Avatar: The Last Airbender & The Legend of Korra (Graphic) Novels Official Discussion Thread

The first part of the new Trilogy, Ruins of the Empire, will be on sale by May 21 of 2019. Kuvira's physical and emotional trials are about to be explored in this issue.

Thoughts?

@arcus1: @darthfallax:

I really love the artwork so far, it´s been great.

It´s no wonder that I like what we saw of this issue, considering that Kuvira is one of my absolute favorite characters. But I was really surprised that they still kept Kuvira as arrogant as always, instead of changing her completely. I like it. I also find it funny how Kuvira basically said "Yeah I did all that but I also did good things y`know so not guilty", lol.

Interesting to see the main four not saying anything, though.

Also, I might be interpreting too much, but we see Kuvira breaking free from her chains on the cover. Let´s see if that means anything.

@darthfallax: @anthp2000: @arcus1

I'm for sure excited, but just to add on the hype let's see if anyone knows where this is. Looks awfully familiar to the building art in the cover, doesn't it?

Korra once visited this place before for guidance. It's Zaheer's prison...Kuvira and Zaheer team up confirmed?

Looks interessting so far.

@shadowwaker: Oh SHT! We might see Zaheer return!

Quite the eye there.

@darthfallax:

Also, I might be interpreting too much, but we see Kuvira breaking free from her chains on the cover. Let´s see if that means anything.

Kuvira can bend platinum MUH FEATZ confirmed!

Seriously though, I feel like they might have her be almost as arrogant as in B4, and Zaheer might blend in really well in all this if he's returning. I'm just worried that her characterization in this might render her supposed regret in the final scene irrelevant - I'm really hoping they'll dig deep into her psychology if they're planning to turn her into an anti-hero.

Awesome

It's so far away though...that's my only complaint about the Avatar comics, they take so long to be released. Obviously I'd rather have them take a long time than not have them at all though

A Zaheer and Kuvira team up, or even just some degree of interaction, would be great. That definitely looks like Zaheer's prison. If they're both involved in things, I can definitely hope for some good bending battles

@arcus1:

A Zaheer and Kuvira team up, or even just some degree of interaction, would be great. That definitely looks like Zaheer's prison. If they're both involved in things, I can definitely hope for some good bending battles

I feel like they might call Zaheer for help against Kuvira. They made a huge point about their ideologies not meeting one another.

You know I hadn't actually considered that as a possibility, but they might...

Not sure what Kuvira could do to make team Avatar feel the need to recruit Zaheer though

@arcus1: She's quite the tactical genius, and the "ruins" imply to me that there's still supporters (like LoK's version of the New Ozai Society). It'd be interesting if she came up with something this dangerous for Korra to deal with.

Also, I'm surprised there are no Beifongs in the cover. The leaked scans surely imply Su's fam wasn't gentle with Kuvira, I wonder what their role will be in this. I definitely wouldn't want them to be hust supporting cast.

Yeah, I assume she still has supporters out there. She shouldn't be able to pose a significant threat in a straight up fight (not like when she had her full army), but I could see her managing to pick off members of team Avatar, maybe leading to the need for Zaheer

True, I would expect the Beifongs to play an important role, at least Su and hopefully Lin

Looks awesome, but tbh the LoK comic was just okay. The only thing I like I guess was it made me actually like Korra and Asami relationship. The new villain was sort of lame tbh.

But hey a villain I actually like is coming back, so I am hoping for something great.

Kind of the same for the Last Airbender comics. First story was fine but the one everyone paid attention to was the second, The Promise, which brought back Azula and had the quest to find her and Zuko's mother. I'm hoping having Kuvira return will give us similar investment, at least over the first comic arc's villain.

I really need to get around finishing Legend of Korra

Cool. I hope Zaheer gets work done and maybe a chance to give the other characters some shine as well. Haven't read the comics after the show ended, but my awkward fanfic idea would be that Mako has a relationship rivalry with Kuvira which I'd question over time.

@tektonic: @geekryan:

Omg thank you for making the thread, I was waiting for one.

I'm super excited for this trilogy, "Turf Wars" was a yawn fest and Tokuga was by far the worst LOK villain. ATLA's "The Promise" was way better. Kuvira and possibly Zaheer returning is just what the LOK comics need.

Exactly what I was thinking.

One thing that should be noted is that like @darthfallax said, the airtwork is amazing, on par with the A:TLA comicbooks, allowing for potentially great bending battles.

OH YEAH!

"What will it take to stop a war?

King Wu's dreams of peacefully transitioning the Earth Kingdom into a democracy are in danger when Commander Guan throws his political hat in the ring, hoping to subvert the new system from the inside out. But playing fair was never part of his plan; Guan and Dr. Sheng are using terrifying new technology to cement Guan's win! In a desperate attempt to save the Earth Kingdom from falling back into the dark days of conquest and empire, Korra and Kuvira convince an old friend to return and take the former commander on in the polls. But will it be enough?"

Oh Snap!

@anthp2000@arcus1@darthfallax@foxerdes@killerwasp@shadowwaker@crimson-feather @oeselian@fabricolage@geekryan@deathhero61@vengefulshot

@tektonic:

Unbelievably excited about this! Also, since you did that, I should change this thread to a general discussion thread for LoK.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

@foxerdes: From the previews I've seen, Kuvira's character is well fleshed out in this issue, and her choices are explained. It's very interesting actually.

