No Future for You, Part One

No Future for You, Part One
Publication	September 05, 2007
Length	23 pages
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight #6
← Previous	The Chain
Next →	No Future for You, Part Two
Publisher	Dark Horse Comics
Writer(s)	Brian K. Vaughan
Penciller(s)	Georges Jeanty
Editor(s)	Scott Allie
Cover artist(s)	Jo Chen Variant cover: Georges Jeanty, Dexter Vines & Dave Stewart
Inker(s)	Andy Owens
Colorist(s)	Dave Stewart
Letterer(s)	Richard Starkings & ComiCraft’s Jimmy Betancourt

No Future for You, Part One is the sixth issue of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight comic book series. It was written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Georges Jeanty. Joss Whedon is the executive producer.

Synopsis

The second arc of our bestselling Season Eight starts here. Top creator Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man; Pride of Baghdad; Lost) takes over writing duties and dives headlong into what Faith is up to-infiltration, assassination, and nonstop Cleveland. The fugitive Slayer is given the assignment that could change her life… if Giles’s specialized training doesn’t make her want to end it first.

Summary

Faith sits atop the 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, but 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 in question, is seen training with a warlock, Roden. They had 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 Mark of Twilight they had previously found. Buffy confides that she had a recurring nightmare in which a monster says “The Queen is dead. Long live the Queen” and then devores her.

Back in England, Faith is dressed 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. Giles responds: “five by five.”

Continuity

• Faith referes to Robin Wood as her ex, revealing their relationship ("Touched") had ended.
• Giles mentions Faith’s attempts to forge a passport; she mentions having become an escaped convict for murderer after she breakout from prison ("Salvage").
• Faith sees Giles’ tattoo of the Mark of Eyghon for the first time.
• Giles recalls having an innocent person killed ("The Dark Age"), as Faith also had ("Consequences"; "Graduation Day, Part One").
• After training, Xander puts on a Sunnydale High Swim Team T-shirt; as he had years earlier joined the swim team to investigate the deaths of some of its members ("Go Fish").

Appearances

Individuals

• Rupert Giles
• Xander Harris
• Faith Lehane
• Mrs. Lehane (Only mentioned)
• Renee (Only mentioned)
• Roden
• Genevieve Savidge
• Buffy Summers
• Twilight (Only in visions)
• Robin Wood
• Unidentified Slayer

Organizations and titles

• Slayer
• Slayer Organization
• Scooby Gang
• Sunnydale High Swim Team (Only mentioned)
• Twilight Group
• Warlock
• Watchers Council

Species

• Human
• Demon
  • Buski golem
  • Gargoyle
  • Nisanti demon
• Vampire

Locations

• Cleveland, USA
  • Hellmouth
  • Hope Memorial Bridge
• London, England
  • Rupert Giles’s residence
• Scotland

Weapons and objects

• Mark of Eyghon
• Mark of Twilight
• Stake

Death count

• Five vampires, dusted by Slayer Organization Cleveland squad.
• Six vampire children, dusted by Faith Lehane.
• An unidentified Slayer, killed by Genevieve Savidge.

Behind the scenes

Production

• The title refers to a verse from the Sex Pistols’s song “God Save the Queen”.
• According to Scott Allie in this issue’s “Slay the Critics”, “the entire story [of the ‘No Future for You’ arc] has its earliest roots in Joss [Whedon] and Brian [K. Vaughan] talking about doing a Faith TV movie.”
• This is the first Season Eight issue to not be written by series creator Joss Whedon; although, as he did in the television show’s episodes, he participated supervising the comic’s production.
• The issue features a cameo appearance of the fictional characters Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler from television series Doctor Who, as confirmed by Scott Allie in the “Slay the Critics” featured in Time of Your Life, Part Four.
• Giles refers to “the great bearded wizard of Northampton”, a nod to comic book writer and magician Alan Moore. A statue in his honor appears in Time of Your Life, Part Two.

Distribution

• No Future for You, Part One was the eighth best selling comic issue in its publishing month, with 96,556 sales in September 2007 at comic specialty stores. It was also among the 300 best selling of October 2007 and April 2008.

Collections

• "No Future for You"
• "Season 8 Library Edition, Volume 1"
• "Omnibus: Season 8, Volume 1"

Pop culture references

• Faith mentions the children’s author Dr. Seuss and recalls her mother used to read his book Oh, The Places You’ll Go! to her as a child.
• Giles wears a sweater with the image of a Yellow Submarine after the famous song and video.
• Faith tells Giles she’s “the go-to girl for dirty deeds done dirt cheap”
• Gigi mentions luxury brand Louis Vuitton.
• Roden paraphrases the 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.”
• Faith compares Giles’ etiquette classes with the musical My Fair Lady.
• Whilst training, Xander mentions actor Kurt Russell and his roles as Captain Ron and Snake Plissken.
• When discussing their partnership, Giles asks Faith if she would like to be the Peel to his Steed, referencing the British television show The Avengers.

International titles

• French: Pas d'Avenir pour Toi, Première Partie (No Future for You, Part One)
• German: Ohne Zukunft, Teil Eins (Without Future, Part One)
• Italian: Nessun Futuro per Te, Parte 1 (No Future for You, Part One)
• Portuguese (Brazil): Sem Futuro, Parte Um (No Future, Part One)
• Russian: У тебя нет будущего, Часть 1 (You Have No Future, Part 1)
• Spanish: No Tienes Futuro, Parte I (You Have No Future, Part I)
• Turkish: Gelecek Yok, Kısım Bir (No Future, Part One)

Other

• This issue was adapted into a Season Eight Motion Comic episode.

Gallery

Cover artwork

Jo Chen main cover

Georges Jeanty variant

Preview

Quotes

Faith Lehane: “You can skip the friendly uncle routine. I ain’t your beloved Buffy, I’m the go-to girl for dirty deeds done dirt cheap, right? So what do you need me to kill?”