Avatar: The Last Airbender comics are visual publications that depict events and situations unseen during the series' run, most of them occurring between episodes. They are official comics and were originally released by Nickelodeon Magazine and Nickelodeon Comics Club, as well as through the Avatar: The Last Airbender DVD volumes. Some comics were never published in the United States and came to light through other foreign publications.[1] The comics were later archived at Nick.com's "Nick Magazine" sub-site, which was taken down upon the periodical's cancellation in early 2010 and is no longer accessible.
Some comics reveal certain key information pertaining to the story, such as Joo Dee's immediate appointment as the Grand Secretariat of Ba Sing Se and the exact method of how Team Avatar obtained a Fire Nation vessel, which they utilized in the early stages of the third book. Several other comics also release new information on canonical characters. For example, the comic "Dragon Days" reveals the characteristics and personality of Kuzon, a character who was previously mentioned by Aang but never seen during the series.
The first twenty-eight comics were published by Nick Magazine and its offshoots from 2005 through 2009 and later compiled in the "The Lost Adventures" graphic novel. The twenty-ninth comic, "Rebound", was published as a special tie-in to the series on May 4, 2013, by Dark Horse Comics. All but two of these comics, which are listed at the bottom of this page under "Bonus stories", are considered canon. Dark Horse has also collaborated with Nickelodeon since 2011 to produce and publish The Promise, The Search, The Rift, and Smoke and Shadow trilogies of graphic novels. When combined with the Free Comic Book Day side-stories, "Shells", "Sisters", and "Friends for Life", the number of released comic adaptions of Avatar comes to a total of forty-four. A fifth trilogy, North and South, will follow, beginning in late 2016.
The Lost Adventures
Book One: Water
Bee Calm
- Main article: Bee Calm
- Story: Joshua Hamilton and John O'Bryan
- Art: Justin Ridge
- Color: Hye-Jung Kim
- Lettering: Clem Robins
While Team Avatar is lost in the forest early in their adventures, a scorpion bee lands on Aang's nose. Although Katara and Sokka advise him to make it detach from his body, Aang assures them that all he has to do is stay calm and it will not bother him, a plan that heeds less-than-favorable results.
Water War
- Main article: Water War
- Story: Tim Hedrick
- Art: Justin Ridge
- Color: Hye-Jung Kim
- Lettering: Comicraft
When Katara witnesses two children pelting innocent civilians with water balloons in a small town, she decides it is their turn to get splashed.
Don't Blow It!
- Main article: Don't Blow It!
- Story: Alison Wilgus
- Art: Elsa Garagarza
- Color: Wes Dzioba
- Lettering: Comicraft
Aang wakes up with a case of the sniffles, causing him to exhibit unusual, airbender-enhanced symptoms, and ignores his friends' offers for cures by insisting that it is nothing to dote over. When his sickness complicates matters, Katara and Sokka resolve to keep Aang safe whether or not the Avatar agrees with their methods.
Relics
- Main article: Relics
- Story: Joshua Hamilton and Johane Matte
- Art: Johane Matte
- Color: Hye-Jung Kim
- Lettering: Comicraft
Team Avatar stops at the sales stand of a merchant who markets years-old artifacts, one of which, an Air Nomad pendant, catches Aang's eye and spurs him to uncover its whereabouts.
Fruit Stand Freestyle
- Main article: Fruit Stand Freestyle
- Cartoonist: Brian Ralph
- Lettering: Comicraft
Momo comes across a fruit stand filled with fresh fruit, but a wild boar-q-pine thinks itself clever enough to outwit the lemur and take the fruit for itself.
Book Two: Earth
Sleepbending
- Main article: Sleepbending
- Story: Joshua Hamilton
- Art: Joaquim Dos Santos
- Color: Hye-Jung Kim
- Lettering: Clem Robins
Aang's dream stirs up trouble for the rest of the team, who are constantly interrupted from their rest by the Avatar's tumultuous delusions.
Lessons
- Main article: Lessons
- Story and art: Johane Matte
- Color: Wes Dzioba
- Lettering: Comicraft
Toph banishes Sokka and Momo from the area she is trying to use for Aang's earthbending training, but the two of them manage to cause even more of a distraction elsewhere.
Sokka the Avatar
- Main article: Sokka the Avatar
- Story: Joshua Hamilton
- Art: Justin Ridge
- Color: Sno Cone Studios
- Lettering: Comicraft
While visiting a small Earth Kingdom town, Sokka pretends to be the Avatar in order to impress a girl with Aang's permission. Although the scheme seems stellar at first, everyone involved soon realizes the danger involved with the impersonation of the Avatar.
