by Michael Dante DiMartino, Irene Koh, Vivian Ng, & Nate Piekos
Avatar: The Last Airbender reviews: one | two
The Legend of Korra reviews: one | two | three
*series spoilers for Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra*
After rewatching Avatar: The Last Airbender and finally seeing Legend of Korra this summer, I was thrilled that her story continues in comic book form. This is a must read for anyone who was a fan of the series.
Korra was a more modern mature sequel series to Avatar, and regardless of which one you prefer overall, Korra took more chances on darker themes like trauma, complicated villains, and more romantic relationships. Korra and Asami’s relationship deepened throughout the entire series, but romantic feelings between the two were almost but not certainly confirmed when they held hands entering the spirit portal in the show’s closing seconds. (The creators since confirmed it was meant to signify a romantic relationship.) For 2014, this was still a big deal – and it helped pave the way for queer representation in animated shows like Adventure Time, Steven Universe, and most significantly, the She-Ra reboot.
Thankfully, volume one picks up moments after series finale…and I really wish we had another season to actually see Korra and Asami’s vacation and officially, finally, becoming a couple! It’s an adorable and genuine moment, and as they share how their feelings progressed, and now decide when and how to tell their community, feels very true to the characters. As a couple, they challenge and complement each other beautifully. And it’s so powerful to see them celebrated and accepted by mentors and friends, while also navigating the real possibility that the wider world might not be as accepting. (A mix of optimism and reality for today’s LGBTQ+ kids and teens.) And it’s important that Korra and Asami are central protagonists, not minor characters simply included for diversity’s sake.
It’s a shame that we couldn’t see this in the official series, but it’s also so, so wonderful to still see this next chapter – and not just in fanfiction, but as an official part of Legend of Korra.
spoilers this paragraph. We also learn that another character has been queer all along – Tenzin’s sister (and Aang and Katara’s daughter), Kya! YAY! Of course she figures it out right away; she congratulates Korra and Asami and even shares with them (and the reader) a short LGBTQ history in the Four Nations. (Also, Avatar Kyoshi was bi or pan? I believe it.) I can’t wait to see Kya take a greater role in the comics as a mentor to Korra and Asami – and maybe she has a partner and family we’ve never met too!
There is SO much to celebrate, even though there’s some bitterness that we’ll never see this in animation. At the very least, the first volume is written by one of Korra’s co-creators, Michael Dante DiMartino, so Korra/Asami as well as the wider story (more on that in a moment) is fully in line with the show. The dialogue, pacing and story is a pure distillation of the series – if you’re a fan, you’ll find everything you miss from Korra here. (And if you haven’t seen Korra yet, you have to watch the show before reading this.)
Irene Koh’s pencils are a little bit rougher than the very polished art on the show, but she still stays true to the show’s style and especially characters’ expressions. Frightened passersby, surprised gang members and others have reactions and expressions drawn right from the show, and Koh also utilizes multiple frames to show the movement of bending (there’s a cool one for Bolin’s lava bending). Koh also goes into new territory with Korra and Asami – and their tender looks towards each other are beautiful and almost delicate. Vivian Ng’s color palette is also spot on with the show, together the art feels like storyboards pulled directly from production.
While most of the volume establishes Korra and Asami as a couple, it’s remarkable how much DiMartino and Koh fit into 76 pages. In avbout the same pages as two issues, the team sets up a lot of issues, storylines, and new characters, including:
– New gangs and their leader Tokuga (who looks a lot like Sokka)
– Desperate evacuees from Kuvira’s destruction in Republic City (Zhu Li ftw!)
– Businessman Wonyong owns the land around the spirit portal wants to turn it into an amusement park, setting off angry spirits, some of whom are already unhappy with a new portal
– Bolin is now a cop and Mako’s partner!
– President Raiko is only focused on re-election instead of the issues going on in Republic City
This is a lot, and we’re reunited with most of Korra’s sprawling cast at the same time. DiMartino fits it all in admirably, and it’s nice to see that corrupt businessmen and politicians are still just as important to the world’s landscape as fun bending and villains. But overall, it may have been too many things packed into less than 100 pages – we don’t spend more than a few pages on a scene or new character.
If Korra’s graphic novels remain this length, it seems likely that many characters will get the short end of the stick, and it might also be difficult to really get to know the villains. Mako, Bolin, and Tenzin had very minor roles, and there are plenty more who only appeared in the background or had a few lines.
This concerns me a little bit because there’s so much the show didn’t deal with that could be explored in the comics. So many places to revisit outside of Republic City, including the spirit world. Too many relationships weren’t explored enough – we needed more of Tenzin, Kya and Bumi talking through their parent issues. Many characters stayed in the background including Tenzin’s wife Pema, General Iroh and Zuko’s daughter, Fire Lord Izumi. Plus, we never see if Kya and Bumi had families, and what about Sokka (and potentially Suki)’s kids? And there are so many unanswered questions about Korea’s connection to spirit world, and if she’ll ever regain access to her past lives.
Regardless, DiMartino and Koh promise a lot of character and action in this first volume, at the same (or better!) level as the TV series and that’s exactly what I’m looking for – it’s a high bar the two set in very few pages. This isn’t an empty money grab – instead, it’s a fully-fledged season in comic book form, and a labor of love from a creator who clearly loves his characters as much as the fans do. A comic true to the spirit of Korra – that’s more than enough.
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