giles following her lead. The teacher learns from the student.
This brings me to what I loved most about this mini arc - it had a clear character evolution/journey for its two leading characters, who happen to be ones that interest me (that always helps) - Giles and Faith. Their relationship is developed here in a way that the writers did not have time for in Season 7 of the series. (One of the problems with S7 was the writers spent more time on the "slayer potentials" and less on interelations between the principal characters - something they appear to be remedying to some extent here.)
In No Future for You - We get a bit more on how these two characters relate to one another and why. You get the feeling throughout that Giles sees a kindred soul in Faith - both gave in to darkness and both lived to pay for and regret it. Explaining why Giles, much like Angel and Wes before him, tell Faith things and show Faith sides of themselves that Buffy is never quite privy to. The final issue of No Future for You also goes a long way towards explaining a couple of off-screen bits that happened in Angel Season 5's Damage. In that episode, in case you missed it (if you did - I think you can still catch reruns in the wee hours on TNT), Spike and Angel find a rogue (read psychopathic) slayer who gives them both a run for their money. They eventually subdue her, but not without serious injury to one of them. Once they do, Andrew shows up and swipes her from Angel's team with the aid of a team of slayers. The puzzler is why Buffy didn't show up, why Buffy never spoke directly to Angel, and why Buffy doesn't know about Spike. (Outside of the obvious reason that the actress who played the role was unavailable and they had to come up with an alternative very quickly - one of the many distinctions between TV and comics. In comics you don't have to worry about actors availablity or for that matter what actors do or want. All you need is a good artist and a good writer and you're all set. If you want to know why Whedon chose comics as the means to continue his series - just re-read that sentence.) That is partly explained here. After reading this comic, I'm convinced Buffy's knowledge of the events surrounding Dana, Angel and Spike are sketchy at best, if non-existent. It would not surprise me at all if Giles told Andrew to keep her out of the loop for her own protection.
Of the two characters, Giles', whom we don't see all that much of, is actually the most interesting. Partly because we appear to be revisiting old ground with Faith. To be fair, there is a reason for this - they sort of have to revisit Faith's Daddy issues (The Mayor) and her issues with Buffy (you were my friend and betrayed me) to delve into what links' Giles and Faith and how best to handle it. Faith's issues are in some respects a reflection of Buffy's - Buffy's guilt over her inability to be a better friend to Faith, to have aided Faith as opposed to sending Faith to the Mayor, and Buffy's desire for a father figure to please and trust. Both girls were abandoned and/or rejected by their biological fathers. At any rate, what links Faith and Giles is the desire to redeem themselves and those like them. We see this desire in Giles via his relationship with Willow. And now we see it in Faith with Gigi. Also, in this issue, Faith's Daddy issues not only come to a head but in an odd way are resolved, with Giles stepping down from the male authority figure role for once and taking her hand as a partner, equal. She's no longer someone's little girl to put in a dress and ordered to kill - much like Gigi had been. She steps out of that role at the end as does Giles.
In the first issue, Giles hired Faith to do something he "wanted to protect Buffy" from - a view Faith understandably took exception to. But there's another motivation, revealed here as well as in that first issue, albeit briefly - Giles sees enough of himself in Faith that he knows what she is capable of and more to the point, he does not fear showing her that side of himself. Angel was much the same way with Faith. He could show Faith a side of himself that he could never show Buffy. You might argue that Faith is once again in the role of Buffy's shadow, but I don't think so. I think she's her own character here. Giles desire to separate Buffy from what he considers "dirty deeds" causes a rift to develop between the two characters, reminiscient of the one that briefly sprouted between them in Season 7 during Lies My Parents Told Me, when Giles made a deal behind Buffy's back to have Robin Wood kill Spike. Here, Giles has hired Faith to kill Gigi, a rogue slayer that reminds Faith uncomfortably of herself. The irony is that when Buffy does show up, albeit briefly and against her will, she immediately attempts to kill Gigi as opposed to trying to save her - it's Faith who stops her, when before it would have been the other way around. (Further proof that I don't think Buffy knew anything about Dana - also goes a long way towards explaining why Angel didn't want to give Dana to Buffy - he may remember all too well how Buffy handled Faith. I wouldn't put it past Andrew to have lied about Buffy to Angel. )
Faith surprises herself when she realizes she does not want to kill Gigi. That she wants to give Gigi a chance. Unfortunately it's too late for that and Faith, accidently kills her in self-defense. (She kicks Gigi backwards into Gigi's ax.) During the exchange the point that is driven home is how alone both girls feel and unloved. So much so that both clung to the first person that gave them love and affection - even if that person was a complete snake or scumbag, having already been rejected by the "good guys". Buffy echoes this sentiment in the issue, stating after her phone conversation with Giles...that alone time appears to be the only time she has any more. She's surrounded by people and friends, yet feels completely separate from them. Giles in his attempts to protect her from his own dark side, has only made feel more alienated. It's interesting to note that Giles continues to make the same mistakes in regards to Buffy, he continues to keep things from her.