Dirty Is Only Skin Deep
- Main article: Dirty Is Only Skin Deep
When Toph refuses to bathe with the others and wash off the unseemly accumulation dirt on her body, Katara takes it upon herself to get the earthbender into her native element.
Divided We Fall
- Main article: Divided We Fall
- Story: Frank Pittarese
- Art: Justin Ridge
- Color: Wes Dzioba, Hye-Jung Kim, and Sno Cone Studios
- Lettering: Comicraft
The worst rainstorm Team Avatar has yet faced blows Appa to the ground of a dense forest, forcing the members of the gang to fend for themselves in an environment unlike any other they have ever dealt with. In their attempts to find each other, the children come face-to-face with the people of the jungle and do what it takes to survive.
Reach for the Toph
- Main article: Reach for the Toph
- Story: J. Torres
- Art and color: Corey Lewis
- Lettering: Comicraft
Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph appear to be locked in an intense battle, but what are the children really fighting over?
It's Only Natural
- Main article: It's Only Natural
- Story: Joshua Hamilton and Johane Matte
- Art: Johane Matte
- Color: Wes Dzioba
- Lettering: Comicraft
Earth King Kuei's pet bear, Bosco, has forgotten all of his natural instincts: hunting, intimidating, and basically all that has to do with him, a normally wild animal, living in the wild. Disappointed with the bear's backward progression to human-like characteristics under Kuei's care, Sokka attempts to turn Bosco into what nature intended him to be. His ideas are not taken well by the infinitely lazy animal.
Going Home Again
- Main article: Going Home Again
- Story: May Chan, Aaron Ehasz, Katie Mattila, and Alison Wilgus
- Art: Amy Kim Ganter
- Color: Wes Dzioba
- Lettering: Comicraft
After Ba Sing Se's fall, Princess Azula decides to return home to the Fire Nation with Prince Zuko and their imprisoned Uncle Iroh. Zuko, however, refuses. Azula and Ty Lee form a plan to convince him to leave with them.
The Bridge
- Main article: The Bridge
- Story: Aaron Ehasz, Joshua Hamilton, Tim Hedrick, and Frank Pittarese
- Art and color: Reagan Lodge
- Lettering: Comicraft
Katara writes in her diary about events as they pass following the fall of Ba Sing Se, chronicling the progression of Aang's coma and the tribulations that she and the rest of the gang come to face while traversing Fire Nation waters.
Book Three: Fire
Private Fire
- Main article: Private Fire
- Story: Joshua Hamilton
- Art: Johane Matte
- Color: Wes Dzioba
- Lettering: Comicraft
Having entered the Fire Nation in disguise as normal civilians, Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph go information gathering in an everyday Fire Nation village. Since this course of actions heeds no reveals to the gang concerning plans for the War, Sokka comes up with the one plan he can think of that may assist him in his quest for knowledge: he joins the Fire Nation Army.
Night Animals
- Main article: Night Animals
- Story: Katie Mattila
- Art: Justin Ridge
- Color: Wes Dzioba
- Lettering: Comicraft
When Momo spots two Fire Nation soldiers patrolling dangerously close to the Team Avatar campsite, he awakens Appa in the hopes that the flying bison can think of a way to ward off their enemies.
Boys' Day Out
- Main article: Boys' Day Out
- Story: Alison Wilgus
- Art and color: Gurihiru
- Lettering: Comicraft
Katara has learned of a gritty restaurant/bar situated in a nearby Fire Nation town and, bored with sitting around, invites Toph to visit it with her. Upon entering, they discover that it is an all-male establishment, but the waterbender is not ready to give up on the plan she had devised for her afternoon.
Ember Island Arcade
- Main article: Ember Island Arcade
- Cartoonist: Corey Lewis
- Lettering: Comicraft
During a forced vacation to Ember Island, Lo and Li show Zuko, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee to a popular arcade to lift the teenagers' spirits. Azula's taunting challenge to her brother to play a game of Street Bender cannot be refused.
Monster Slayer
- Main article: Monster Slayer
Sokka misleads an entire town of Fire Nation citizens into believing that there is a monstrous beast residing in the forest just outside of the village, knowing full well that this creature is only Appa, and volunteers to slay the monster for a free meal from the townspeople. When he gets to the woods, Sokka is met by an entirely different surprise.
