FRAY. Buffyverse Term/Concept/Idea/Intratext.
Fray was initially published as an eight-issue mini-series by Dark Horse Comics. It was written by Joss Whedon with artwork by Karl Moline. Moline has also worked for Marvel (2099: World of Tomorrow), CrossGen (Scion, Route 666 and Forge) and Harris Comics (Vampirella Strikes). Colorist Dave Stewart won the 2003 Eisner award for his work on various comics including Hellboy: Third Wish, The Amazing Screw-on Head, Star Wars: Empire (Dark Horse); Human Target: Final Cut, Doom Patrol (DC/Vertigo); Tom Strong (ABC); Captain America (Marvel). Colorist and letterist Michelle Madsen has worked on various comics for Dark Horse including the Buffy series, Star Wars Tales and Hellboy. Inker Andy Owens’s credits include the Angel series for Dark Horse, Batman and Superman (DC) and Magneto: Dark Seduction (Marvel).
Scott Stuart Allie of Dark Horse Comics discussed the possibility of a creator-owned project with Joss back in 1999 and describes the genesis of Fray on the Dark Horse site:
All of Joss's film and television experience, not to mention his years of reading comics, have gone into this book.
The first issue of Fray came out on 6 June 2001. It was swiftly followed by issues two (4 July 2001) and three (1 August 2001) but, whilst issues four (17 October 2001) and five (5 December 2001) were slightly late, the final three issues were massively delayed by Whedon’s other commitments with issue six appearing on 27 March 2002 and seven and eight a full year later (23 April 2003, 6 August 2003).
Issue One
All eight issues have been brought together in a trade paperback and limited hardback edition (26 November 2003).
In an interview with Dark Horse Comics Whedon describes Fray as an adventure story rather than a horror story. It is set in a dystopian future riddled with radiation and disease, and populated by the masses who suffer the ill fate of mutation. Vampires (known as "lurks"), demons and other grim, supernatural threats inhabit the shadows. (1) Vampirism is considered a disease as nobody really knows what they are, including the Slayer, an incredibly tough street kid and professional thief, Melaka Fray. As Whedon notes in a nod to Season Seven of Buffy:
The implication being that something happened in the 21st century that sort of made them all go away and no more is ever said about that. But, though no Slayer has actually been called, the watchers' counsel is still around and it has become a bunch of insane, drooling idiots, So, Fray is basically someone who has always had this power in her, but she was never trained and never "called". She's never had an outlet for her power. […] But Melaka has a sort of primal terror of Lurks that she can never admit to herself and, she is also kind of self-destructive. […] So in a sense, Fray is a Slayer without any "Slayer sense", or any sense of what that might even be. She has the strength, she has the power, but she doesn't have the same sort of connection to all of it that Buffy and other Slayers have had.
However, in issue five it is revealed that Melaka’s twin brother Harth who leads the "lurks" has had dreams of previous slayers. He has inherited the prescience and understanding, whilst Melaka has the strength. She is the first Slayer to be called for two hundred years. As her watcher immolates himself, it is left to an ancient demon Urkonn, who has his own shadowy agenda, to train her to prevent the coming apocalypse that will be caused by Harth opening the gateway (Hellmouth?) between the human and demon realms. He gives Melaka a weapon forged eons ago for the Slayer that has been lost for centuries. It is the scythe wielded by Buffy in Season Seven’s " End of Days" and "Chosen":
A full synopsis of the series and analysis of each issue can be found at the very comprehensive Fray fanpage:
http://geocities.com/josswhedon_fray/webpage/fray.html
A Fray story, "Tales", was included in the collection Tales of the Slayers published by Titan Books (December 2001). It was intended to come out after the series and narrates how Melaka finds the Watchers’ Diaries.
Note
1. Angel and Spike are often described in Buffy and Angel as lurking/lurky.
Assigned to Nancy Gobatto.
