The Last Airbender: Or How I Learned to Stop Judging and Love the Film

This article ran as part of our April Fool’s Series. It is not to be taken seriously in any possible way. Enjoy. 

I think I established myself as The Red Shirt Crew’s resident Avatar: The Last Airbender fanatic when I did my review of The Search:Part One. Certain responsibilities come with that title, and one in particular I was dreading; to be an informed fan, I decided I had to watch The Last Airbender. I prepared myself with popcorn and beverage (non-alcoholic, sadly), and was bracing myself for the horror of watching my much beloved series gorily murdered by M. Night Shyamalan, but then something miraculous and unforeseen happened… I absolutely adored it.

Now, when it was still in the pre-release stages, I was one of those up in arms over the casting, but the more I thought about it as I watched the more I realized how foolish I’d been. Certainly it’d make no sense to pick Asian actors, since clearly the Avatar world is fictional and definitely not based on or even inspired by Asian nations- don’t know where I ever got that impression. No, when it comes to this acting talent should always come first, which these kids have an obvious abundance of. I can now easily see why they made the casting choices they did. Furthermore, they did have Indian actors present! At first I was confused why they chose the Fire Nation to be Indian, when Zuko was clearly paler than Katara or Sokka, but theincredible acting of the Fire Nation won me over all over again. It totally wasn’t a racist move to make the bad guys of the movie Indians to the good guy white people, and I mean hey, Zuko becomes a good guy so it all works out.

I was also very nervous that the aforementioned casting woes would ruin the characters I loved so much, but again those nerves were unfounded. First, I was concerned that the incredible, beautiful bending of the show wouldn’t translate properly, but this clip (which directly compares an instance of earthbending from the series and from the movie) shows that it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between the two. Just, look at how stunning that choreography is! They really captured the raw power of earthbenders. I mean, yeah, at first I was disappointed that there was no Suki of the Kyoshi Warriors, one of my personal favorite characters from the series, but who needs her when you have that. Fans are dumb, anyway. 

Speaking of Suki, let’s talk about what they did with Sokka’s character. I mean, Sokka was favorite, I loved that jokester- team comic relief! But the movie really took his character to new levels, bringing out his serious, somber side. It was like a whole new Sokka and I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to go back to the animated version. Especially since I’m totally digging the name changes- “Soh-kah” just sounds silly compared to “Sew-ka”. Actually, maybe that’s why where was no Suki- their names would be too similar and it would be confusing for the audience! Brilliant, Shyamalan, always thinking of the fans.

I could keep gushing, because man, I just want to tell the world how wrong they’ve been regarding this movie for so long, but I think I’ve lost too much salt and liquid alternating between laughing and crying over this review. Long story short, I came to the Last Airbender an angry, skeptical fan and left in awe of the wonder of this bold new imaginative take. I was blown away. Blown away, I tell you, almost as if I had been airbended. If that’s not quality film, I don’t know what is. Where are two and three?! I can’t wait to see how they rui- er, portray my favorite, Toph. Yes. Portray. That one. 

Jeni “Science Whyzard” Hackett might be in physical pain over this. She has no idea how she made it through writing this- totally because she was so passionate about the material. Yeah. That one. Definitely that one. Nothing to do with the date at all, no sir. If you’ll excuse her, she’s going to cry into a pillow and then watch The Ember Island Players to purge this review from her memory. 

Review: The Search: Part 1 (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

If you’re an Avatar: The Last Airbender fan who’s ever even casually poked at the online fandom, you’ll know that one of the biggest rage points about the finale in 2008 was that we never friggin’ found out what happened to Zuko’s mother, Ursa. It’s such a big thing to fans that in the pilot of Legend of Korra, the sequel series, one of Katara’s grandkids asks her about what happened to Zuko’s mom. And just when it seemed like maybe we’d get something in the way of exposition, in a truly troll-tastic (and, okay, admittedly hilarious) move, another one of her grandkids completely derails it. The point to all this is that fans have been dying to know what happened to Ursa for five years… and with The Search Part 1 by Gen Luen Lang with art by Gurihiru and in collaboration with series creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, we get the first dose of our patience being rewarded.

The boys have aged well, haven’t they?

The Search consists of two plotlines, one in the past and one in the “present”, which in A:tLA terms is after the series has ended. One plotline is Ursa’s, which follows how she came to be married to Ozai and shows us where she’s from (and that she had an utterly adorable boyfriend). It’s fantastic to get a chance to see more of Ursa’s personality and to see just how she ended up with Ozai. I always wondered if Ozai was a better person when they married who then went off the deep end by playing the power game, but I think I like this explanation better. It feels more in-character.

