“The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire”

Bryan Koneitzko, Michael Dante DiMartino, Michelle Wong, Killian Ng

What was I gonna do, not read the next one? Don’t be silly.

This wasn’t quite as queer as Turf Wars, but I did still really enjoy it. Kuvira is a really interesting character, and seeing some of her backstory was super interesting. The redemption arc she was going through felt rushed, honestly, but it is, after all, a graphic novel, so the pacing is different than a prose novel.

I also really enjoyed touching on some of the broader-scale changes taking place in this world. Two geopolitical things going on at once, in overlapping territory: the collapse of what I viewed as a USSR-analogue,12 and the voluntary dissolution of the monarchy in a China-analogue, to be replaced with democratic elections. Both of which are messy, messy things; the fact that they’re happening in the same place makes it even more of a mess. Good luck, everyone!

For bonus points, they also pulled in some dangling threads from the previous series. Yeah, I get that the Gaang was horrified by Long Feng’s mind-control program and tossed it, but… a whole lot of Dai Lee knew how to do that mind-control trick. It was probably written down somewhere, too. That’s an awful lot of temptation for a ruler…

Another great expansion of the Avatar universe; also, absolutely worth the read. Check it out.3

Mostly by dint of “Republic City is clearly a USA-analogue” and “season 4 was about the invention of nuclear weapons.” ↩

Footnote on that footnote: if you think plutonium is unbalanced in our world, spirit weapons are bonkers in this universe. So, you take a certain vine, electrocute it, and then it’s a nuke? That’s all it takes? Oh, don’t worry, the vines can only be found in one giant mystical swamp in the middle of nowhere- oh, wait, they also grow everywhere in Central Park. This is probably fine.
(The best take I’ve ever seen on this was in Repairs, Retrofits, and Upgrades, which I also recommend as a read.) ↩