Buffy The Vampire Slayer

As the spotlight falls on the vampish bad girl this week in Buffy #6, let’s put the femme fatale under the microscope to see what makes this psycho slayer tick

It pays to have a little Faith, as the fan-fave bad girl Slayer returns to the Buffyverse this week in a four-part arc beginning in Buffy the Vampire Slayer #6! Playing Watcher to the outcast Slayer and making his creative debut on the series with current artist Georges Jeanty is superstar writer and “BTVS” devotee Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina), who describes the super-powerful, super-sexy Faith as “my favorite character from my favorite show ever! Five by five, True Believers!” Here’s a little Faith 101 to shed some light on the stellar Slayer.

SLAYER INTERRUPTED

South Boston native Faith Lehane was the third Slayer to take up the stake in Joss Whedon’s Buffyverse following Buffy’s temporary demise and the subsequent murder of substitute Slayer Kendra Young. Raised in a broken home, Faith quickly adapted to the bare-knuckle, violent lifestyle befitting a Slayer. “I love Buffy, but I have a hard time identifying with characters who almost always make the right decisions,” says Vaughan. “It’s much more fun to write about morally complex kids like Faith.”

SHOT THROUGH THE HEART

Faith toed the line between good and evil for some time, but it was in Season Three’s “Bad Girls” episode that the Slayer’s carefree attitude finally took her over the edge when she accidentally stakes Sunnydale’s human Deputy Mayor Allan Finch! The murder shook Buffy’s morals, but Faith took an apathetic approach, and later joined the evil Mayor’s crusade for world domination.

A STAKE TO PICK WITH BUFFY

Following some moral support from Angel and a willful stint in jail for her past crimes, Faith later rejoined the Scooby ranks to take on the First Evil in Season Seven. Buffy’s decision to stand by her estranged ally put the bad blood between these two at ease—if only until the apocalypse was over.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Appropriately titled “No Future for You,” Vaughan’s arc sets up a fatal throwdown pitting Faith against rogue Slayer Genevieve, a Paris Hilton wannabe with more interest in partying than killing vamps! “When [former Watcher Rupert] Giles needs an operative to take down an evil Slayer by any means necessary, there’s only one woman to call,” boasts Vaughan.

“Violence, mayhem and a few jokes ensue.”