Warning: Contains spoilers for The Vampire Slayer #2
The most dangerous woman in the Buffy: The Vampire Slayer franchise, Faith, has returned with a brand new role in the latest The Vampire Slayer comic book series by BOOM! Studios, set in an alternate universe. This new version of Faith has a very different role from the original, which could finally redeem the character's dark origin story.
Fans of Buffy have recently been introduced to the Slayerverse, the franchise's own Multiverse, which allows creators to expand the story of the original TV show by giving new outlooks to familiar characters. BOOM! Studios' latest series, The Vampire Slayer, shows a very different universe in which Buffy's friends, to relieve her from the stress and emotional trauma of being a Slayer, cast a spell that goes really, really wrong. Buffy has lost her memories of being a Slayer, which the spell then imbued into Willow, who now has to take on the job of monster hunter without being really prepared for it.
In The Vampire Slayer #2 by Sarah Gailey, Sonia Liao, and Valentina Pinto, Willow meets Faith, a new Slayer who was "activated" when Buffy lost her status. Willow is struggling with the weight of Buffy's memories and is unable to cope with the duties of a Slayer. Faith, on the other hand, has been training for years, and she has a much better understanding of what being a Slayer means. What makes this version of Faith completely different from the original, however, is that she decides to help Willow, acting as a mentor and guiding her through her battles, taking over for the Watcher, Giles, who is too busy trying to reverse the effects of the spell.
This version of Faith keeps her trademark brash attitude that made her so popular among fans, but she is completely different in every other aspect in this new comic series. The original Faith only wanted the power that came with being a Slayer, without the responsibilities. Before she matured, she was reckless and unreliable, but in truth she was hiding her greatest trauma, the fact that she could not avoid the death of her own Watcher. In this way, Faith served as a dark foil to Buffy, an example of everything that can go wrong with a Slayer. The idea that Faith is now taking on a mentor role is really interesting, as she effectively gets a chance to become what she lost and atone for the event that originally set her off the rails. Willow can surely benefit from her guidance to fill the dangerous shoes of a Slayer.
It will be very interesting to see how this new dynamic between Faith and Willow will play out. Perhaps this Faith's attitude is only a facade, and she is hiding her worst secrets just like she did in the TV show. The final panel of the issue shows Faith meeting Buffy for the first time, and fans are surely curious to see how one of the most appreciated relationships from the TV show will play out in this new comic series. Hopefully, Faith's new role as a mentor will give her a chance to find redemption for one of the darkest stories in Buffy: The Vampire Slayer.