[chas]

READING THE COMICS

(May contain mild spoilers)

Sherman Davies was over yesterday and says he really liked the first two of the Avatar comic series, which were originally issued in small "digest" format when he read them. He thought my larger format hard cover collections were great. I'm looking forward to plunging into them now. Their are marginalia by the writer and artists that are both interesting and show how closely they worked with the original creators. There are also art sketches of the characters with commentary, and of certain layout scenes.

The Promise

The only thing missing is the kind of text intro that most DC/Marvel collections give by the creators, with some background on the forming and philosophy of the creative team. Who are the writer and artists? But the proof is in the work itself.

Boy, they really do continue right after the series. What happened seconds after Aang and Katara kissed at the very end of the series? After Zukko visited his father in prison? Its all there. This is a great story, which is foreshadowed in the series, when Zukko is making his speech about how its going to be a tough job to deal with the effects of the war. The marginal comments give insight into how the writer and artists made creative decisions, somewhat as in the series DVD commentaries.

There are old characters, and new ones. Developments shown later in The Legend of Korra are connected to happenings here. And the very nature of "Team Avatar" will help create a new kind of society. Beautiful! And at the end, Zukko will get personally involved in the search for his missing mother, leading to...

The Search

I enjoyed this one even more, as it was more personal to the characters we know. Again it weaves back from the present to moments we know from the series, expanding and explaining. Once more the involvement of the original creators is reassuring, but the comic staff do a wonderful job. It is a touching and involving second series.

The Rift

I enjoyed this one as well. One of the original creators says that the writing of The Legend of Korra animated series while the comics were in the idea stage allowed for much melding of the comics with ideas from "the future" where Korra is set. And indeed, the idea of a Fire Nation Colony in the Earth Kingdom becoming the model for a new society where different benders live together is one of the main themes in all three comics, which is brought out more specifically in this third comic series.


Fourth ATLA Comic Series...

A fourth adventure is currently being published; I don't think its completed yet, as I only saw two of the usual three volumes out for it at a comic shop. it is not yet mentioned in the wikipedia article, where I found out about the other three.

Korra Comic

A follow up to The Legend of Korra animated series was announced, to be also published by Dark Horse Comics with a different artist. I have not seen it in stores yet. If anyone has seen it, please let me know.