Avatar The Last Airbender: What To Read AFTER The Show
Avatar: The Last Airbender has welcomed a new wave of fans into the series, but the story doesn't stop with the show. Here's what to read NEXT.
It didn't take long once for Avatar: The Last Airbender to become Netflix's most-watched show once it was added to the streaming service for American audiences. With millions spending as little time outside of their homes as possible, the popular animated series is one of the easiest binges to recommend -- but it doesn't have to stop with the TV show.
With only three seasons of roughly twenty-minute long episodes, The Last Airbender makes for a relatively quick watch, as 'binge' marathons go. So for those who have already finished the series (and possibly its Legend of Korra sequel series) and are still hungry for more of Aang & the gang, fear not: a rich collection of comic books awaits! And we're here to help fans decide which to read, and in what order.
The Lost Adventures is a compilation of stories that were published from 2005-2011. It takes mostly from Nickelodeon Magazine and the Avatar: The Last Airbender DVD collections, but also features a few originals. The collection depicts unseen stories from during the timeline of the series. It's divided into three books: water, earth, and fire, which correspond to the seasons of the show, and many of the writers and artists also worked on the series. These one-offs are mostly fun stories, like Sokka pretending to be the Avatar to impress a girl and a competition between Bumi and Toph to see who is the superior earthbender.
This is another collection of one-off comics that was just published in October 2019 by Dark Horse Comics. Team Avatar Tales is comprised mostly of stories that were released for Free Comic Book Day, but a few new ones were added as well. These are set both during and after the main series, so you could say that this is the first chronological follow-up to the show. Team Avatar Tales overall has fewer stories than the other collection, but is unique in that it focusses more on side characters like Mai, Ty Lee, and even The Boulder.
While the collections are fun and definitely worth a read, the graphic novels have much more in-depth, mature stories. These are true sequels to the TV show that help bridge the gap between Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.
The Promise - The first graphic novel trilogy, called The Promise, picks up right after the show ends before jumping forward a year. It follows the new Fire Lord Zuko as he attempts to repair the damage done by his father, starting with the Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom. However, this proves to be more complicated than he anticipated, causing Aang and co. to get involved.
The Search - As epic as the finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender is, it leaves viewers with a few loose ends, one of the most prominent being: what happened to Zuko's mother? The second graphic novel trilogy, The Search, attempts to finally answer that question. These stories are told both through flashbacks to when Ursa (Zuko's mother) and Fire Ford Ozai were first married, as well as scenes in the present of Zuko and Team Avatar searching for her.
The Rift - In The Legend of Korra, it is revealed that Aang was instrumental in the founding of Republic City, where much of the sequel series takes place. The third graphic novel trilogy, titled The Rift, details how Aang began that process by trying to revive an Air Nomad tradition.
Smoke and Shadow - In the fourth graphic novel trilogy, called Smoke and Shadow, a group called the New Ozai Society seeks to remove Zuko as the Fire Lord and restore the deposed Ozai to power. In order to keep his throne, Zuko seeks help from Avatar Aang and his now-ex-girlfriend, Mai. However, the New Ozai Society is seemingly being aided by evil spirits, and things become even more complicated when Mai learns she has a personal connection to the leader of the rebellion.
North and South - Viewers may have noticed that the Southern Water Tribe received quite an upgrade between Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. The fifth graphic novel trilogy, North and South, shows how that happened, as Katara and Sokka return home to find their once meager village has transformed into a bustling city akin to that of the Northern Tribe. However, Katara fears that in the name of progress, the South may be sacrificing their identity.
Imbalance - The sixth and final graphic novel trilogy, titled Imbalance, follows Team Avatar as they deal with a bender vs non-bender dispute in Toph's hometown. Aang and co. must find a way to quell the conflict before it turns violent.
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If all that still isn't enough, a standalone graphic novel titled Katara and the Pirate's Silver is set to be released later this year. Reportedly, the story will be set during season two of the show and, as the name implies, will follow Katara after she gets separated from the group. In the meantime, kick back with a cup of jasmine tea and start reading!