Fray by Joss Whedon Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Fray
Book Review: Fray kicks butt!!
Summary: 4 Stars
I enjoyed reading this book because I am a big fan of Sci Fi Fantasy genre. Joss Whedon, the author, does a great job creating characters that are dark and mysterious. Melaka Fray is described by Whedon as a hotshot, lower class, woman but has a dark past. The settings are also very cool. Whedon has a way of creating futuristic, demonic environments. He accomplishes this by using concepts that seem to work well in another of his futuristic environments from the Serenity series. Whedon is also famous for working on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series which some of the concepts show up a lot in this graphic novel. The plot really moves along with a lot of action with Fray killing vampires with ease and style. Artwork, created by Karl Moline and Andy Owens is awesome. The character poses were amazing and so were the environments. The action and art were all very dramatic. I only wish it was more of a series of comics like the original Buffy series. I would suggest this comic for young adults and Buffy and vampire fans. So I give this book four stars.-Joshua ClarkeBook Review: Fray the Vampire Slayer
Summary: 4 Stars
I have officially been converted. I can now say that I'm a Joss Whedon fan. I never watched his previous vampire sagas, Buffy and Angel, however, I did catch his excellent series Firefly, his sci-fi series which was more up my alley.
Fray is also a futuristic tale, taking place 200 years into the future of the Buffy universe. It has been a very long time since the last slayer, and the time has come when one has to be called upon. Enter Melaka Fray, a thief with a complicated history. While she's a crook her older sister, Erin, is a police sergeant. To top it off, four years ago her twin brother Harth was killed by a vampire when he was helping her steal and she has never forgiven herself for it. A demon named Urkonn finds Mel and reveals to her that it's her destiny to become a slayer.
That is the set up, and the pay off is quite enjoyable. The story moves along at such a rapid pace that it was impossible for me to get bored. Whedon's writing is very cinematic with plenty of conflict, twists, and surprises. We're introduced to Mel plummeting from a skyscraper and hitting every flying car she can on the way to break her fall. There's a lot of action in every chapter, but plenty of humor, drama and witty dialog in between to balance it out and keep me satisfied.
The artwork by Karl Moline works really well. I had never seen anything he worked on prior to this. I always took the time to appreciate the landscapes of this alternate future, and he's just as adept at illustrating a good fight scene as he is at getting across a character's emotions through facial expressions and body language. Inker Andy Owens, does well and the colors are provided by Dave Stewart whose work I'm very familiar with who is joined by Michelle Madsen here.
A very enjoyable read all the way through. And if you need proof that you don't have to be a Buffy fan prior to reading this to appreciate it, then consider this it. Bring on the sequel!
Book Review: Fray-Hooray
Summary: 5 Stars
Come on.. its by Joss Whedon.. you knew it was going to be good.. the artwork is outstanding and just like his tv/film productions, pictures serve to bring out the inherent beauty and texture of Joss's ideas. Read it.. Own it... Love it..Book Review: From a non-comics reader
Summary: 5 Stars
Although I am not generally a comics reader, I bought Fray because I was interested in more of Joss Whedon's work. Luckily I was able to come to this story after it had been compiled into this graphic novel. Although I can't assess it in reference to other comics series or characters, I did find it a good work on its own, although its relation to the Slayerverse certainly made parts of the story more fun to follow.
What I found most interesting about this story was what it revealed about Whedon's preoccupations. Certainly viewers of his various television series will recognize certain character dynamics, storylines, and style of storytelling. In a television series it is often difficult to determine what any given person's contribution was or what sorts of stories receive approval for airing. Here, Whedon is able to write as he likes and the results are interesting to consider in light of his other work.
Overall the story pleases and leaves one wanting more. Which is what any writer should want.
Book Review: Fun but Unfinished
Summary: 4 Stars
Let me preface this by saying I'm not a Buffy or Angel fan, nor am I particularly familiar with the intricacies of the "Buffyverse". That said, this is a solid, fun comic book for those who like dystopian settings and strong heroines. For those like me, who aren't clued in to the whole Buffy mythology, the story starts as a pretty straightforward one about a young female cat burglar in a generic megacity of the future. While there are flying cars and all that, there are also extreme mutations due to the ravaging of the ozone layer. Our heroine lives in a slum, acting as a "grabber" for a weird merman creature while trying to keep out of the hands of her cop sister. While she's fairly reckless and carefree, she's also haunted by the death of her twin brother at the hands of a powerful thug years several years ago.
One day, a ram-horned, red-skinned, cloven-hoofed demon shows up to tell her she's a "slayer" and that he's got to train her to meet her destiny-which is to save the world. It seems that some powerful being is assembling artifacts to open a gate to another dimension, where many bad demony things live. Helping him is his vampire army (here called "lurks"), one of whom is the heroine's nemesis from years ago. It's not clear why the demon wants to help her, and she's rightly skeptical and dismissive, forcing him to prove to her the direness of the situation. After a nice buildup, the book climaxes in a huge showdown, with plenty of action and gore. Unfortunately, despite the exhilarating finale, the ending leaves most important plot points totally unresolved and the reader begging for a sequel.
Like Whedon's writing for Firefly, there's some nice sarcastic humor liberally sprinkled throughout. There are also unexpected twists and setbacks, along with healthy doses of futuristic slang. The artwork and inking are outstanding, highly commercial and polished, but in a good way. The artists' concept sketches at the end show how Natalie Portman's character in "The Professional" was the basis for the heroine, and just how influential that old 1st edition AD&D Monster Manual was! All in all, good stuff that leaves the reader wanting more.