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.

Review: The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars by Michael Dante DiMartino, Irene Koh, et al.

Comic hardcover, 239 pages
Published 2019 (contents: 2017-18)
Borrowed from my wife
Read May 2019

The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars

Written by Michael Dante DiMartino
Layouts by Irene Koh and Paul Reinwald

Art by Irene Koh
Colors by Vivian Ng
Color Assistance by Cassie Anderson and Marissa Louise
Lettering by Nate Piekos

Legend of Korra never quite clicked for me the way its parent series did, and to be honest, that seems to have carried over here; I'm just much less invested in where these characters end up than the original Team Avatar. That said, this is a solid graphic novel adventure. I'm kind of over the melding of the physical and spirit worlds-- by the end of the show it was pretty clear no one involved had an interesting take on what this might mean-- but Irene Koh's artwork is great, evoking the show's without slavishly reproducing it, and the best part of the writing is the characters, whose voices come through strongly and humorously. There are some good jokes, and good explorations of the place of non-heterosexual orientations in the Avatar world (I hope these can be expanded on someday), and the Korra/Asami relationship gets some much-needed development. It's pretty cute!

Review: Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Art of the Animated Series by Bryan Koneitzko and Michael Dante DiMartino

New Monday, new review at Unreality SF: Leela's in love and the Master's the protagonist in my review of Doctor Who: Requiem for the Rocket Men and Death Match!

Hardcover, 183 pages
Published 2010
Borrowed from my wife
Read May 2015

Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Art of the Animated Series
by Bryan Koneitzko and Michael Dante DiMartino

Avatar: The Last Airbender had a unique visual ethos, and that was definitely one of its appealing qualities; the design work was like nothing else I could really remember from Western animation. This book reproduces concept sketches and background paintings and all sorts of stuff from literally every episode of the series, and it's worth poring over just for that.

This is more than just an artbook, though, as the creator commentary throughout the book also serves as a sort of making-of for the series, taking us from its earliest days as doodles for a science-fiction premise all the way to the planning of the finale, with co-creators Bryan and Michael filling in the reasoning behind many of their decisions. My only regret is that it's not longer! Sequel series The Legend of Korra got one art book per season, though I suppose that was made possible by this book proving that a market existed.