I was not suprised that Giles ended up killing Roden, the evil warlock. Saw that coming for quite some time. And that Roden was the true villian of the piece, Gigi - little more than his puppet. Roden's attempt to seduce Faith to do his bidding was not unexpected. What was interesting is how Giles killed Roden - first with a knife to the back, then with the manipulation of dark magic (showing once again that Giles may be more magically inclined than he likes to admit).
There's also a nice symmetry here - the story starts out with Giles making Faith an offer - work for me as my trained killer and I'll give you a new identity so you can effectively disappear. IT ends with Faith telling Giles that while she no longer wants to kill or slay, she would like to find a way to bring rogue slayers back into the fold - a way to save them. A less violent way of handling an old problem. The Watcher method - which Giles attempts - was to kill the rogue slayer. A method that Buffy also attempts - by the way. But Faith offers a second choice - the choice that Angel taught her - to save the lost soul and in effect herself. Giles sees the wisdom of this choice and quickly asks to come on board, but not as a boss or supervisor or father figure, but as a partner. A John Steed to Faith's MRs. Peel. ( The reference that was clearly lost on Faith - is to the old Avengers spy series - Steed and Peel are completely platonic. Steed talks, manipulates, persuades, while Peel does the ass-kicking. Part of the popularity was the reversal of traditional gender roles).
Giles request shows great growth in that character...surprising growth actually, making me wish I could get a bit more of Giles in the books. They use him as sparingly in the comics as they did in the latter seasons of the series. And Faith - well we finally see the character come to grips with what she did and more importantly her anger with Buffy for not trying to save her. In her by-play with Gigi, we see her relive some of her own past with Buffy. Here, like Buffy, she ends up killing the rogue slayer in self-defense. Traumatized by the action. As she sagely tells Giles, it does not get easier. And you get the feeling by the final reel, that both are equally tired of the bloodshed.
If there were any doubts regarding their decision to save rogue slayers - these are silenced by the final pages of the issue - where "Twilight" finally makes an appearance. Twilight is against magic and wants to return the world to the realm of the non-magical, which is odd considering how they keep using magic to take Buffy down. (A great twist would be to make the masked head of Twilight - Riley. But I can't imagine Whedon doing that - also it doesn't really track. Can't see Riley going quite that dark. Self-righteous, yes. But...wanting to kill Buffy? No.) Not quite sure what Whedon is up to regarding the whole Twilight bit.
What did not work for me in the issue? The setting doesn't quite work. It feels a tad too much like it has been ripped out of an old Barbara Cartland/Georgette Heyer Regency romance novel. Even has the name Lady Genieve Savidge - which I've seen two places, Marvel Comics (specifically the X-men's Dark Phoenix Saga) and the Regency romances. Vaughn has a funky view of the Brits. I've been to England quite a few times during the 1980s, and I don't remember it being or sounding like that. Granted it could have changed during the intervening years - but from what I've seen of the Brits on my flist, I seriously doubt it. Didn't bug me that much - mostly found the allusions to Regency romances amusing (imagining Brian K. Vaughn reading Regency romances just makes me giggle - and I'm think after reading this, that he's read quite a few, not that there's anything wrong with that - I read quite a few myself.)
Also Jeanty's art continues to bug me, not overly so, just a little bit. I mistook the character of Faith in the intro to be Willow. Why? She had red hair and looked like Willow. Wasn't until I actually read the thing that I realized it wasn't Willow but Faith. Also Jeanty uses a lot of unnecessary lines that make me crazy. I keep wanting to erase them. While in some pics, when we could use a few facial lines - there are none. I've read reviewers who've criticized Frank Urru's art yet rave about Jeanty's, this bewilders me. Is it because the women all have moderate busts and don't look insanely proportioned? (Shrug). They look similar, but hey at least they don't look like Barbie. Ah well, don't care if I'm in the minority, I still prefer Urru's artwork, I don't find it difficult to follow - if anything it's clearer than Jeanty's, and I love the blurred lines. To me, Urru's art is beautiful and worth collecting. Jeanty's serviceable. This and Lynch's writing may be why I'll probably enjoy Angel After The Fall more than the Buffy S8 series.