The other plotline follows the GAang, more or less, only with Azula substituted in for Toph. Yes. Azula. You read that correctly: Azula is back and just as crazy as we left her in the finale, still utterly convinced that her mother was responsible for “turning everyone against her”, including her own mind. Azula gets to join in on the adventure because she has information about where Ursa could be found, and the only way she’ll share it is if she can come along. You can guess that goes about as well as you can expect, which is not terribly well. It’s very Fire Nation cast-centric; even though Aang, Katara and Sokka are present, this one is definitely Zuko, Ursa and Azula’s show.

Plenty of familiar faces show up, including Suki, Ty Lee and my personal favorite, Uncle Iroh, who wastes no time in using his temporary Fire Lord status to make the nation much more appreciative of tea (never change, Iroh). I wish we’d seen Mai, but perhaps they figured that drama would take away from the plot at large. I also acutely missed Toph, as she was my favorite in The Promise comic arc (though she is NOT my favorite overall character), but the nod to her training the Yu Dao police force made me smile enough to cope.

Now, I am an A:tLA fan, so I’m going to read these regardless of quality (as most A:tLA fans would – we just want a fix of our favorites, dammit!), but that does not mean this comic is flawless or even on par with the show itself, sadly. The plotlines are good, but the execution could be far better. The most egregious flaw is transitions. Bouncing between the two storylines is not handled well at all, with abrupt, sudden shifts that constantly left me flipping back to make sure I didn’t skip a page between them, which caused me to lose a sense of flow and coherency within the story.

I could’ve shrugged off bad transitions between timelines, as that’s a tricky thing to do well in basically any medium, but there were also bad transitions between panels themselves. The most glaring one occurs when Aang, Katara, Sokka, Zuko and Azula are talking, when all of a sudden Azula begins raving like a lunatic. After Zuko threatens her into calmness again, the scene just ends. No one asks about what she;s talking about, no one comments on the outburst other than an “I miss Toph” (don’t we all, Sokka), nothing. It just sort of hangs there like an unresolved issue. It’s not that we don’t know what’s going; fans of the series will immediately recall her finale melt-down heralded by her hallucinating her mother in every reflective surface. But Aang, Katara and Sokka definitely do not know this, or if they do, it hasn’t been made clear to us. It’s possibly they’re trying to build up dramatic tension until hallucination-Ursa reappears, but if that’s the case, it still wouldn’t make sense for none of the cast to ask for clarification. There’s another moment earlier on where Ty Lee says something that really felt like it should have had some follow up of some kind, but instead it immediately cuts to another Ursa-plotline segment. It just seemed like shoddy storytelling at times, which is really noticeable for a much beloved series that prided itself on very well-done, tight and logical storytelling in the animated series.

Speaking of the animated series, let’s talk art for a moment. The characters are all a little aged up, but they still retain their distinct qualities; the core cast made the transition from animation to comic quite nicely, and quite handsomely too in regards to Zuko. However, there are some moments where an expression doesn’t quite work and the character just feels off, and I’m still not convinced they captured Azula correctly most of the time. Overall, though, it still retains the feel of the show’s animation style,  and I’m more than willing to say I’m being nitpicky here. After all, the bending sequences are still wonderful; Gurihiru does a splendid job capturing the motion of the fights and the feel of the series in comic format. And the cover art is just beautiful, too. Go ahead and gaze at its prettiness above a second time; you know you want to.

Part one of The Search ends on a “twist” reveal that, honestly, I called from the very start, but I shall not hint at here for the sake of a spoiler-free zone. It’s a twist I’m still not sure I’m comfortable with, though, as I feel like it invalidates a fair deal of a character’s development, but I guess I can’t pass any permanent judgment until I see where they go with it. In the twist’s defense, it does make some of the actions taken in the animated series make more sense… but at the same time it makes others make no damn sense at all. Once The Search is released, if you happen to pick it up, feel free to come back here and leave a comment with your reaction, because I’d genuinely like to know how others respond to this. It’s left me that irked.

Overall, I don’t even know if this review needs writing. It’s an Avatar: The Last Airbender comic. No one is going to pick it up not knowing what to expect, and no one’s going to pick it up unless they’re already a fan of the show. In that sense, my recommendation or lack thereof means nothing; as I said earlier, we’re Avatar fans and we will snatch up anything that continues the story, especially when the story being continued is finally finding out what happened to Zuko’s mother. If you’re a fan of the series, this is a must-have, if a somewhat mediocre first part of it. At $10.99 cover price, I’d almost advise waiting until the series has run its course and hope they release a hardcopy Library Edition like they did for The Promise – it’d likely only be about $10 more than buying each of them as they come out, the format is nicer and you get extras. But, if you just can’t wait to begin learning more about Ursa, it isn’t a bad investment and it certainly has its enjoyable Avatar moments – just not as many as I’d hoped.