Combustion Man on a Train
- Main article: Combustion Man on a Train
- Story: Rawles Lumumba and Alison Wilgus
- Art: Tom McWeeney
- Color: Wes Dzioba
- Lettering: Comicraft
Although at first only spectating at the departure of a Fire Nation train, Aang and Sokka agree to go on the train with Sho, a child who is afraid to ride the train alone. Sho's fears are justified when an intimidating Fire Nation assassin, Combustion Man, invades the trains and chases Avatar Aang.
Swordbending
- Main article: Swordbending
- Story: Alison Wilgus
- Art: Justin Ridge
- Color: Wes Dzioba
- Lettering: Comicraft
Zuko agrees to a friendly sword-fighting match with Sokka, who practically begs the firebender in order to alleviate his boredom at the Western Air Temple. This "Swordbending Kai" does not go as Sokka expected, despite the latter's training with Master Piandao.
No Benders Allowed
- Main article: No Benders Allowed
- Story: Alison Wilgus
- Art: Elsa Garagarza
- Lettering: Comicraft
At the Western Air Temple, the benders of Team Avatar and Haru leave Sokka, Teo, and The Duke behind to do some household chores, while they go practice their bending. Feeling excluded, Sokka comes up with a new club, the "Bendless Boomerang Club", founded specifically to exclude benders, since only nonbenders can join.
Love Is a Battlefield
- Main article: Love Is a Battlefield
At the Western Air Temple, Aang wishes to speak to Katara about the kiss the two shared during the Day of Black Sun, but she is hesitant.
Dragon Days
- Main article: Dragon Days
- Story: Alison Wilgus
- Art: Johane Matte (frame) and Tom McWeeney (flashback)
- Color: Wes Dzioba
- Lettering: Comicraft
Aang tells Zuko of his adventures with Kuzon while searching for dragons one hundred years before being freed from the iceberg. He details the day on which he and Kuzon discovered a corrupted trafficking business in the dragons' mountains.
Game Time
- Main article: Game Time
- Story: Katie Mattila
- Art: Justin Ridge
- Color: Hye-Jung Kim
- Lettering: Comicraft
The members of Team Avatar are sitting on the steps that lead to Ozai's beach house when Sokka bursts through the building's doors suggesting that they play hide-and-go-seek. Realizing that he will not deter in his efforts until they agree, the team joins the game and retreats into the bush to hide.
Bumi vs. Toph, Round One
- Main article: Bumi vs. Toph, Round One
- Story: Joshua Hamilton and Johane Matte
- Art: Johane Matte
- Color: Hye-Jung Kim
- Lettering: Comicraft
At the White Lotus campsite, Toph overhears Suki's praise for Bumi's earthbending skills and thinks it uncalled for, considering herself to be the greatest earthbender of all. When Toph and Bumi begin to argue over who is better, Sokka sees an opportunity to make a spectacle of their disagreement and suggests that the two battle one another to prove who deserves the title. Their fight disrupts the workings of the campsite and puts everyone present in harm's way.
Graphic novel trilogies
The Promise
- Main article: The Promise
- Story: Gene Yang, Michael Dante DiMartino, and Bryan Konietzko
- Art and color: Gurihiru
- Lettering: Michael Heisler and Comicraft
The Promise details the events that occur immediately and one year after the end of the television series, detailing the difficulties that come with a war-torn world that, with rebel groups and dissatisfied citizens at every turn, takes a unified effort to return to peace.
The Promise Part 1
- Main article: The Promise Part 1
One year after the Hundred Year War, Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko are working together with the reinstated Earth King Kuei to remove the Fire Nation colonies from Earth Kingdom territory, but one of the colonies, Yu Dao, complicates matters by taking a stance against the Harmony Restoration Movement and declaring that it will stay no matter what. Aang must take into consideration a promise he made to Zuko just after the end of the War: do whatever it takes to keep the new Fire Lord from becoming like his father, whether that means locking Zuko up or killing him.
The Promise Part 2
- Main article: The Promise Part 2
Ever since Zuko began to visit his father for advice about handling the Yu Dao crisis, Team Avatar has had to find different ways to resolve the conflict of the colonies and make peace between the nations. However, the situation becomes dire when Kuei and Zuko revert into the atmosphere of war.
