I don't know when amazon threw up the pre-order page for Part 2, but it's up now, and no one here has posted about it.
Clearly, they heard the criticism from the fans regarding the cover of Part 1, and have addressed it in this cover. That's right, this cover shows us some Momo-love.
I got my issue in the mail just the other day, so I figured I would talk about it here.
-Why did he say "end" instead of just "kill"? In the show they also use it the same way at times, but they still used the word kill as well. It wouldn't have bothered me so much, but they do this all the time in the comic.
-Aang couldn't bring himself to kill the firelord, who he had every reason to hate, but somehow everyone thinks he'll kill someone who is his close friend without a doubt simply because he said he would.
-Couldn't he just energy bend him and stick him in jail with his father if he did get out of control? Or is that insanely powerful technique just something that will never be used or mentioned again?
Roku: You may have a deep connection with Zuko, but you pinky promised that you'd kill him if he did this sort of thing. Aang:But I just- Roku:Pinky promises make everything final! Aang:
-Why are the Freedom Fighters there? It makes sense with Longshot and Smellerbee to be there (sort of, maybe, not really), but what's with Sneers suddenly being introduced? I thought they left the rest of the Freedom Fighters. And how did they escape the Dai Lee? And why does no one in the Gaang feel at all awkward that the last time they saw them they were defending their (presumably dying) fearless leader? But I digress.
-Aang probably wouldn't just jump into the Avatar State like that, seeing as his turmoil over all this is likely to block at least one chakra, and I don't really think he would just whip it out whenever he feels like it, seeing as its vulnerability nearly cost him his life and the world the avatar, along with the fact that he tends to hold himself back as far as making kill shots go.
-He also isn't the kind to just jump to conclusions in general, either. Especially when people's lives are on the line.
-I might be wrong, though. After all, it has been a while since I watched the series.
-Whatever happened to everything being connected?
-What about those extinct air nomads? They aren't a country anymore (unless Aang alone is a country as well as a person), so there are really only three nations right now, and as far as I can see, the world hasn't gone to pieces because of that, so I think they can survive one integrated city.
Though my spoilerific nitpicks I have really annoyed me, along with some stuff I didn't mention, it was still decent enough for me to consider it canon.
So there. My somewhat contradictory opinion is put out there.
Obviously, being just Part 1, the quality of this book will depend on whether the next two installments will deliver on the promise (see what I did there?) of the first book. That sad I really dug the book for the most part. I've heard criticism that a lot of the dialogue didn't sound in character for some of the principle players, but I disagree. I share two criticisms of the book with Grace Randolph.
Firstly, the action scenes were uninspiring. Comics are not a medium in which action inherently suffers, but I think that the bending action in the show was so poetic and sublime, that still frames cannot do it justice, whereas the crappy action in, say, a Spider-Man cartoon is not going to be anything rave-worthy, so a comic book's action will take advantage of the fact that their art can be much better in a single frame than any animation, so they capture great dynamic moments in time, so relative to TV, a Spider-Man comic's looks great.
Secondly, I have had a theory that the crew of Avatar The Last Airbender had a kind of feminist awakening going into Book 2. Book 1's principle characters were Aang, Katara, Sokka, Zuko, Iroh and Zhao. Despite Katara being a well-balanced, normally proportioned female, that's still 5 males and 1 female. But for the next two books, we have Aang, Katara, Sokka, Zuko, Iroh, Toph, Azula, Ty Lee and Mai. That's 4 males and 5 females, and Suki became a regular cast member in the last bunch of episodes too. That, and while we saw no female Fire Nation soldiers in Book 1, by Book 3 we see several. I am aware that evidently it's been said somewhere that female Fire Nation soldiers are always stationed in the Homeland, and that's why they were only seen in Book 3, when they were in the Fire Nation, but that sounds like a retroactive/after-the-fact justification to me. That, and now the next series will feature a female protagonist. Given that, this book was far from misogynistic, but it seems like a step backwards to me, as Katara seemed like more background that she was by the end of the show. Where is Mai in this? You'd think she'd at least be in the background on Zuko's scenes. Then again, Kori and her mother were two of the new characters that were introduced, and both were compelling. I may be a bit unfair here, but I'll reread it a few times before I past final judgment.
Then, the biggest problem, when Zuko is having trouble and decided to go talk to Ozai, why do we not seem him first ask for Iroh's advice. I understand Ozai is manipulative and his little jab at Zuko about how he would need his advice would get under Zuko's skin, but I think he'd ask Iroh for advice first. Some people have said it was out of character for Zuko to go to him at all, but I disagree, I just don't see him going to Ozai before Iroh. The overall lack of Iroh was also disappointing.
All that said, I think the spirit and the voice of the show is maintained well in the story and I'm really happy with how the book appears to be setting the Avatar world up for Korra and am looking forward to the rest of The Promise, and hope that Aang's adventures are continued in comic book form after The Promise concludes.
So yeah, I’ve been working with Gene pretty closely on the first three books, and then we’re actually just starting to come up with ideas for the next batch of stories.
Sweet! More books after The Promise trilogy, and there is an ambiguous confirmation that Gene will be involved (depends if that "we're" includes Gene, or is just Bryke.
Admiral Zhao oratates in The Blue Spirit episode, "We are the sons and daughters of Fire, the Superior Element,..." If that helps clarify wether or not there are Fire Nation Females nearby in Book 1, I am glad.
Cool Comics. It seems like there was still need for a balancing act after the war.
Does anyone know or think they will turn the promise into a series on tv? I honestly think everyone would enjoy it. I know I'm excited just for these books coming out. I think it will even be better on tv. Just to hear kataras and aangs voice again. I wasn't to happy wen they decided to just skip the stories after the war was over and jump 70 years into the future with Korra. Feed back please!
by Mindbender on Mon Jan 02, 2012 9:30 am 
