Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise, Part One of Three

1:15 pm 17 January 2015
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise, Part 1 - Gene Luen Yang, Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino, Gurihiru

Hi guys, I hope you all are having a great day, and this is my review to Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise, Part One written by Gene Luen Yang, Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino, and Gurihiru (the Artist). This is also my first graphic novel. Ever. 

 

For those of you who do not know what this comic is about, it basically takes right off after the ending of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The newly crowned Fire Lord Zuko, Avatar Aang, and the rest of Team Avatar (Katara, Sokka, Toph, and the Kyoshi Warriors) are all prepared to help with what they call the Harmony Restoration Movement. This is the movement meant to restore all the people to their respective nations.

 

The first step is to remove the Fire Colonies in the Earth Kingdom and have them settle down in the Fire Nation once again. When the Harmony Restoration Movement is announced, Zuko makes Aang promise him that if Zuko ever becomes a tyrant Lord like his father, then Aang will kill him. I guess you could call whatever I wrote above the prologue of the story. The actual story takes place a year later—when Zuko is shown having insomnia and can’t sleep at night from extreme paranoia from being assassinated (since it is then told that ever since he became Fire Lord there’s been five attempts at his life).

 

I loved this book, definitely because I find Zuko a very complex character and very interesting to read about. It is very difficult for him to cope with the decisions his father has made, and especially after the Fire Nation points their fingers at him saying he was a traitor to their Nation when he joined the Avatar.

 

Aang is being questioned for being a proper Avatar since people around the Fire Nation believe Zuko is being a tyrant for disrupting their lives. Team Avatar is especially conflicted when Zuko himself takes back orders from moving people and his support in the Harmony Restoration Movement. Aang and Zuko then begin to have conflicts for their opinions and Zuko believes that now his people have stopped fighting, it’d been nice for them to live in the Earth Kingdom as long as his people are under control. Aang then mentions that the four nations are meant to live in their separate kingdoms and the Earth Kingdom wishes for the Harmony Restoration Movement to take place. This begins to cause conflicts in between the two.

 

I think this issue of the comic series portrayed the characters especially the way they were, and definitely was not a disappointment. The conflict was real, because it showed both reasons for how Zuko and Aang could’ve been right in their place. I loved every single character, and how they went back to some events that took place in the last episode of the series.

 

When Zuko was having insomnia, I kept on thinking he would go visit his father, and when he did, I was like “I told you so!” Only I wish he wouldn’t have done that in the end. I’m not exactly sure if this makes him a bad character, because there is honestly no one to lead him. I don’t think he’s going to turn bad or anything, but still . . . GO TO UNCLE IROH ZUKO. GO TO YOUR UNCLE IROH.

 

And what’s with the whole Aang and Katara calling each other “sweetie”? I felt like that’s not what they should call each other.

 

OMG, Sokka and Toph are still the best. :D

(show spoiler)

 

I would definitely recommend this to all Avatar fans, you will love this so much. AND ZUKO IS MY FAVORITE SO I’M GOING TO READ IT ANYWAY. But each issue is kind of short, so you’ll finish this in less than an hour or maybe just an hour. Now, I need to go and get The Promise, Part Two and read that! I can’t believe I didn’t know this existed, I feel like slapping myself. DEFINITELY RECOMMENDED TO ALL AVATAR FANS.

 

Thank you all for reading, and I hope you all have a great day!