The Promise Part 3
- Main article: The Promise Part 3
Zuko and Kuei have sent their armies on a collision course in order to secure the city of Yu Dao, bringing the world to the edge of war once again. Aang is stuck in the middle of this conflict, having promised Zuko a year previously that he would do whatever it took to keep the peace of the world, even if it meant killing the Fire Lord himself. As his continued attempts to mediate the conflict are repeatedly seen as inadequate and futile, his options become fewer and fewer until he may just have to fulfill his promise.
The Search
- Main article: The Search
- Story: Gene Yang, Michael Dante DiMartino, and Bryan Konietzko
- Art and color: Gurihiru
- Lettering: Michael Heisler and Comicraft
The Search is about Zuko's quest to find his mother Ursa with the help of his sister and a few old friends.
The Search Part 1
- Main article: The Search Part 1
Zuko makes a deal with Azula, releasing her from the mental institution in exchange for her help in his quest to find his mother. The two of them set out on a journey to Hira'a with Aang, Sokka, and Katara, but tensions between the group and dangers on the journey there could end their search before they discover the truth.
The Search Part 2
- Main article: The Search Part 2
In search of their long-lost mother, Fire Lord Zuko and his sister Azula have brought Avatar Aang and his friends into Forgetful Valley, but what they discover within may be more than they bargained for.
The Search Part 3
- Main article: The Search Part 3
When Azula goes off alone to find Ursa after learning some startling information, Zuko and Sokka pursue her and try to arrive at the location first. Meanwhile, Aang and Katara remain with Rafa and Misu, contending with the Mother of Faces and her army of spirit animals, and the flashbacks into Ursa's past continue, revealing how her children's search and her new life may come to coincide.
The Rift
- Main article: The Rift
- Story: Gene Yang, Michael Dante DiMartino, and Bryan Konietzko
- Art and color: Gurihiru
- Lettering: Michael Heisler and Comicraft
The Rift trilogy surrounds Aang, most of his friends, and the inaugural members of the Air Acolytes on a journey which capitulates in a conflict between the spirit and physical worlds.
The Rift Part 1
- Main article: The Rift Part 1
Aang asks his friends to help him celebrate Yangchen's Festival, one of the highest Air Nomad holidays, which has not been held in over a hundred years. However, visits from the spirit of Avatar Yangchen herself lead Aang to discover a jointly owned Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom refinery which is operating on land sacred to his people.
The Rift Part 2
- Main article: The Rift Part 2
The members of Team Avatar find themselves in trouble as mysterious forces threaten to destroy land sacred to the airbenders. While Aang journeys to the Spirit World for answers, Toph confronts her own past.
The Rift Part 3
- Main article: The Rift Part 3
The members of Team Avatar are in peril as a dangerously powerful ancient spirit awakens with vengeance and destruction on its mind. Bonds are tested and new truths revealed as Aang must decide whether humans and spirits can co-exist.
Smoke and Shadow
- Main article: Smoke and Shadow
- Story: Gene Yang, Michael Dante DiMartino, and Bryan Konietzko
- Art and color: Gurihiru
Smoke and Shadow follows Aang and Zuko as they attempt to resolve conflicts both physical and spiritual. While struggling to deal with the rising insurrection of the New Ozai society, Zuko asks Aang to assist him when an ancient and mysterious enemy appears.
Smoke and Shadow Part 1
- Main article: Smoke and Shadow Part 1
The Fire Nation is threatened when the Kemurikage, mysterious figures thought only to exist in legend, tell of a prophecy that Zuko must be removed from the throne or the country will perish. Aang and his friends escort the Fire Lord and his family back to the Fire Nation Capital, but unbeknownst to them, unrest brews as the New Ozai Society prepares to make their move against the throne and children go missing from their homes under mysterious circumstances.
Smoke and Shadow Part 2
- Main article: Smoke and Shadow Part 2
With the disappearances of children in the Fire Nation Capital, Aang and his friends try everything they can to figure out what is going on. He and Zuko must work together to keep the peace, but the New Ozai Society and the appearance of the Kemurikage may prove too much for even the Avatar when the true culprit of the kidnappings is revealed.
Smoke and Shadow Part 3
- Main article: Smoke and Shadow Part 3
When children are disappearing in the Fire Nation Capital, Avatar Aang and his friends do everything in their power to save them. When Azula reappears after having vanished in the Forgetful Valley, Fire Lord Zuko locks down the capital in order to apprehend her. However, this action gives rise to fear and riots in the streets, leaving Zuko to decide to which lengths he is willing to go in order to save those he holds dear.
