Bad day. Started bad.Stayed that way.

Fray is an 8-issueComic Book series written byJoss Whedon. It's aSpin-Off of the work that made Whedon famous,Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Hundreds of years in the future, teenage cat burglar Melaka Fray discovers that she isthe Slayer, one girl in all the world chosen to fight the vampires, demons, etc. Unfortunately, things have changed since Buffy took up the stake; the Watchers Council have gone insane waiting for the next Slayer to be called, and her only ally is the demon Urkonn, who has reasons of his own for helping her. But there's no time for doubts -- the monstersare back, and someone is planning onending the world. Again.

Not to be confused with the bandThe Fray.

• All of the Other Reindeer: Averted. In a world where mutations and birth defects are common, and people deliberately modify their bodies through cybernetics, bio-engineering and drugs, a girl with Slayer skills doesn't really stand out. Even a rather large demon like Urkonn hardly seems out of place.
• And This Is For:

Erin: (after crashing a car onto Icarus) That's for my brother,dickhead.

• Angsty Surviving Twin: Though they aren't identical, Mel angsts over accidentally getting her brother Harth munched by Icarus while out on a grab.It gets worse when he's revealed as theBig Bad.
• Arc Welding: TheSeason Finale ofBuffy Season 8 has Buffydestroying aCosmic Keystone that is the source of all magic. Demons and vampires retain their strength, stamina and recovery abilities, and all the Slayers Willow called remain Slayers, but no one can use magic and no new Slayers are called...until Fray.
• Bald of Evil: Icarus, complete withBeard of Evil.
• Big Applesauce: Of course, this being the 23rd century, Manhattan is now simply Haddyn.
• Big Bad:Harth.
• Bad Future: Quoth Whedon, "The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and there areflying cars." It isn't exactlyV for Vendetta, but jeez...
• Bar Brawl: Mel starts one by picking a fight with someone who mocked Loo.
• But for Me It Was Tuesday: Inverted. Mel knows that for Icarus attacking her and killing Harth should have been Tuesday. So when they cross paths and Icarusdoes recognize her, (and knows that she's the Slayer) she realizes that something strange is going on...
• The Call Knows Where You Live: Mel pretty much drags her feet over the whole Slayer thing untilshe gets the crap beaten out of her by her now-undead twin brother, and Urkonn murders Loo, the closest thing she has to a little sister, to motivate her.
• The Call Has Bad Reception
• Catapult Nightmare: Mel, remembering her run-in with Icarus.
• Creepy Child:Again, Harth.
• Dead Sibling: Harth.Kinda.
  • Also,Loo.
• The Dragon: Icarus. Previously theBig Bad of Haddyn butDemoted to Dragon byHarth.
• Eldritch Abomination: Boluz and Vrill, who act asThe Man Behind the Manfor Urkonn , and Neauth.
• Extraordinarily Empowered Girl: Mel. Of course.
• Flash Back: To Harth getting killedand turned by Icarus, and the aftermath.
• Future Slang: To the point where Buffy starts thinking she should have treated the English language better in the Season 8 tie-in... The slight downside is that no one remembers words like "vampire."
• Mexican Standoff: Averted. ZZZAP! "I don't have a standoff..."
• Most Common Superpower: Averted. Joss explicitly states in the TPB that "I wanted a real girl, with real posture, a slight figure (that's my classy way of saying 'little boobs')."
• Motivational Lie:Urkon kills Loo and makes Mel think that the vampires did it so she'd focus on her training, then go out and kick some ass. It worked, but when Mel realizes the truth, she'spissed.
• Multicolored Hair: Mel.
• Parental Abandonment: We don't see or hear about the Fray siblings' parents. At all.
• Parental Substitute: Amma and Jove, Loo's parents.
• Reality Ensues: Mel has been killing vampires left and right, soHarth sends Icarus to finish her off. Big face-off between the Slayer and the monster who killedand turned her brother? Not so much.Erindrops a car on him.
• Saying Too Much:When Mel is rallying the people of Haddyn to fight against the incoming horde of vampires, Urkonn mentions that anyone who can't fight should stay inside for safety, since vampires have to be invited in. Mel then realizes that vampires didn't kill Loo -- Urkonn did.
• Shout-Out: AfterMel kills Ne-auth, and Harth flees, one of the ads is the moving soda ad fromBlade Runner.
• Tattooed Crook: Icarus.
• Training from Hell: Urkonn's idea of dexterity training is throwing stuff at Mel and having her avoid them. It doesn't go well.

MEL: You hib me wib a girder! URKONN: How many claws am I holding up? MEL: You hib my face wib a whole girder! URKONN: You were meant to duck MEL: Can we skib degsteriby?

• Treacherous Advisor: Urkonn is helping Fray stopHarth from starting theapocalypse because his demon masters aren't ready for it yet, and supposed to kill her when she was done.
• Twin Tropes: Mel and Harth, fraternal twins.While she got all the physical powers, Harth got the collective memories of previous Slayers and prophetic dreams.
• Undead Child:Turns out that when Harth got bitten, he managed to bite Icarus and get turned into a vampire.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight
• Waif Fu: Its aJoss Whedon work, what else were you expecting?

• Work
• Science Fiction Comic Books
• Comic Books
• Fray