Legend of Korra: Turf Wars

[The Fury]

Like the original Avatar the Last Airbender, Legend of Korra now has a graphic novel sequel series! I was pretty stoked for this as soon as I heard about it, and it is a very good-looking comic. The Bending Triads are trying to gain territory as a real estate owner wants to redevelop the area around the new Spirit Portal. Meanwhile the Spirits themselves are pretty peeved about the whole situation.

Though to be up front, any of y'all that didn't like Korrasami will probably have issues with it right out of the gate. Those of you that did like it-- take heart! There's smoochin'! Also, if for some reason you're interested in my more spoiler-y thoughts on the book:

I appreciated that Korra's and Asami's coming out actually was a plot point, as well as some characters being more supportive than others. Tonroq in particular coming off as concerned about what other people might think. Also Kya confirming that she is queer as well, for the first time in canon.

There was also some things that were not so great. I'm not 100% on board with the Bending Triads as the main villains of the arc. While I can buy them as a credible threat, they were never as interesting to me as The Equalists, The Red Lotus, The Earth Empire or even as Unaloq's Northern Water Tribe. Mainly because all of them had something to at least make them seem sympathetic as characters. The Triads... not so much. Also the new Triple Threat leader, Tokuga... the fact that I needed to look up his name to type this probably says a lot about him already. There's some implied backstory elements would be better used on a character that wasn't so bland-- such as his use of chi-blocking and smoke bombs suggest that he's a former Equalist.

Then there's continuity nitpicks... Like how Ikki's hairstyle changes back to the way it was pre-Season 4 and Rohan is a baby again, despite being 3 years old in the finale. These are mostly just background elements so... I'm willing to mostly ignore these.

So, final thoughts... while it's not bad, as graphic novel sequels go, The Promise was better. Maybe it comes down to AtLA left writers more to work with, maybe Gene Yang is just a better writer than Michael Dante DiMartino. Also, I still haven't seen something I've wanted to see since AtLA-- Someone using Waterbending to eat soup.

[Morty]

It was alright. Kind of hard to compare it to the Promise, since we've only seen one volume so far. But a persistent problem I have with the Promise is that I don't think Gene Yang understands the ATLA cast and they feel very out of character sometimes. Katara is in particular a victim of it. The other comics seem to continue with it, but I haven't read them. Turf Wars didn't floor me, but the characters feel more like their show selves. Even if Raiko further descends into being a caricature.

I like the fact that they gave us a non-bending antagonist who actually is one this time. Well, maybe less so after being spirit-spooked, but close enough for government work. At least he's not a BENDER ALL ALONG.

My personal bugbears aside, he really isn't that compelling an antagonist. Having it out for Korra personally and being part-spirit might give him more of an interesting angle. It's entirely possible he'll be more of a catalyst for more personal conflicts.

The tensions between humans and spirits continue to be a thing, and really lopsided. Spirits throw their weight around and humans are expected to just sort of take it sitting down.

Still, though, it's good to see Korra and Asami in a medium where the writers aren't forced to tiptoe around two women being in love.

[The Fury]

It was alright. Kind of hard to compare it to the Promise, since we've only seen one volume so far. But a persistent problem I have with the Promise is that I don't think Gene Yang understands the ATLA cast and they feel very out of character sometimes. Katara is in particular a victim of it. The other comics seem to continue with it, but I haven't read them. Turf Wars didn't floor me, but the characters feel more like their show selves. Even if Raiko further descends into being a caricature.

I think that's a fair assessment. Though I still think Toph and Zuko were pretty on-point as they were written. Also, I'll admit that most of the real stand-out moments in The Promise were in the second volume. Though there were aspects to Korra's personality that were more present in the TV show than they were in the graphic novel. For me, a large part of why I liked Korra was the fact that she was a bit of a goofball. Here, she's dead serious all the time. I would've appreciated Korra doing something to try and get a laugh out of Asami, but it seems Bolin's the designated jokester.


Still, though, it's good to see Korra and Asami in a medium where the writers aren't forced to tiptoe around two women being in love.

Oh yeah, I can definitely agree with ya there.

[Morty]

I think that's a fair assessment. Though I still think Toph and Zuko were pretty on-point as they were written. Also, I'll admit that most of the real stand-out moments in The Promise were in the second volume. Though there were aspects to Korra's personality that were more present in the TV show than they were in the graphic novel. For me, a large part of why I liked Korra was the fact that she was a bit of a goofball. Here, she's dead serious all the time. I would've appreciated Korra doing something to try and get a laugh out of Asami, but it seems Bolin's the designated jokester.

I can see that, although didn't we see her goofy side during the Spirit World vacation? Bolin does continue to be stuck in the comic relief role, poor guy. I guess it's just because the comic book is pretty short, so they had to focus on her dealing with the political fallout and people's reactions to her new relationship.

Zuko and Toph aren't bad in the Promise, although I feel like Zuko is one of the victims of the "we need to fill three books with this plot, so he has to waffle about the conflict" problem.