From the back cover:
Hundreds of years in the future, Manhattan has become a deadly slum, run by mutant crime lords and disinterested cops. Stuck in the middle is a young girl who thought she had no future until she learns she has a great destiny. In a world so poisoned that it doesn’t notice the monsters on its streets, how can a street kid like Fray unite a fallen city against a demonic plot to consume mankind?
Review:
This trade paperback combines all eight chapters in the story of Melaka Fray, futuristic slayer chick (Joss writes in a prologue how excited he was that the futuristic setting allowed him to use flying cars). The story is good, with its share of surprises, and the dialogue is clever, silly, and everything one expects from Joss Whedon. Fray talks rather like Faith, and is a thief, so that gives you a bit of an inkling of her personality. Her motivation seems to be “my life is hard and I want to kick some butt.” I really liked the character of Urkonn, the “sarcastic goat-thing” demon who informs Fray she’s a slayer.
What I didn’t particularly care for are some of the panels of art. Fray’s facial proportions and hair length seemed to change constantly, and I didn’t feel like I’d really gotten a handle on what she is actually supposed to look like. The best pic is the title page to chapter five. Of course, I had to like her blue/pink/green hair. She also had a spiffy weapon that looks much like the one Buffy acquires in season seven of the TV series. Speaking of which, I think this story was written prior to season seven, as Urkonn says there’s been “always one” slayer, so that’s a bit conflicty.