No Future for You

"No Future for You" is the third story arc of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight series of comic books, a continuation from the television series of the same name, and is written by Brian K. Vaughan. The story arc would be reprint in trade paperback under the publication of Dark Horse Comics on June 4, 2008.

Part 1
Faith sits atop the Art Deco Hope Memorial Bridge in Cleveland, smoking. After somewhat cynically reminiscing that her mother used to read Oh, The Places You'll Go! to her as a child, she receives a telephone call from Robin Wood. Wood and his "squad" are taking care of a vampire nest, but he tells Faith that one of the vampires they staked used to be a single mother. After asking Faith to go check on the children, he attempts to make small talk, revealing the two are no longer together, which Faith cuts short. Faith arrives at the dead woman's house and finds six children, all vampires. After quickly dusting them, she heads back to her apartment.

She finds Rupert Giles waiting for her and drinking tea. Giles needs Faith for a dangerous mission with high stakes. If she succeeds, he will give her a passport to anywhere, with a new name and an early retirement. Faith agrees, and finds out Giles wants her to kill a rogue Slayer for whom there is no hope of rehabilitation.

Lady Genevieve, the Slayer, is seen training with her warlock, Roden; they have captured another Slayer, whom Genevieve hunts and kills savagely with no sign of guilt, later demanding that the training be completed.

Giles trains a reluctant Faith to pass as an English aristocrat, so that she can crash Lady Genevieve's 19th birthday party and assassinate her.

In Scotland, Buffy and Xander are training. After Buffy questions him, Xander states that he needs to train so he can be Renee's sparring partner. After Buffy makes fun of his love interest, she stares blankly at the symbol of twilight from the first arc. Buffy confides that she has a recurring nightmare in which a monster says, "The Queen is dead. Long live the Queen" and then devours her.

Now in England, Faith dresses for the party while Giles gives her a last-minute quiz in etiquette. Faith appears at the top of the stairs in an elegant gown, ready to leave for the party, and asks Giles if things are all right, to which Giles responds that things are "five by five."

Part 2
Faith has a flashback of her battle with Buffy ("Graduation Day"); we see Faith's version of events.

In the present, Faith has arrived at Genevieve's party, with a knife concealed in her hair. She hears Giles through an earbud, but throws it away, saying, "I've got enough voices in my head already." When Faith gets to the entrance, she is confronted by tight security, inspecting guests who come to the party. Faith acts like a snooty rich girl, which allows her to pass in without an invitation. When Faith is inside, she pulls the knife from her hair, ready to attack Genevieve. Faith wonders why she is so nervous about this, when she has killed people before. Meanwhile, Roden watches over the party, and speaks to some of his flying gargoyles, telling them to be wary of the fourth person in Genevieve's receiving line: Faith.

In Scotland, Dawn and Willow have a conversation, and it turns around to the subject of Kenny, with whom everyone thinks Dawn had sex. Despite Willow's attempts to cheer Dawn up, she cries a little, when suddenly, Renee brings the message that Buffy needs Willow's advice on computer security.

Later, Faith is outside Genevieve's house, smoking a cigarette. Faith is determined to go back in and kill Genevieve once she has finished smoking. Genevieve startles Faith, who introduces herself as Hope Lyonne, daughter of the Viscount Avalon. As they chat about life and family, Faith slowly draws out the knife from her hair. Suddenly, Faith is lifted off her feet by Roden's flying gargoyles. She climbs onto one and sends it crashing to the ground. After disposing of the other, she faints.

In Genevieve's room, she and Roden are arguing whether or not to kill the unconscious Faith. Genevieve doesn't want to and thinks Faith would be a great asset as a partner. Faith wakes up and talks to Genevieve. When Genevieve mentions that she wants to overtake the queen, Faith asks if Genevieve is going to kill the current queen of Britain. But instead, Genevieve opens her closet, which is filled with pictures of Buffy, the symbol of twilight marked on one of them, and says, "No, Hope. Not Elizabeth."

Part 3
After discovering Genevieve is planning to kill Buffy, Faith realizes that Giles didn't send her to save the world from the rogue Slayer, but to actually save Buffy from Genevieve. Nevertheless, she continues her assignment, and convinces Genevieve that she has sided with her. They immediately start bonding, even taking a bath together.

Outside the Savidge Manor, Giles along with a freelancer is trying to break into the manor to rescue Faith. The freelancer then makes a good point, that maybe Faith has gone "native", and she's not working for Giles anymore.

Meanwhile in Scotland, Buffy and Willow are fixing up some of the force fields around the arena and discussing how they should respond to the danger posed by the army. Genevieve and Roden teleport Buffy from Slayer base in Scotland to their stately home. Buffy and Genevieve fight, while Faith watches from a balcony. While the rogue Slayer proves to be an accomplished fighter, she is defeated by the more experienced Buffy. As Buffy is about to deliver the killing blow, and Roden prepares to attack Buffy with magic, Faith leaps into the fight. Buffy accuses her of switching sides again, despite Faith's attempts to convince her otherwise. Buffy attacks Faith, and during the ensuing battle, Faith almost drowns Buffy in a swimming pool, but comes to her senses in time. At that moment, Willow teleports Buffy back to Scotland, leaving Faith alone and shaken. While Buffy orders Willow to contact Giles immediately, back at the Savidge residence, Faith sits crestfallen as Genevieve approaches and prepares to swing an axe at her head, realizing that her friend has betrayed her...

