Fray #3
Ready, Steady...

Timeline

200 years after Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and a few days after Fray #2.

The Sitch

Who is the mysterious boy named Harth? As Fray #3 opens, the mystery cracks
open just a little wider. We find Fray dragging Harth away from a
rocketship snatch at a butcher shop. Mel's latent Slayer powers allow her
to escape by scaling a building, but Harth falls to near doom. Mel rescues
him to only meet Icarus on the top of the building they scaled. Mel awakes
from this memory dream to find Urkonn staring her in the face.

Sans 80s montage, Urkonn awakens Mel to put her through a training that
perhaps no Slayer has ever experienced, including a lesson in ducking. And
Mel has some ideas about her own training as well, introducing Urkonn to her
world. And the training isn't all physical. Urkonn details the history of
the Slayer line, starting with the primitive slayer. In the middle of the
training, Urkonn meets Gunther (Mel's boss), growling the entire time. We
find that Urkonn's suspicion is well met when the artifacts that Mel has
been stealing wind up in Icarus' hand being provided to his mysterious
master.

As training continues, Urkonn recounts the origin of the Slayer line and how
girls were called throughout history, including the tale of the last Slayer.
"A Slayer, possibly with some mystical allies, faced an apocolyptic army of
demons. And when it was done...they were gone. All demons, all magicks,
banished from this earthly dimension." Interestingly enough, a girl's hand
is seen being pulled into that dimension. Training session completed, Fray
introduces Urkonn to her world, starting with Loo (in perhaps the funniest
moment of the entire series), who tells Mel that Kettie Rawls has called her
a freak.

A few moments later, Mel is at Loo's parents bar, confronting Kettie, in
what becomes a knock-down, drag-out bar fight. Melaka, confident of her
abilities, tells Urkonn that this IS her training, right before being
knocked out of the bar window. In a split second, Fray realizes how little
she is prepared for as she lands right at Icarus' feet. End of chapter.

Thoughts

As I sat down to write out this review, I thought to myself, hey this is the
part of the rollercoaster ride where you're headed towards the top and you
reach the summit. It's that final moment of anticipation after which it's
nothing but constant speed through ups and downs. That's not Joss, though.
Joss takes us the top and then whips us around, slows it down, takes us up
another hill and then boom, we're off again. So, issue #3? It's the first
hill.

This is also the issue where we start seeing the mystery peeled back for us.
We learn that Harth is actually Harth Fray, Mel's twin and Erin's younger
brother. We find out a bit more about the mysterious collector who is
collecting artifacts. And why didn't Mel have the Slayer dreams? Plus, we
are given the biggest mystery of them all, one that never gets answered in
the entire series. What happens to Buffy?

This is also the largest bone of contention I (and many other Fray readers)
have with this issue. The explanation given to Buffy's completion of her
duties as slayer does not fit with the continuity of the TV series. I am
not a fanatical continuity purist, though I've been in late-night debates on
how the extended Star Wars universe fits into other timelines. This one
gets the old brain going, though. The embuement of the slayer-power to all
potentials just doesn't fit. I don't know the answer, but hey, why not try
to give some explanations anyways?

1 - Legend. The story happened hundreds of years before. Maybe the final
battle simply had been passed from generation to generation in a way that it
lost its original events.

2 - Cleveland. Maybe the final episode of Buffy only predates the events in
Urkonn's tale. Perhaps, in a fanboys wildest dream, the entire universe
will come together some day in EXACTLY the way this story tells. Perhaps
that Hellmouth in Cleveland provides an impetus to end the war. All Slayers
are involved in the battle - that would be mystical allies. Maybe Angel and
Spike are involved? Shanshu, anyone? Oh, and Wolfram and Hart provides an
army? And Oz comes back from...sorry, like I said, fanboy...

3 - Reality. This issue was written two years before the end of Buffy.
Maybe Buffy was intended originally to sacrifice herself one last time (Hey,
I've died thrice). And just maybe Joss changed his mind, opting for the
ending we saw in 'Chosen'. Later issues will reveal an amazing continuity
with the final few episodes of the TV show that you'll just have to read to
get to. As a side note, this is the most likely explanation for the change
in the story.

Debate. Discuss. Don't fret too much.

Again, I love the humor in this issue. With all of the preliminaries done,
the story adds a touch of humor through the pages. As mentioned above, the
interaction between Loo and Urkonn just slays me. The one-liners are great,
too. My favorite moment is after Loo explains that Kettie Rawls is going to
tear her arm off and make her look like a dolphin. Fray explains to Urkonn
"The next time I see Kettie Rawls, I'll hang him up to dry. Freak..."
"Children can be cruel." "Kettie Rawls is forty-two. Rutting idiot..."

And that final panel. Remember the look on Buffy's face when she found out
exactly what Glorificus was? Same look on Mel's face as she sees Icarus
towering over her, the lurk that attacked her and her twin brother. In 30,
we find out exactly whether Fray is ready, steady or not...

What's My Line?

Shut up or he'll eat you.
You sound like my fridge.
You hib my face wib a whole girder! Can we skib degsteriby?
HE SET HIMSELF ON FIRE! Maybe he was cold.
But how'd you get in? You have a big hole in your wall.
Do you have candy? No.
Mom, Melly's fighting to avenge my honor!

Rating:
4 of 5 (if for nothing else, the dialogue)

Main Credits

Created and Written by Joss Whedon
Penciller - Karl Moline
Inker - Andy Owens
Colorist - Dave Stewart
Letterer - Michelle Madsden