Issue 5: The Chain

[David]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
'The Chain'
Written by Joss Whedon



Buffy's new position as leader and figurehead of the world's five hundred most powerful women has made her a bigger target than ever before. "The Chain" tells the story of one of the decoy "Buffy" Slayers, a tale personally important to series creator Joss Whedon. Guest artist Paul Lee (Conan, Tales of the Vampires) pencils the first standalone issue of Season Eight.

Issue Guide:

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#5 The Chain

"The Chain" focuses on one of the Slayers used by Buffy Summers as a decoy to fool her enemies.[1] 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 Buffy decoy. 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.

Cover
By Jo Chen

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[Temporal Death]

This is an amazing example of the wonders Joss works. The one-shot was beautifully written, and the character was so relateable (even though I don't have girl-parts, superpowers, or the burden of slaying evil on a daily basis). I really loved the way the themes of self-identity were explored, and how this girl thinks she knows who she is, but in the bigger picture, she's just a Buffy decoy, just like all of the other Slayers.

This issue moved me alot, so I might not be able to verbalise most of my thoughts right, but the whole idea of the difference one person makes and how that difference is received by worlds, both big and small, is quite powerfully potrayed in this issue.

But why me?

Did I get the hardest, darkest path to walk 'cause I'm strong, I'm good, I can handle the burden?
Or am I weak, expendable. The one that won't be missed.

The truth?

There is no truth. There's just what you believe.

We see the girl (whom I believe is anonymus) perform heroic actions such as saving a jock from the truck, taking a bite from a vamp for a fellow slayer, and even going down into the Underworld to save a clan of fairies and slugs... to die and be forgotten. To her, it was important to feel like she made a difference, and I think it was interesting how she deemed her final act more important than that of saving the redhead Slayer, and yet, she will still be remembered more by the one redhead she saved than the rest of the world. So what does your significance as an individual really come down to? What you deem yourself to be, or what another sees you as?

Did I make any sense? Any sense at all?