At least there’s only one documented use of the endearment “sweetie” between Katara and Aang this time, which is such a pleasant relief after the uncomfortable sweetie-fiesta that was The Promise. We don’t have both Sokka and Toph present to goad one another on with appropriate gagging reactions this time, and poor Sokka probably couldn’t bear that burden alone.

Jeni “Science Whyzard” Hackett has watched Avatar: The Last Airbender about five times and The Legend of Korra twice. She delights in shouting “MY CABBAGES!” at people, especially when they don’t get the reference, and was part of the Avatar Moms Club at Otakon 2012, cosplaying a post-pregnancy Pema. She apologizes that her red hair is visible under the wig in that picture, it was kind of a rush job. You can find her on twitter under the name @allonsyjeni, email her at jeni.is.a.geek@gmail.com, or find her on tumblr at hellomynameisgeek.

Review: Amala’s Blade #0

Amala’s Blade #0, by Steve Horton and Michael Dialynas, has the intimidating task of introducing us to the main character, teasing at her backstory and the plot ahead, and introducing us to the art style, and doing all of it in a way that makes the reader come back for more after this self-contained story. For a non-established superhero (or Joss Whedon-touched, I suppose) comic, it is vital to hook in readers and leave them with enough interest and questions to come back next time and see where the storyline goes. With its intriguing female lead, clever (if a little clichéd at times) writing and lovely artwork, it’s certainly hooked me in… and not just because of pirates. Really.

I hadn’t heard of Amala’s Blade prior to seeing it on the list of to-be-reviewed comics, but a quick google search intrigued me; after all, I have a well-known weakness for pirates, sci-fi, and anything even remotely steampunk. Issue #0 did not disappoint and left me even more interested for the series proper. While the story was excellent, some of the dialogue didcause me to cringe, mainly because it felt very much like forced action-hero nonsense (the biggest offender being the line “Who’s the dog now, bitch?!” as an enemy falls at Amala’s feet). That said, I can overlook a few cheesy lines in light of the interesting sneak peeks at the plot and the well-done introduction to Amala’s mind and the cast that inhabits it.

That. Art.

You may notice I said “cast that inhabits it”. That’s not a mistake; there is indeed a cast that inhabits Amala’s mind. The ghosts of her past quite literally follow her around and, even as she recognizes they’re in her head, have conversations with her that tease at the past. The basic gist is that Amala was selected as a spiritual leader to unite two warring factions, the Modifiers (big on technology) and the Purifiers (much less so). It’s very reminiscent of Avatar: The Last Airbender, as the solicitation noted, but I get the feeling Amala’s journey will involve a lot less childish-albeit-endearing gags and a lot more stabbing people through the gut. With any luck it’ll also do a far better job addressing the Modifier vs. Purifier conflict than A:tLA’s sequel, The Legend of Korra, and seeing if that hope is rewarded is one of the reasons I will definitely keep following this series.

One of the things that stood out to me is that Amala’s gender isn’t emphasized. I’m always looking for well-treated female leads in the comic book ‘verse, and I’m optimistic about Amala. Since this is only the first issue, I can’t predict whether it will continue to be relatively unimportant, but I look forward to seeing how her characterization progresses and seeing how other characters react to her as they’re introduced. Amala’s design is rather refreshing as well. There’s no gratuitous cleavage or ridiculously revealing armor, and the design seems quite practical for an assassin. In fact, part of her design struck me as particularly clever: her sword, which she only uses once she loses her gun over the side of the pirate ship, is tied back to her with a bright blue ribbon so she can yank it back even if it’s knocked out of her hands. Incorporating a somewhat feminine item (a blue ribbon) as a useful and visually appealing trait? Color me pleased.

I mean, let’s just look at how cool Amala looks. And if that glowing figure in the last panel doesn’t intrigue you I don’t know what will. This promo also does not do justice to the atmospheric backgrounds used throughout. (Art from Michael Dialynas’s deviantART, which you should definitely check out to get a feel for his excellent style.)

Amala’s Blade #0 gives just enough information to get one interested without overloading the reader with too much information. The art style is pleasing and suits the story, and Amala is set up as an interesting protagonist with a lot of backstory to delve into as the story progresses. The story is quick and engaging, and I look forward to where it goes from here. For $2.99, I definitely recommend it.

Jeni Hackett, aka Science Whyzard, wants a cool sword tethered to her by a ribbon like Amala’s. When she’s not fangirling over badass female leads in steampunk/sci-fi settings, she enjoys writing about physics and space exploration and playing far too many Bioware games for her emotional well-being. You can find her on twitter under the name @allonsyjeni, email her at jeni.is.a.geek@gmail.com, or find her on tumblr at hellomynameisgeek.