Avatar:
The Last Airbender: The
Promise Part 1
Author:
Gene Luen Yang
Artist:
Gurihiru
Dark
Horse Comics
76
pages
Spoiler
warning: Review
contains spoilers for the Avatar: The Last Airbender series up to the
point of The Promise.
This
series of digests rejoins Aang and friends for exciting new
adventures, beginning with a face-off against the Fire Nation that
threatens to throw the world into another war, testing all of Aang's
powers and ingenuity! The continuation of Airbender and the link to
its upcoming sequel, Legend of Korra! (Source:
Goodreads)
You
have just finished the final episode of book three of the Avatar: The
Last Airbender series, and are excited for more stories featuring the
Aang Gang. You think Legend of Korra looks cool, but you wish there
was a story that would link together these separate stories and
justify the canon time skip between the end of ATLA and the opening
of Korra. Something with your favorite characters, going on
adventures and staying best friends in a post-war world.
So
you end up months later with the first volume of The Promise in your
hands, book one in a three book series, and you wonder if this is
what you asked for. The answer to that question, like a lot of
things, is mixed. This is not to say that The Promise's premiere
volume is a total wash, but for me it was not the successful comic I
was looking for as a long-term ATLA fan to satisfy my Aang and
friends cravings. Although if you come into it just for Toph, you
will not
be disappointed.
The
artwork is probably the highlight of the whole book; Gurihiru does a
fantastic job of translating Avatar's intricate Asian aesthetic onto
the page, and keeps every character very recognizable visually. I
also give major props to the color palette, reinforcing the fact that
the Avatar verse is dominated by characters of color despite the best
efforts of the Hollywood adaptation to say otherwise. The bending
best represented in this comic is water bending - Gurihiru's scenes
of Katara water whipping fools is very reminiscent of similar scenes
in the television series.
The
story itself is, on the surface, decent enough. It's peace after a
long war, and the Fire Nation's new ruler is trying to reunite the
people of the world - and did I mention this new lord is Zuko?
Naturally, everything falls apart and Aang has to intervene to stop
war from breaking out, bringing him into direct confrontation with
Zuko himself. I found it kind of jarring how Zuko asked Aang to
promise him to end his life if he went the way of Ozai, but it's so
hideously Zuko I can forgive the awkwardness of the scene. And then
there's awkwardness being a noticeable trait of Zuko's character, so
that helps too.
As
for the issue of Fire Nation colonies in Earth Kingdom territory:
wow, what a terribly handled plot line! Never mind that the Fire
Nation has been a occupying force for over a hundred years; even Aang
realizes this when he tells Zuko that there can't be "balance if
one nation occupies another". And yet the story wants to paint
those who live in these illegally constructed colonies in a positive
light.
If this is some sort of Gaza Strip fictional parallel, it's
doing a bad job of conveying the painful intricacies of two groups
living in the same place, each believing they have the right to stay
there while the other doesn't. I don't expect tie-in graphic novels
to do a fictionalized political narrative justice, but The Promise's
job of it isn't even close.
You
know what is awesome, though? Toph. Who now has her own earthbending
school and is still as awesome as she was on television. Her teasing
of Sokka sometimes makes me wish they had gotten together (although I
do love Sokka with Suki . . . and the Moon). I imagine she's very
busy, teaching metalbending to her students, as that is pretty much
the hardest skill a earthbender can learn. Plus, she gets some pretty
sweet lines while she's whooping bender butt. I only hope she gets
more page time in the next graphic novel.
I
actually like the Katara/Aang scenes in this book, despite popular
opinion. Yes, them calling each other “sweeties” can get
irritating, but it actually makes sense in a way? It's the kind of
schmoopy stuff they didn't have time for while fighting the Fire
Nation. Although Sokka's immaturity in the face of their relationship
wonders how far he's gotten in his own with Suki. Still, as far as
relationship dynamics go, it's certainly something that has
transferred well from the original series to the comic.
Although I'm
surprised Zuko hasn't married Mai yet, considering he is king now and
I would imagine a nation would want their king to step up to the
plate and at least ask his long-term girlfriend to marry him. And
then they can have hot hot married se--- hugging. Hugging. With
firebending. Just . . . hugging.
So,
overall, was The Promise disappointing? No, I wouldn't say so. It
does end with something both frustrating and fascinating: Zuko coming
to his father's cell in the middle of the night for advice of all
things. Hell, he'd probably be better off asking Azula. Is it a
masterpiece of Avatar fandom? No, not really. It doesn't handle a lot
of issues very well, especially the issue of Fire Nation colonialism.
But what The Promise is an entertaining, quick read that will definitely lead
readers to want to get their hands on volume two if only to find out
what happens next. And as long as Toph and Sokka get more page time
and Zuko gets his head out of his butt long enough to realize how
much of a doofus he's being, volume two could be very good indeed.
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