“Avatar, the Last Airbender”: Various Comics

Gene Luen Yang, Gurihiru, Michael Heisler Faith Erin Hicks, Bryan Koneitzko, Michael Dante DiMartino, Peter Wartman, Adele Matera

This started off as a series of reviews, one-by-one, and then I realized that I was doing each one in very short form, and it felt better as an omnibus post instead. I’ll go ahead and drop my disclaimer here: these are Bookshop affiliate links, so if you buy the book after clicking on them, I’ll get a wee little commission. Less of a commission than your local bookstore gets from each Bookshop purchase, though, because they’ve got their priorities in the right order. Seriously, buy your books with Bookshop, not Amazon.

“Smoke and Shadow”

Skipping around a bit, apparently—it seems that I read the first couple of Avatar comics, but missed the conclusion of Zuko’s search for his mother, so there’s a lot going on here that I wasn’t aware of.

I’m continuing to enjoy the way that these comics expand the series into topics that don’t fit quite as well in the show. In this case, it’s… the invention of domestic terrorism? Yowza.

This one was a weird vibe compared to the Korra comics. An interesting read, sure, but… weird.

“North and South”

Yes, I am in a completionist mood for these comics, why do you ask?

Seems like we’re doing a “the Gaang learns about realpolitik” arc, here? Another round of domestic unrest, in the Southern Water Tribe this time, featuring xenophobia, a Saudi Arabia-level oil find, and a little bit of “what do you mean Hakoda went on a date?” from Katara.

Again, interesting to read, but, boy, this sure is a lot of events going on in not a lot of book.

“Imbalance”

It’s the origin story of Republic City! I really enjoyed this—it’s setting up some of the seeds of what’ll come up in the first season of Legend of Korra, and showing a bit more of how the city developed into what it is by her time. Really enjoyable bit of world-building; check it out.

“The Rift”

Further back into the origin story of Republic City! I’m reading these all sorts of out of order. I like the thought that there’s geological features that came from spirit intervention—in this case, a big ore deposit because a metal-themed spirit made their home in this place. A fun concept.