Part 4
The last issue of this arc starts off with a flashback to a scene in Buffy the Vampire Slayer ' s third season, between the Mayor and Faith. It shows how Faith currently views the Mayor, and that she knows he was wrong and evil. Once the flashback ends, the scene that ended in part 3 continues. Genevieve and Faith start to fight. After a short time Faith kicks Gigi into her greenhouse and the two continue to fight. Faith tries to make Gigi understand that Roden is wrong, and is steering her in the wrong direction, but Gigi refuses to listen.

Outside of the Savidge Manor, Giles and the Freelancer are still trying to break in to the grounds. Giles is phoned by Willow, and he's startled to discover that Buffy is on the other line, and is not very happy. She demands an explanation for his involvement with Faith. When Giles refuses, she hands the phone to Willow and tells her to "do what you can for him".

Back in the greenhouse, Faith and Genevieve are still fighting. Genevieve sticks her axe into a tree and sprints toward Faith. Faith kicks Genevieve in stomach, knocking her back and impaling her on the axe. Faith rushes toward Gigi as she dies. Roden appears flying through the broken glass and Faith begs for him to heal Gigi. He refuses, saying that Faith should be his new Slayer, and that she would be better than Savidge. He says that together they can make Buffy disappear forever. He hands her the "twilight" book, and she looks at it blankly before refusing his offer. Roden and Faith start fighting. Roden summons a hand out of the earth which cements Faith to the floor. As Roden is about to deliver the killing blow, Giles appears from behind and stabs Roden in the back with some garden clippers. Faith throws Giles Roden's book and Giles opens it and yells out one of Roden's containment spells. He puts the field inside Roden and expands it, which leads to Roden's head blowing up.

The following morning, Faith and Giles are back at the apartment. Giles hands Faith her passport out of the country, but Faith doesn't accept it. She says there are more Gigis out there, that Faith thinks she can help. Giles agrees with the idea and decides to be Faith's partner in this, given that he and Buffy aren't on speaking terms anymore.

Somewhere on top of a plateau (presumably Devils Tower), a helicopter lands and a woman named Lieutenant Molter steps out. She talks to a floating figure who calls himself Twilight. He is inferred to be the "big bad" of this season. He tells her that he was glad Faith and Giles killed his two "targets". He says that she was meant to start an ugly war once they were dead. And that his game had taken two pawns out of the game and that the queen would fall soon enough.

Writing and artwork
Joss Whedon and Brian K. Vaughan collaborated in breaking down the story, before Vaughan penned the four-part story individually. There were some presumptions that Vaughan would have difficulty writing the characters' dialogue, given that he wasn't a member of the TV series' writing staff. Despite so, Vaughan proved otherwise. Whedon himself was compelled to tell Vaughan what great lines he had written to Faith specifically. His writing, like the series', featured numerous pop-culture references. The title itself refers to a verse from the song "God Save the Queen" by the Sex Pistols. Other rock song lyrics are mentioned by characters as well: Faith tells Giles she's "the go-to girl for dirty deeds done dirt cheap," whereas Roden paraphrases Pink Floyd's song "Another Brick in the Wall" with the phrase "as a wise man once said, you can't have any pudding if you don't eat your meat." Giles, sporting a jumper with a Yellow Submarine design, refers to "the great bearded wizard of Northampton": a nod to legendary comic book writer and magician Alan Moore. Finally, whilst training, Xander makes reference to Snake Plissken, the eye-patch wearing anti-hero of Escape from New York.

Georges Jeanty returned since penciling the first four issues. He too included pop-culture references in the artwork, such as Giles' jumper. He humorously penciled the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler from British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Jeanty also references to past Buffy episodes, such as Xander's Sunnydale High School's swim team T-shirt; Xander had previously joined the swim team to investigate the deaths of some of its members in season two. In a flashback sequence in "No Future for You, Part II," Jeanty replicated the scene from "Graduation Day." He detailed the panels to the televised episode with such detail including Buffy and Faith's blocking.

Canonical issues


This series has been described as canon by both Whedon and various commentators. As the creator of Buffy, Joss Whedon's association with Buffyverse story is often linked to how canonical the various stories are. Since this story is part of the larger canonical "Season Eight" plotted by Whedon, it is considered to continue from the official continuity established by Buffy and Angel.

Timeline

 * Intended to be set at least a year and a half after BtVS's seventh season. The precise timing of this arc is currently uncertain.

Trivia
When discussing their partnership, Giles asks Faith if she would like to be the Peel to his Steed, referencing the popular British television show The Avengers. Faith then asks him if that is as dirty as it sounds.