Buffy Comics

Tales of the Slayers
This graphic novel, which features short stories about some of the Slayers throughout history, appropriately begins with a look at the solitary life of the First Slayer. As she thinks to herself, "I am alone. There is the fight, but it will be brief. There is the beast, but it will be dust." A too-rare moment of human contact only serves to reinforce her alienation when a young girl brings an offering of food from a nearby village. She says the village elders are grateful for her protection, but they want her to leave. They're afraid of her. Rumours say that the Slayer is part demon, so the very strength that makes her able to protect them makes them fear her. But before the Slayer moves on, the girl says something that gives her pause: "They say that when you die, there will be another girl chosen. And then another, for always. And you will be in them and they in each other and you will never die."

The First Slayer ponders that as she walks away: "Confusion. Pity. Comfort. There will be others like me."

 

Joss Whedon's Fray
The First Slayer's origin was originally revealed in issue 3 of this miniseries. Melaka Fray (who will be the Slayer in 200 years) wants to know more about her heritage, and this is what she learns:

"The demons, most of them, found more hospitable dimen-... places, and left the earth to the mortals. For the most part. Some remained, hidden away. Some bred within the human community, their power weakened throughout generations. Some assimilated. And some... infected. It is not known when they first appeared, but the vampires were a plague. The elders of several villages met, calling for action. They invoked the strongest and most dangerous magicks they could summon, to create a power. A power that could fight the vampires. A power that lived... in the body of a girl."

Issue 49
By this issue of the regular series, set after S6, it appears the First Slayer has started to rethink the idea that Buffy must isolate herself from her loved ones. In fact, she takes the opposite approach to help Buffy snap out of a catatonic episode by reminding her that the Scoobies - Buffy's tribe - are depending on her to come through for them.

[ back ]