11 November 2020

Review: The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire by Michael Dante DiMartino and Michelle Wong

Collection published: 2020
Contents originally published: 2019-20
Read: September 2020

The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire

Written by Michael Dante DiMartino
Art by
Michelle Wong

Colors by
Killian Ng
with Adele Matera
Lettering by Rachel Deering and Ariana Maher

This continues the post-show storyline of Legend of Korra from Turf Wars, focusing on Kuvira. Now, I'm not gonna lie, despite watching Legend of Korra second, I have a much hazier memory of it than Avatar, and that negatively impacted my enjoyment of this volume. I didn't dislike it-- in fact, I liked it a lot-- but I think someone who actually remembered who Kuvira was would get more out of it than I did! I was too often remembering things after they became relevant (Toph lives in a swamp? Kuvira grew up with Toph's family?), not before.

If there's any fault to this book, it's that it's not really Korra's story, or any of Team Avatar's; it's Kuvira's. It's her decisions and choices that provide the emotional crux of the story. And it's a good story, too, about where your identity comes from and what choices you make and what new choices you can make. Kuvira is a sad character, and Ruins of the Empire does a good job of exploring that, as well as exploring the difficulties of transforming a society (something the Avatar comics have long been interested in). Michelle Wong's artwork is strong stuff, with a good sense of character and design. I liked this; if you were more into Legend of Korra than I was, you will probably love it.

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