Fray

Because COVID-19 has caused a major disruption in new comic books, for the next few weeks Scoop will reexamine issues, runs, trades, and titles that are already available. We’ll take a look at perennial classics, current titles we are enjoying, significant runs, and our overall favorite books to suggest some new reading material or inspire fellow comic fans to dust off the old favorites. And if you live near a comic shop that’s still open during this time, we hope our suggestions will prompt you to check out their back issue and collected edition inventory.

Fray
Dark Horse Comics; $19.99

Through Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon created a new world of good versus evil wherein a young girl is chosen from each generation to be the Slayer, to fight vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness. Whedon, along with penciler Karl Moline and inker Andy Owens, expanded on this concept with the limited series Fray.

Melaka Fray is a Slayer living centuries in the future of New York City where the divide between the rich and poor is drastic, and slayers are no longer properly trained by Watchers. When vampires start taking a bigger bite out of the Big Apple, Fray, who is a professional thief, is called to stop their spread. Lacking a Watcher’s Council, a group of neutral demons send the demon Urkonn to guide and prepare her for what’s to come.

Fray embraces the tenets of Buffy, positioning Fray as a reluctant hero who excels because she refuses to follow the rules. But, the story is wholly its own with somewhat comical future weapons, skyscraper hopping, and new lingo – the last of which is a Whedon staple. The characters are engaging, there’s solid suspense and action, and a big twist that hooks the reader.

–Amanda Sheriff