Buffy Season 8, Vol. 2: 'No Future for You' by Brian K. Vaughan

The following review contains spoilers.

Buffy Vol. 1 was fun, but had problems with character development. The same cannot be said with Vol. 2, which is everything a Buffy fan can ask for. The good dialogue and action scenes are matched with genuinely moving character development and dark, emotionally complex moments. No Future for You is what the entire season should have been.

This arc focuses on Faith, who is approached by Giles to kill a rogue Slayer. Faith resents that Giles only picks her for the job because she used to be a villain and isn't above dirty deeds, but she goes along with the plan because Giles promises her enough money to retire from slaying and live comfortably for the rest of her life. When she meets Gigi, however, she realizes that the rogue Slayer is a lot like she used to be: an angry girl from a neglectful family who sides with a villainous man because he's the only person who appears to care for her. Faith had agreed to the job because she trusted Giles's word that Gigi was "beyond redemption" but after meeting her, she throws her caution to the wind and decides to help her.

The interactions between Giles and Faith are spot on. My favorite moment between the two is when Faith sees Giles's tattoo from the episode, "The Dark Ages." Giles says something along the lines of, "Do you think you're the only young person to ever discover the notion of rebellion?" and makes it clear to Faith that because they both did horrible things in their youth, they have to make it up as adults.

Even more masterfully done is Faith's reflection on her past with Mayor Wilkins. It would have been easy for author Brian K. Vaughn to retcon their relationship into an abusive one, but he makes it clear that the two of them had a genuine father-daughter relationship. Even knowing that he was evil, Faith reflects that she still had a hard time looking back on those days "and feeling anything but love." At the same time, this volume doesn't romanticize their relationship, and points out that the Mayor being nice to Faith in some ways was worse, since it made her less likely to leave him even as he dragged her into murder.

And finally, this volume addresses Faith's relationship with Buffy. At this point in the series, Faith is as strong and experienced as Buffy, but Buffy enjoys a far better reputation because she always remained steadfast to her Slayer duties when it mattered. She's saved the world so many times she's become an iconic hero, while Faith, no matter how well she behaves in the future, will always be known as "the Slayer who once went bad." Here, their tensions again come to a head, and it's wonderful to see how their rivalry has continued to evolve since their high school days.

In short, this volume is beautiful for Faith and explores her past, present, and future. Memories of Buffy and the Mayor force her to reflect on the past, and Gigi and Giles give her incentive to continue working as a Slayer in the future. Complex themes of redemption and responsibility fill the volume in between action scenes and sharp dialogue.

At the end of volume, Faith and Giles become a team, dedicated to traveling the world and bringing back lost Slayers. There is almost nothing bad in this volume...it's just a pity that the next volume stops following them to focus on teleporting Japanese vampires.