Buffy Season 8 - No Future For You - Part 1

When Faith made her first appearance on Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Third Season, she was a fractured presence, violent and vulnerable, distrusting and full of anger, making up for a lack of self-confidence and self-esteem with displays of outward bravado and ruthless behavior. Much like Angel, Faith never quite belonged in the Buffy universe of Sunnydale with its good friends and good laughs but unlike Angel, Faith never did get her own spinoff primarily because Eliza Dushku, the actress was unwilling and so the Faith centered, No Future For You arc is about as close as Faith is to getting her own story.

Written by Brian K Vaughn, of Lost and the hideously overrated, Y The Last Man series, No Future For You is much like Faith, a mixture of things done right and things done wrong.

From the start No Future For You Part 1 gives us a good deal more of an idea of what went on since the Hellmouth imploded than the Buffy centered Long Way Home run has. Where Buffy's Series Finale threw out a line by Giles about another Hellmouth in Cleveland, No Future For You follows up by showing us Faith in Cleveland along with former principal Wood, also drafted to lead a slayer squad, fighting the fight in grim urban surroundings. Wood's request to Faith to look after the kids of a single mom who had been turned into a vampire before Wood's squad dusted her, suggests that Brian K. Vaughn has done his research and in an understated way uses Wood's own status as the son of a single mom. What happens when Faith reaches the house should not remotely be a surprise after seven years of Buffy and five years of Angel, yet somehow it still is which is a testament to the writing and the atmosphere.

Unfortunately the rest of the story isn't looking nearly as shiny once Giles shows up and recruits Faith to a mission to kill a rogue slayer. The concept is a great one, especially because Faith is supposed to be atoning for her own murders and had until recently been a rogue slayer... but once revealed it dissolves into gimmicky territory as Giles begins preparing Faith to go undercover in British high society, complete with an accent and table manners. The absurdity of Giles playing Pygmalion with Faith is a perfect demonstration of how not to write a character. The slayer whom Faith is meant to kill, Lady Genevive Savidge (a rather unsubtle play on savage), is an even sillier character, a member of the British aristocracy who in the 21st century still barks about "commoners" touching her. Even her murder of a slayer can't help but make her look any more credible as an opponent for Faith.

Considering that Brian K. Vaughn spent much of Y The Last Man assiduously demonstrating his complete ignorance of the cultures, military forces and customs of Japan, China, Israel and Russia, among other countries, you would think that he would have learned his lesson this time around, instead of jaunting off with Faith to Merry Olde England for another round of making readers wince.

What quickly becomes all too obvious is that not only does Brian K. Vaughn lack Joss Whedon's deft touch or his ability to write dialogue more complicated than simple exposition that actually reads like a real back and forth, but he brings little else to the table to compensate for it. Brian K. Vaughn's humor is a blunt object, lost to subtlety and more interested in making sure you don't miss the joke than in going for anything more sophisticated than that. And that makes No Future For You all too often a paint by numbers production. Given the same material, the average writer would produce something very similar right down to the grotesque overuse of "Sodding" as a British punch line to deriving Faith's story from the plot of Miss Congeniality and lacking any substance or life

A second major problem with No Future For You is the art. Georges Jeanty did a capable job on Long Way Home, yet on No Future For You he seems constitutionally unable to draw Faith, which is a problem because Faith is the main character in No Future For You. Instead Jeanty seems to insist on making Faith as ugly as possible, drawing her with a strange squint or a ratty expression, slumped and at times with a completely different physique. Jeanty's art on Long Way Home wasn't always faithful to the characters but his work in No Future For You is simply awful. The occasional concept is well penciled but when it comes to the people, Georges Jeanty seems to have been overworked. Lady Genevive Savidge looks downright masculine. I actually had to read two pages on to realize which of the two characters in the scene was supposed to be female. Giles looks twenty years younger. Only Xander and Wood seem to look about right and Buffy falls within acceptable margins in her brief reappearance within the pages of Buffy Season 8 No Future For You Part One.

With Brian K. Vaughn's run on the No Future For You arc coming on the heels of Joss Whedon's home run with the first arc of Buffy Season 8, it is rather clear that No Future For You needs to improve a good deal to be able to measure up to it. Faith was always a character with a lot of potential and a comic book arc really gives writers the chance to push her all the way to the edge. Time will tell if No Future For You really will go on to push the boundaries or will simply deliver a formulaic story. Considering the rather mediocre storytelling of Y The Last Man, I do not have a lot of confidence in Brian K. Vaughn being able to pull this off and truth be told I never did. But I can only hope that whatever the average quality of the issues, the rest of No Future For You will be a worthwhile read because we have three more issues ahead and the next Joss Whedon penned issue will not be arriving until 2008.

Make the most of it.