The Chain (Buffy comic)

Infobox comics story arc
title=The Chain


imagesize=
caption= Cover art by Jo Chen.
publisher=Dark Horse Comics
date=August 2007
titles= "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight" #5
notable=y
main_char_team = Buffy decoy
writers = Joss Whedon
artists = Paul Lee
pencillers=
inkers = Andy Owens
colorists = Dave Stewart
letterers=
cat=
sortkey=PAGENAME
nonUS="The Chain" is the fifth issue of the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight" series of comic books, a continuation of the television series of the same name. It is written by creator Joss Whedon.cite news | url=http://www.darkhorse.com/profile/profile.php?sku=14-661 | title=Dark Horse Comics > Profile > Buffy the Vampire Slayer #5 | publisher=Dark Horse Comics | accessdate=2007-06-10] It is dedicated to the late Janie Kleinman, a network executive with whom Whedon worked and admired.Citation | last =Whedon | first =Joss | author-link =Joss Whedon | title =Slay The Critics | newspaper =Buffy The Vampire Slayer #11 |date=February 2008]

Plot

"The Chain" focuses on one of the Slayers used by Buffy Summers as a decoy to fool her enemies.Dark Horse Reference] The comic is a stand-alone issue, and features no appearances from Buffy herself, although season seven characters Andrew Wells, Rupert Giles, Vi, and Rona play small roles. The story is told through parallel narratives, showing the Slayer's calling, assignment as a Buffy decoy, and death.

The story itself is largely narrated by the . An unnamed Potential Slayer, she is activated during the events of "Chosen". She is violently thrown on her back by the calling but then saves the lives of her schoolmates with her newfound powers. After seeing a commercial on local television starring Andrew and Vi, the girl finds the Slayer organization and "the chain" to which all Slayers are connected. While fighting vampires with a squad of Slayers, the narrator intervenes to save a fellow Slayer and is bitten by a vampire. Squad leader Rona identifies the Slayer as a candidate to serve as a Buffy decoy in an underground society of demons, monsters, and faeries. The girl is ultimately killed by the demon she was sent to deter, Yamanh, who is proud to have slain Buffy Summers. Following her demise, other Slayers drop in to dispose of Yamanh and his followers, who are engaged in battle with the underground clans of faeries, slugs, raven-like demons, and "leafblower" mystical creatures that the decoy had united against Yamanh. The narrator's final thoughts suggest she is happy to have saved the world and been part of "the chain", even if her own name will never be known.

Production

Editor Scott Allie describes "The Chain" as an important story: "Joss put a lot into this one. If it were an episode of the show, he would have directed it."Citation | last =Allie | first =Scott | author-link =Scott Allie | title =Slay The Critics | newspaper =Buffy The Vampire Slayer #4 |date=June 2007]

Paul Lee penciled the issue, proceeding Georges Jeanty, who returns the following issue. In one panel, Lee depicted past Slayers such as the First Slayer, the Righteous Slayer, Naayéé'neizgháni the Navajo Slayer, Nikki Wood, Elizabeth "Edward" Weston, Anni Sonnenblume, and the Chinese Slayer. In the same panel, season one villain The Master appears in the background along with a Turok-Han.

Reception

In a "Harvard Independent" review, "The Chain" received particular praise in a review which was particularly critical of the "Season Eight" series as a whole. Reviewer Truc Doan notes that "the one-issue story of a nameless slayer's death after she takes on the responsibility of being Buffy’s decoy, was Whedon’s writing and comic format at its best, creating webs of complex and intellectually stimulating meaning out of a few pages of little dialogue and a few snapshot images", elaborating to say ""The Chain" takes the personal and places it in a multi-structural universal, one where the metaphor is not only one of feminism but of war, of social duty, and of internal values pitched against an unmoving external reality as well. It’s the story of an ordinary girl, one you may have passed on the street without thinking twice about, and how she grew up, how she established an identity, accepted the responsibility that came with power, and saved the world along the way. That is what "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is about." [ [http://www.harvardindependent.com/node/177 Buffy the TV Slayer] , "Harvard Indepdent". Doan, Truc.]

Canonical issues

:main|Buffyverse canon

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 Whedon is writing this story, it will be seen as a continuation of the official continuity established by "Buffy" and "Angel".

"Season Eight" contradicts and supersedes information given in the paperback novels set after Season Seven, such as "Queen of the Slayers" and "Dark Congress", which are described as being set in a an unofficial "parallel continuity.Mata, Shiai, " [http://www.slayerlit.us/interviews/interview6.htm CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN INTERVIEW 2] ", "SlayerLit.us" (2007).]

Timing

*Intended to be set after "Buffy"'s seventh season. The timing is uncertain. It is possibly set sometime after "The Long Way Home", part 1 as Buffy refers to her decoy as alive, although Rona intimates that her existence is somewhat secretive and therefore the fact that she is dead may not have ever reached Buffy.

*Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:

References

ee also