Avatar: The Last Airbender, created by Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, is a popular Asian-inspired action cartoon that aired on Nickelodeon. Popular enough to have a sequel series, Legend of Korra, coming out in 2012, the cartoon also inspired many short comics, written and drawn by a variety of artists and printed in Nickelodeon Magazine.
Taking place during the original cartoon's timeline, these comics give fans a peek into what might have occurred between the episodes. Both Dark Horse Books and Nickelodeon have worked together to reprint the comics in a full-color in Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Lost Adventures, which contains 70 pages of new material, plus some bonus content.
Funny and Serious Comics in The Lost Adventures
The Last Airbender's trademark humor is prevalent in these comics. In "Sokka the Avatar" (Joshua Hamilton, Justin Ridge), Sokka - with help from the others - fakes bender powers to impress a girl, and Katara tries a little too hard to be tough in "Boys' Day Out" (Alison Wilgus, Gurihiru) so Toph will hang out with her.
But while humor made The Last Airbender fun, what got viewers so involved were the masterfully done bittersweet moments, and The Lost Adventures doesn't forget that. In "Relics" (Johane Matte, Joshua Hamilton) Aang finds clues that raise his hopes of finding living airbenders, only to discover it's the same old trick used to capture and kill the last of them. "Going Home Again" (Aaron Ehasz, May Chan, Amy Kim Ganter) might hold a cute story of Zuko and Mai getting together, but is also soaked with Zuko's guilt of betraying Uncle Iroh.
There are some big revelations in these comics, like why the Earth King decides to take off, and how the group snuck into the Fire Nation in the first place. And, finally, we see a fight to determine the greatest earthbender ever -- Bumi or Toph! But this collection doesn't reach outside of the original cartoon's timeline, so there remain some burning questions: what happens to Azula after she's defeated, or what ever happened to Zuko's mother? Curious fans will have to hope that some of these things come up in the Legend of Korra sequel, or in another comics collection.
Comic Art Both Similar and Different from the Cartoon
Much of the art in The Lost Adventures is reminiscent of the cartoon, with the same distinct character designs and bright colors (unsurprising since many of the creators also worked on the show), though there are notable exceptions. "Fruit-stand Freestyle" (Brian Ralph) is a short wordless comic done in two-toned yellows with sharp black outlines. "Combustion Man on a Train" (artist Tom McWeeney) has a more serious look with more realistic character designs, roughly detailed backgrounds and an ever-so-slightly muted color pallet.
Of course, not everything in this collection is gold. Both "Rise to the Toph" and "Ember Island Arcade" have strange, cheap-looking art, and with the stories themselves being so silly, they're not really worth a re-read.
The Lost Adventures from Nickelodeon and Dark Horse
Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Lost Adventures isn't perfect, but it has stories both funny and serious that will delight fans that miss the installments in Nickelodeon Magazine, or who never had the chance to read them in the first place. In the end, the biggest deterrent is not being a fan of the cartoon. More a supplement than a stand alone book, the comics will isolate readers not already intimate with the characters, the world, and the over-arching plot. But for those that love the series, it's a shelf worthy buy that will tide you over until Legend of Korra finally airs.
Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Lost Adventures gets 4/5.
- ISBN: 9781595827487
- MSRP: $14.99 US / $16.99 CAN
- Release Date: July 27, 2011
- 240 pages
- Dark Horse Books, Nickelodeon
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