Outside of those two tiny and admittedly subjective quibbles, I liked this arc and recommend it.
As an aside, after reading it, I can sort of understand why Vaughn stated this was the last time he was going to write for a comic character he didn't originate or at least own. I could feel Joss's hand in the works in places that I'm thinking Vaughn might have liked a bit more freedom to play. Curious to know what was *really* going on behind the scenes on this one. The two appear to still be friends, so I think it was more in order of friendly bickering. Heck - I know online fans who have quibbles with Whedon's views on his characters and plots, wouldn't be surprised if Vaughn had a few.
While No Future For You is far from perfect and has some serious flaws, read
londonkds for the flaws in British Slang and British Setting, it was in some respects more enjoyable than The Long Journey Home which I found a tad silly in places and out of character in others. [See my posts on Long Journey Home for reasons why.] Also I should add that of the four issues in this arc, this one was by far one of the best. Maybe not the best drawn (that would have been issue 8 or last month's issue) but certainly the most satisfying.One of the best things about this mini-series is the title. It expresses Faith's fears regarding her own future and the rogue slayer who she is ordered to befriend and kill. The twist is that Faith comes up with a way of creating a peacable future for them all, well everyone but the rogue slayer, Gigi, who she is too late to save. But it is Gigi that gives Faith the desire and it is in part for slayers like Gigi and herself that she decides at the very end to go this route, with Giles following her lead. The teacher learns from the student.
This brings me to what I loved most about this mini arc - it had a clear character evolution/journey for its two leading characters, who happen to be ones that interest me (that always helps) - Giles and Faith. Their relationship is developed here in a way that the writers did not have time for in Season 7 of the series. (One of the problems with S7 was the writers spent more time on the "slayer potentials" and less on interelations between the principal characters - something they appear to be remedying to some extent here.)
In No Future for You - We get a bit more on how these two characters relate to one another and why. You get the feeling throughout that Giles sees a kindred soul in Faith - both gave in to darkness and both lived to pay for and regret it. Explaining why Giles, much like Angel and Wes before him, tell Faith things and show Faith sides of themselves that Buffy is never quite privy to. The final issue of No Future for You also goes a long way towards explaining a couple of off-screen bits that happened in Angel Season 5's Damage. In that episode, in case you missed it (if you did - I think you can still catch reruns in the wee hours on TNT), Spike and Angel find a rogue (read psychopathic) slayer who gives them both a run for their money. They eventually subdue her, but not without serious injury to one of them. Once they do, Andrew shows up and swipes her from Angel's team with the aid of a team of slayers. The puzzler is why Buffy didn't show up, why Buffy never spoke directly to Angel, and why Buffy doesn't know about Spike. (Outside of the obvious reason that the actress who played the role was unavailable and they had to come up with an alternative very quickly - one of the many distinctions between TV and comics. In comics you don't have to worry about actors availablity or for that matter what actors do or want. All you need is a good artist and a good writer and you're all set. If you want to know why Whedon chose comics as the means to continue his series - just re-read that sentence.) That is partly explained here. After reading this comic, I'm convinced Buffy's knowledge of the events surrounding Dana, Angel and Spike are sketchy at best, if non-existent. It would not surprise me at all if Giles told Andrew to keep her out of the loop for her own protection.
Of the two characters, Giles', whom we don't see all that much of, is actually the most interesting. Partly because we appear to be revisiting old ground with Faith. To be fair, there is a reason for this - they sort of have to revisit Faith's Daddy issues (The Mayor) and her issues with Buffy (you were my friend and betrayed me) to delve into what links' Giles and Faith and how best to handle it. Faith's issues are in some respects a reflection of Buffy's - Buffy's guilt over her inability to be a better friend to Faith, to have aided Faith as opposed to sending Faith to the Mayor, and Buffy's desire for a father figure to please and trust. Both girls were abandoned and/or rejected by their biological fathers. At any rate, what links Faith and Giles is the desire to redeem themselves and those like them. We see this desire in Giles via his relationship with Willow. And now we see it in Faith with Gigi. Also, in this issue, Faith's Daddy issues not only come to a head but in an odd way are resolved, with Giles stepping down from the male authority figure role for once and taking her hand as a partner, equal. She's no longer someone's little girl to put in a dress and ordered to kill - much like Gigi had been. She steps out of that role at the end as does Giles.
