I was not introduced to Avatar: The Last Airbender until about
a year after the series had ended. One of my roommates at the time
told me that this was a series that I had to watch. And I found that,
even though its target audience was children, the series had such a
gripping story line and such wonderful characters as to keep me
interested from start to finish.
I looked forward with excitement when the live action movie
adaptation came out (which disappointingly turned out to be a flop),
as well as when the sequel series, The Legend of Korra, was
announced (which did a much better job of living up to the Avatar
legacy than the movie).
Avatar was great, though
there were a number of questions left unanswered at the end of the
series, the most pressing of which was the fate of Zuko's mother
(which was teased, but ultimately left unanswered in the pilot
episode of the Korra), as well as how many of the changes in
the world in the seventy years between the end of Avatar and
the beginning of Korra came about.
About two or three years ago, I started hearing about graphic novel
sequels to Avatar that are supposed to answer some of those
questions, though I never seemed to run across them during my visits
to local comic book stores. I was finally able to find them online
and just recently bought them
The graphic novels were set up as a trilogy, with each story
consisting of three parts. The last story is not complete yet, though
Part Three will be released next month. I am planning to do a review
of each story, starting this week with the first story, The
Promise.
 |
| Cover for Part One of The Promise |
The Promise starts immediately following the close of the
Avatar series. Aang and Zuko are working with the Earth King
to have the Fire Nation Colonies removed from the Earth Kingdom.
Early on in Part One, Zuko asks Aang to make a promise to him. As the
newly crowned Fire Lord, Zuko fears what the pressures of ruling and
the legacy of his family might do to him. Zuko asks Aang that if he
ever see him turning into his father, that he end his life. Aang
resists at first, but when Zuko presses the matter, Aang reluctantly
makes the promise. The title of the story is based on this promise.
As the story goes on, it is revealed that some of the older Fire
Nation colonies, some of which have been in existence for over a
hundred years, have become integrated with the Earth Kingdom, with
citizens of the Fire Nation forming families with citizens of the
Earth Kingdom. When Zuko sees this in one particular colony, Yu Dao,
and he sees that removing this colony would break up families and
cause harm to both citizens of the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom
alike, he changes his mind and decides not to remove this colony, and
even defends their right to stay.
 |
| Cover for Part Two of the Promise |
The rest of the story deals with the aftermath of this decision,
especially as Aang doesn't initially understand why Zuko has reneged
on his agreement, and has to seriously consider whether or not he
will have to carry out the promise that he made to Zuko.
Though I won't give the ending away, anyone who has seen the pilot of
Korra knows that Aang and Zuko remain friends throughout their
lives and go on to found Republic City. This story shows the roots of
the movement that unified members of the different nations and
eventually culminates in the creation of Republic City. It also shows
how “mixed-nation” families (such as Aang and Katara or Mako and
Bolin's parents in Korra) could come about.
 |
| Cover for Part Three of the Promise |
One of the side stories in The Promise concerns Toph and her
early attempts to train other earthbenders in metalbending. It is
fascinating to see the starts of what could eventually become the
metalbending masters of the Republic City police force that Toph's
daughter Lin leads in Korra.
It is also exciting to see the characters introduced in the Avatar
series continue to develop as many of them realize that the
solutions to the problems in this post-war world aren't as black and
white as they might first appear to be, and that there can be more
than one way of looking at a problem. This is seen in particular in
Zuko's relationship and interactions with his father.
 |
| Cover Page of The Promise |
The creators of Avatar were closely consulted in the writing
of The Promise and the other graphic novels that follow, and I
was pleased to see that the author did a very well in keeping
everyone in character.
As with the premiere of Korra,
the fate of Zuko's mother was teased in The Promise
without being answered. In fact, we do see former Fire Lord
Ozai respond to Zuko's question to him about where his mother is (as was shown in the finale of Avatar) without revealing her
fate.
The Promise did close,
however, with the promise that the next story would address
that question. Indeed, the next book is titled, The Search,
and Team Avatar will be aided in their search for Zuko's mother by
none other than Azula.
Overall I found The Promise to
be a really enjoyable read. I am looking forward to reading
The Search, which looks to be
even more exciting.
No comments:
Post a Comment