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Review | Fray, by Joss Whedon

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Fray, by Joss Whedon, Karl Moline, and Andy Owens

I pretty much grew up watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I also grew up watching old Dracula and Frankenstein movies. Without my mom, I’m not sure I would have become the horror movie fanatic I am today — and I definitely wouldn’t be the horror novel genre fanatic I am. Because of Buffy, I fell in love with Joss Whedon, and I have seen almost everything he’s done. (Did you know he wrote the screenplay for Toy Story? His cool points skyrocketed when I found that out!)

So when I found out that Mike’s coworker Ary is also a huge Whedon fan, and when she offered to let me borrow Fray™, I couldn’t resist.

Fray™ is set two-hundred years after Buffy, in a post-apocalyptic world full of mutated humans and animals, and without very many demons — but there are the lurks, the world’s new name for vampires.

Melaka Fray is the new Slayer, but doesn’t know it yet; she hasn’t had any of the dreams or visions that all Slayers get. When Urkonn, a demon, comes to find her and tell her of her heritage, she blows him off. She just wants to continue living life the way she always has, grabbing for a water demon to make a living.

But when her past turns out to be entwined with her future as a Slayer, Mel doesn’t have a choice. She has to embrace her Slayer strength and use it to fight against evil, or let her little village come to an end.

†

I loved Mel’s spunky personality. She reminded me of Faith, attitude-wise, and of Buffy because underneath the thieving and wisecracks, Mel has a heart of gold. (That’s not to say that Faith isn’t good underneath it all. Everyone know I love Faith more than I love Buffy. :D )

I also loved the beautiful artwork and brilliant color used throughout the book. As usual, Joss’s writing is a blend of humor and of a great narration that brings the world and characters to life. Even though the graphic novel was much shorter than a season of television, he still had a great handle on the world and characters. (And why shouldn’t he? Buffy is his baby, after all.)

I loved every second of Fray™. It never got dull, and the concept that the climax brought on was pretty interesting. The book really expanded the Buffyverse, and was pretty kickass for Joss’s first venture into the comic book world. (Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure it was the first, from what I read in the author’s notes and bios.)

I give Fray™ a “Freaking Rocks!” stamp and five big golden stars. What did you think?

The weekend of champions!

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What’ll it be: the requisite Valentine’s Day post, a review of the Friday the 13th remake, a review of the pilot episode of Dollhouse, or more drama than is healthy for anyone?

Michael and I stopped bickering long enough to go see the Friday the 13th remake on, well, Friday the 13th. Instead of being mean to each other, we strolled around the mall arm in arm (he even bought me clothes)! Instead of picking at each other over every stupid little thing, we watched people get slaughtered and listened to fifteen-year-old gangstas yell out stupid things at regular intervals. I didn’t want to see it at first (Mike can tell you all about our debate on remakes and sequels), but eventually my curiosity won. Besides, it was Friday the 13th! (And I figured I should be a good girlfriend and go see the damn movie with my boyfriend.)

Of course, nothing is ever perfect. We sat in the truck letting it warm up when the movie was over. The parking lot was nearly empty and it was kind of creepy. Mike chainsmoked his way through our post-movie banter. All of a sudden, I got a sharp, stabbing pain in my left shoulder — much like what happened after my cousin’s birthday party two months ago. This time, the pain was on the backside of my shoulder and the backside of my upper arm. Just like last time, it brought me to tears and hysterics. I sat there screaming like a two-year-old while Mike tried to figure out what the hell was wrong with me.

Just like last time, it was over relatively quickly. The weirdest part, though, was that it happened exactly two months after the first time.

Valentine’s Day was pretty low-key, luckily. Mike came over for cake for Lauren’s birthday, and fried dough for dinner. We went to Walmart for a few things and then went to his house. On top of the three shirts he bought me (see above), there’s also a mystery present he got on eBay that is en route to his house as I type this. I gave him his card, which apparently was not gay (I wrote him a long, sappy letter inside; everything I usually do like that is “gay,” according to him). We watched random TV and cuddled and stuff, and then he dropped me off. Naturally I forgot my Walmart bags in his truck, but I got them the next morning after I took him out to breakfast at our favorite diner.

Breakfast was nice but he had to go to work after, so we didn’t get to linger or hang out afterward (which was probably a good thing; I didn’t want to push our luck and have us start bickering again). I went to a birthday party for Kaylene, my goddaughter, where there was all kinds of drama that I don’t have any ambition to write about.

Last night I watched the pilot episode of Dollhouse, since I couldn’t watch it Friday night when it aired. It was an awesome episode, and I hope it’s just the beginning of how awesome this series is going to be. It seems that Joss Whedon’s writing has gotten even better, which I didn’t think possible. It was really cool to see him do something so different, and of course it’s even better to see him working with Eliza Dushku and Amy Ackers again. I can’t wait until next Friday.

All in all, it was a pretty good weekend. It could have been worse, right?