In the first issue, Giles hired Faith to do something he "wanted to protect Buffy" from - a view Faith understandably took exception to. But there's another motivation, revealed here as well as in that first issue, albeit briefly - Giles sees enough of himself in Faith that he knows what she is capable of and more to the point, he does not fear showing her that side of himself. Angel was much the same way with Faith. He could show Faith a side of himself that he could never show Buffy. You might argue that Faith is once again in the role of Buffy's shadow, but I don't think so. I think she's her own character here. Giles desire to separate Buffy from what he considers "dirty deeds" causes a rift to develop between the two characters, reminiscient of the one that briefly sprouted between them in Season 7 during Lies My Parents Told Me, when Giles made a deal behind Buffy's back to have Robin Wood kill Spike. Here, Giles has hired Faith to kill Gigi, a rogue slayer that reminds Faith uncomfortably of herself. The irony is that when Buffy does show up, albeit briefly and against her will, she immediately attempts to kill Gigi as opposed to trying to save her - it's Faith who stops her, when before it would have been the other way around. (Further proof that I don't think Buffy knew anything about Dana - also goes a long way towards explaining why Angel didn't want to give Dana to Buffy - he may remember all too well how Buffy handled Faith. I wouldn't put it past Andrew to have lied about Buffy to Angel. )
Faith surprises herself when she realizes she does not want to kill Gigi. That she wants to give Gigi a chance. Unfortunately it's too late for that and Faith, accidently kills her in self-defense. (She kicks Gigi backwards into Gigi's ax.) During the exchange the point that is driven home is how alone both girls feel and unloved. So much so that both clung to the first person that gave them love and affection - even if that person was a complete snake or scumbag, having already been rejected by the "good guys". Buffy echoes this sentiment in the issue, stating after her phone conversation with Giles...that alone time appears to be the only time she has any more. She's surrounded by people and friends, yet feels completely separate from them. Giles in his attempts to protect her from his own dark side, has only made feel more alienated. It's interesting to note that Giles continues to make the same mistakes in regards to Buffy, he continues to keep things from her.
I was not suprised that Giles ended up killing Roden, the evil warlock. Saw that coming for quite some time. And that Roden was the true villian of the piece, Gigi - little more than his puppet. Roden's attempt to seduce Faith to do his bidding was not unexpected. What was interesting is how Giles killed Roden - first with a knife to the back, then with the manipulation of dark magic (showing once again that Giles may be more magically inclined than he likes to admit).
There's also a nice symmetry here - the story starts out with Giles making Faith an offer - work for me as my trained killer and I'll give you a new identity so you can effectively disappear. IT ends with Faith telling Giles that while she no longer wants to kill or slay, she would like to find a way to bring rogue slayers back into the fold - a way to save them. A less violent way of handling an old problem. The Watcher method - which Giles attempts - was to kill the rogue slayer. A method that Buffy also attempts - by the way. But Faith offers a second choice - the choice that Angel taught her - to save the lost soul and in effect herself. Giles sees the wisdom of this choice and quickly asks to come on board, but not as a boss or supervisor or father figure, but as a partner. A John Steed to Faith's MRs. Peel. ( The reference that was clearly lost on Faith - is to the old Avengers spy series - Steed and Peel are completely platonic. Steed talks, manipulates, persuades, while Peel does the ass-kicking. Part of the popularity was the reversal of traditional gender roles).
Giles request shows great growth in that character...surprising growth actually, making me wish I could get a bit more of Giles in the books. They use him as sparingly in the comics as they did in the latter seasons of the series. And Faith - well we finally see the character come to grips with what she did and more importantly her anger with Buffy for not trying to save her. In her by-play with Gigi, we see her relive some of her own past with Buffy. Here, like Buffy, she ends up killing the rogue slayer in self-defense. Traumatized by the action. As she sagely tells Giles, it does not get easier. And you get the feeling by the final reel, that both are equally tired of the bloodshed.
