Both cartoons from the Avatar universe Nickelodeon’s beloved mythology of magic karate and cabbage merchants, Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra still live on as an ongoing Dark Horse graphic novel series. At NYCC, fans got to check in on Avatar’s and Korra’s comic book continuations.
The Last Airbender series from writer Gene Yang and artist duo Gurihiru has been slowly bridging the time gap between the two series since 2012. The latest graphic novel trilogy, North, and South details new internal strife at the Southern Water Tribe. Details from these books are already out there, including their release dates throughout early 2017, but at the panel, we did learn how the series calls back to an early visual from the very beginning of the show: the frozen Fire Nation warship.
More exciting was the sneak peek at the new Legend of Korra comics coming in June 2017. The panelists, including the voice of Korra herself Janet Varney, were sure to mention how much social media buzz the news caused. This series, written by Korra co-creator Mike DiMartino and illustrated by Irene Koh, is an official sequel to the cartoon. We saw early pages depicting Korra and Asami’s vacation in the Spirit World (complete with Dragonbirds and weird mushrooms), an event hinted at in the series finale. Also hinted at in that finale is Korra and Asami’s romance. But while the Nickelodeon cartoon may not have been able to show the two women kiss, according to an answer at the Q+A, the comic book just might have that freedom.
Finally, both series will also be receiving adult coloring books. The Last Airbender coloring book hits later this month, and the audience got a sample page. The Korra coloring book arrives next July. Also on the way is a poster book of Korra art. The audience even got to give input on what scenes should be included.
The Avatar NYCC panel was light on news but heavy on fan enthusiasm. There was even some trivia. There’s still a lot to learn about the future of Korra in comic book form, including the mysterious new villain.
