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
The second installment of Turf Wars feels like a classic in between volume – and that isn’t a compliment. The original Avatar series was a master at episodes that took their time, focused on character development, and slowly wove into the bigger picture (episodes that introduced Jet and Bumi come to mind) – but still stood up well on their own as singular episodes.
Unfortunately, this book jammed a whole bunch of table setting into a too-short volume that barely has time to breathe. Korra has triple the cast as Avatar, and the story bowed under its weight; while the dialogue and characters remain strong, there’s very little development apart from Korra and Asami – and unfortunately even that is slight – and Zhu Li, who has a very interesting new direction.
Korra’s villains always had trouble in the three-dimensionality department, but they all had some philosophical grounding, usually a radical redistribution of power. Tokuga is a new low – his plans for Republic City domination have no rhyme or reason, and while his corrupted body makes for an interesting visual, it hasn’t made him any more interesting.
Two other characters (and I miiight get skewered by this) who seem directionless are Bolin and Mako. They’re now police officers and partners, and their banter is always their strongest dialogue. But I don’t see any meaningful direction for these characters. While there are some third-string folks like Ikki who I don’t expect it from, these two deserve better. (I was also hoping for more Kya.)
Irene Koh is a great match for Korra, but some panels felt rushed and unfinished. This felt doubly strange since the volume was too short. Varrick especially looked strange, like his head was too big for his body. Because the story is rushed, it also feels like the art doesn’t give us the time to stop and enjoy living in Korra’s world. (Also, why can’t she illustrate the covers? This one is so uninspired.)
There’s no reason why this volume couldn’t have been twice as long. While I have issues with both series’ comics, Korra’s issues are far more frustrating – but Korrasami is what will keep me coming back…for now.
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