@tektonic:

That "old friend" has gotta be Toph, right?

I'm a bit surprised they're already releasing a description of part 2 when part 1 won't even come out for several more months (which is way too long)

Looks great though

Turf Wars was nice, but this looks way better

Which ones?

I knew you would be! Kuvira, Toph, AND Suyin, this is heaven for you.

Should the title also have comics in it to specify?

Also did you make a thread about the ATLA comics?

Most likely it wouldn't make sense if it was Suyin since she isn't hard to reach.

I know the wait time between issues is atrocious.

Turf Wars was like C+ at best. This could be A+ in quality if pulled of right.

I would say Korra's character development was overall very well written and resonant(than again probably one of the only ones) being more abundant than just some standout moments. But the rest is more subjective since the shows quality varied considerably.

Well her various arcs and transitions are there, it's subjective whether you felt it accomplished it's intended effect.

This is good news. Kuvira deserves more time to be fleshed out than what she got. Looks like we'll get tons of new metalbending feats as well, given the main characters.

@tektonic:

Should the title also have comics in it to specify?

Fine.

Yes, which is why I said "it's subjective whether you felt it accomplished it's intended effect" noting it's up to your interpretation of whether it was quality or not.

The Ruins of the Empire comic is just a few days away but the Avatar Imabalance Part 2 comic has been released online and it's actually good.

@tektonic: OOOOOOOOOOOH

I have to Start reading the comics of last airbender and Korra, do they all follow an order as a sort of sequel or are they more a collection of side stories?

For Avatar they have main story comicbooks that follow the Gaang after the end of the Hundred Year War, the order is:

The Promise>The Search>The Rift>Smoke and Shadow>North and South>The Imbalance

Yes there are some side story's called lost adventures but they very small and trivial.

For LOK so far there is only:

Turf Wars>Ruins of the Empire so far, with a handful of sidestories.

@tektonic:

I thought Imbalance 2 was a pretty good issue

I just read the issue, I couldn't agree more with all this. It was hilarious when Sokka pulled out the beard, and the dillema built for the next issue is very interesting.

@tektonic: Thanks?

Are all the Korra comics just side stories so far?

NP.

Main Story: Turf Wars and Upcoming Ruins of the Empire

Side Story: Korra & Naga comic and Korra and Meelo comic so far.

I just read Ruins of the Empire and tbh, I really enjoyed it.

Just read Ruins of the Empire I as well. Really great issue.

It seems like all the theories regarding Kuvira's mindset are coming true; she never felt like part of Suyin's family. She didn't feel like Su treated her the same way she did her biological children and that seems to have affected her relationship with Opal, she was being remote out of jealousy.

To add to what @darthfallax said, I think the flashbacks are interesting because we seeminly get a different side of Kuvira's backstory. She seems like a really difficult kid, and she's the one who ran away. I'm hoping they'll explore her relationship with her biological parents more, but I'm convinced the whole "I was neglected by my parents like I was garbage" is more of a myth and an exaggeration of her character and her choices than the actual reality.

I like seeing Zhu Li has really picked up on her responsibility as president, and she's doing an amazing job apparently. I'm also glad we didn't see Vaarick always being with her, I like her that way. And there seems to be a new character arc of Bolin trying to find what he's supposed to do with his life. As for Toph, I can't begin to express how excited I am to see her again. I honestly cannot imagine how Korra is planning to convince her to join the elections, but I'm looking forward to it.

The artwork was brilliant of course, and the little action we saw looked great. @arcus1@tektonic thoughts on the new issue?

@anthp2000: Tbh, the whole flashback is really interesting just because it doesn't show us too much of their relationship. Obviously Kuvira was a wild child, but it seems like they weren't able to give Kuvira what she needed. It seems like these sorts of punishments only made their relationship worse.

But idk, this whole issue makes Kuvira look even more desperate and manipulative.

I think Bolin's quote about her pushing everyone away is pretty interesting, and it kinda makes me sad that we barely have interactions between her and the rest of Su's family, especially Jr of course.

Also yeah, Zhu Li continues to be amazing. I'm also starting to really like Wu, tbh.

@anthp2000

Thanks for asking.

No disrespect to Irene Koh(artist of Turf Wars) she's very talented but Michelle Wong's art is superior and far more representative of the show. Irene's 80's comicbook artsyle was nice but did not fit and looked to different. Michelle's is basically in line with the show, LOK side comics, and ATLA comics.

The story is also 10x better and Kuvira clearly stole the show. She commands attention in all of her scenes. Definitely enjoyed watching her lay the smackdown on Guan and her interactions with the characters.

I'm finding the story and characters very reminiscent "The Search" which was ATLA's best comic so I'm hoping this trilogy will be amazing as well.

Also based on the brainwashing at the end and them implying that they could reprogram Kuvira that way, I suspect Kuvira will go undercover at some point based on the part 2 cover, and get captured leading to her brainwashing at some point.

That would be a great opportunity to have her face off with Suyin, Korra, or Toph. Since we have already seen the first two I think the fandom would die to see the third one actually happen.

@tektonic:

That's interesting on Kuvira, I didn't think of that. Also, this is probably one of those "hard truths" mentioned in Book 4.

https://youtu.be/EaGmgXR9iFM