If there were any doubts regarding their decision to save rogue slayers - these are silenced by the final pages of the issue - where "Twilight" finally makes an appearance. Twilight is against magic and wants to return the world to the realm of the non-magical, which is odd considering how they keep using magic to take Buffy down. (A great twist would be to make the masked head of Twilight - Riley. But I can't imagine Whedon doing that - also it doesn't really track. Can't see Riley going quite that dark. Self-righteous, yes. But...wanting to kill Buffy? No.) Not quite sure what Whedon is up to regarding the whole Twilight bit.
What did not work for me in the issue? The setting doesn't quite work. It feels a tad too much like it has been ripped out of an old Barbara Cartland/Georgette Heyer Regency romance novel. Even has the name Lady Genieve Savidge - which I've seen two places, Marvel Comics (specifically the X-men's Dark Phoenix Saga) and the Regency romances. Vaughn has a funky view of the Brits. I've been to England quite a few times during the 1980s, and I don't remember it being or sounding like that. Granted it could have changed during the intervening years - but from what I've seen of the Brits on my flist, I seriously doubt it. Didn't bug me that much - mostly found the allusions to Regency romances amusing (imagining Brian K. Vaughn reading Regency romances just makes me giggle - and I'm think after reading this, that he's read quite a few, not that there's anything wrong with that - I read quite a few myself.)
Also Jeanty's art continues to bug me, not overly so, just a little bit. I mistook the character of Faith in the intro to be Willow. Why? She had red hair and looked like Willow. Wasn't until I actually read the thing that I realized it wasn't Willow but Faith. Also Jeanty uses a lot of unnecessary lines that make me crazy. I keep wanting to erase them. While in some pics, when we could use a few facial lines - there are none. I've read reviewers who've criticized Frank Urru's art yet rave about Jeanty's, this bewilders me. Is it because the women all have moderate busts and don't look insanely proportioned? (Shrug). They look similar, but hey at least they don't look like Barbie. Ah well, don't care if I'm in the minority, I still prefer Urru's artwork, I don't find it difficult to follow - if anything it's clearer than Jeanty's, and I love the blurred lines. To me, Urru's art is beautiful and worth collecting. Jeanty's serviceable. This and Lynch's writing may be why I'll probably enjoy Angel After The Fall more than the Buffy S8 series.
Outside of those two tiny and admittedly subjective quibbles, I liked this arc and recommend it.
As an aside, after reading it, I can sort of understand why Vaughn stated this was the last time he was going to write for a comic character he didn't originate or at least own. I could feel Joss's hand in the works in places that I'm thinking Vaughn might have liked a bit more freedom to play. Curious to know what was *really* going on behind the scenes on this one. The two appear to still be friends, so I think it was more in order of friendly bickering. Heck - I know online fans who have quibbles with Whedon's views on his characters and plots, wouldn't be surprised if Vaughn had a few.
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no subject
Date: 2007-12-11 04:49 am (UTC)I would be surprised to hear that there were any problems between Joss & Brian, they spent quite a while picketing together on Friday (judging by the number of photos I saw of the two of them tete-a-tete).
Anyway I love your review, and agree...
I liked Jeanty's variant cover w/Giles as Steed and Faith as Peal (but of course Jo Chen's cover was far more beautiful).
no subject
Date: 2007-12-11 02:40 pm (UTC)As to this recent Faith arc in season 8, I keep flashing back to the season 7 Faith line, "Are you the bad Slayer now? Does this mean I'm the good Slayer now?"
The discussion in the previous comic where Buffy is wondering if she'll need to take the step into killing humans if the Army attacks her outpost is rather revealing of how Whedon has seemingly engineered a sort of turnaround in the attitudes of his two primary Slayers. I'm very interested to see if indeed Buffy is going to get darker and more morally ambiguous as her hand gets forced into these considerations.
I tend to view Giles as a middle-ground figure from a moral/ethical perspective. I think part of his reluctance to keep Buffy out of the loop is that his father-role to her is to extend her "innocence" as long as possible. I think he wants for her what he did not have himself.
Faith, on the other hand (as you've noted), has a great deal in common with him, and so his approach with her is to accept that what's done is done, and now all one can do is make the best of things as they are and not let a mistake (or three or four or twenty) control the rest of one's life.
Whether it's a mistake or not for Giles to shield his darker self from Buffy on an empirical basis, his actions seem understandable to me from the POV of his own psychology.