North and South
- Main article: North and South
- Story: Gene Yang, Michael Dante DiMartino, and Bryan Konietzko
- Art and color: Gurihiru
North and South focuses on Katara and Sokka, who return to the Southern Water Tribe by themselves after Aang leaves to aid Fire Lord Zuko with spiritual affairs in the Fire Nation. Back home, they are shocked to discover that their village has become a bustling city with Hakoda in charge. The changes seem to have largely been due to the efforts of Malina, a member of the Northern Water Tribe who is seemingly striving for greater unification of the Water Tribes but has unknown intentions.
Free Comic Book Day issues
Rebound
- Main article: Rebound
- Story: Gene Yang
- Art: Ryan Hill
- Lettering: Michael Heisler
Mai finds herself in a state of turmoil after her breakup with Fire Lord Zuko, but a handsome young man who visits her at her new workplace may change her luck, for better or for worse.
Shells
- Main article: Shells
- Story: Gene Yang
- Art: Faith Erin Hicks
- Lettering: Michael Heisler
Sokka follows Suki as she gives a lesson in manners and encourages a young girl's strength.
Sisters
- Main article: Sisters
- Story: Gene Yang
- Art: Carla Speed McNeil
- Lettering: Michael Heisler
Though she thinks the Kyoshi Warriors are amazing, Ty Lee feels down. Toph sees this and takes the chi blocker to her old circus, where she reunites with her six sisters.
Friends for Life
- Main article: Friends for Life
- Story: Michael Dante DiMartino
- Art: Heather Campbell and Vivian Ng
- Lettering: Michael Heisler
As a child living in the Southern Water Tribe, Korra finds a polar bear dog cub which has become separated from its pack during a storm. After naming it Naga, Katara convinces Korra's parents, Tonraq and Senna, to allow her to keep Naga, believing that Korra has found her animal guide.
Non-canon comics
New Recruits
- Main article: New Recruits
- Story: Dave Roman
- Art: Justin Ridge
- Color: Hye-Jung Kim and Sno Cone Studios
- Lettering: Comicraft
The gang goes to a local Earth Kingdom tavern in search of some new recruits and allies to join them in their fight against the Fire Nation. While there, their elderly contact, Yahshi, introduces the gang to four unique benders.
Gym Time
- Main article: Gym Time
- Story: Alison Wilgus
- Art: Ethan Spaulding
- Color: Wes Dzioba
- Lettering: Comicraft
Avatar Kyoshi arrives at class to instruct Team Avatar, along with Zuko, Mai, and Azula, on their game for the day: dodgeball.
The Last Airbender Prequel: Zuko's Story
- Main article: The Last Airbender Prequel: Zuko's Story
- Story: Dave Roman, Alison Wilgus
- Art: Nina Matsumoto
An hour after the Agni Kai with Ozai, Prince Zuko wakes up in an infirmary. The comic starts with him running to his room, chased by Iroh. He dreams about the Agni Kai, crying violently, when he hears a knock on the door, who he thinks is Ozai, but it is actually his eleven-year-old sister, Azula, who has come to taunt him about his banishment. Through later events, she gets Zuko a ship, a crew, and Iroh to come along. He scours the Western Air Temple and visits Fire Sage Shyu, looking for information on the Avatar.
Trivia
- One apparently scrapped comic, tentatively titled "Baby Badger-Mole", involved Aang, Katara, and Sokka discovering a baby badgermole in an environment uncharacteristic to the species, the woods. Unable to defend themselves against the animal's powerful earthbending, craziness ensues until Toph arrives.[2]
- The cover for Avatar: The Last Airbender — The Lost Adventures was taken from the first edition of Avatar's own magazine, Nick Mag Presents: Avatar: the Last Airbender,[2] which ran during the show's original airing.
- Combined, Avatar: The Last Airbender—The Art of the Animated Series, The Lost Adventures, The Promise, and The Search have sold over a hundred thousand copies.[3]
References
- ↑ Avatar: The Last Airbender — The Lost Adventures introduction.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 nickmag comics (2006-09-10). for those of you who enjoy behind the scenes stuff.... Nickelodeon. Retrieved on December 20, 2012. Archived from the original on November 13, 2006.
- ↑ Avatar: The Last Airbender Digital Comics Now Available Through All Dark Horse Platforms!. Dark Horse Comics (5 July 2013). Retrieved on November 30, 2013.