Avatar: The Last Airbender-Smoke and Shadow Part Three
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Graphic Design
Avatar: The Last Airbender-Smoke and Shadow Part Three Details
About the Author Gene Luen Yang began making comic books in the fifth grade. He has since written and drawn a number of titles. His 2006 book, American Born Chinese, was the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award and the first to win the American Library Association's Michael L. Printz Award. It also won an Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album - New. His 2013 two-volume graphic novel, Boxers & Saints, was nominated for both the National Book Award and the LA Times Book Award. Gene currently writes the graphic novel continuation of the popular Nickelodeon cartoon, Avatar: The Last Airbender. The Shadow Hero, his comic book series with Sonny Liew, revived the Green Turtle, an obscure 1940s character who is arguably the first Asian American superhero. The Shadow Hero is now available as individual digital issues via Amazon Kindle. The author lives in San Jose, CA. Read more
Reviews
If you don't want to read my long raving over this part, here's a quick summary. I love this book. Not only did it give me everything I wanted to see, like Ursa confronting Ozai, but it gave me things I didn't even know I wanted to see. The political situations are intense, the artwork brilliant, and every line spoken by the characters sounds like them. Even the love triangle (which I did not like) was handled well enough. It's a very satisfying conclusion on pretty much every level.Now for the lengthy part:In The Promise, we saw Avatar trying to branch out from the adventure storytelling and move into a more political setting, which sort of worked, but it kind of lost the fun adventure which made Avatar Avatar. In The Search they returned to their traditional story telling. It was an excellent story, but it didn't really evolve the world because it was so much like watching the original series.In Smoke and Shadow, they finally got it right. This series delves into the struggles of restoring the world order while also keeping the spirit of the original tale. When I finished the second book, I felt very iffy about it. I wanted to see them deal with Ursa's fear of Ozai . . . they didn't. I wanted to see the Fire Nation unraveling before Zuko's eyes . . . it sort of did. I wanted them to keep Azula out of it so that she could have an entire trilogy devoted to her . . . the didn't. So, a lot was riding on this book convincing me that everything the did or didn't do in Part 2 was a good idea.As indicated in my 5 stars, they were very successful.Azula was handled brilliantly. I dare not give away what happens with her, but by the end I was actually happy that they brought her back. Her motivations are very different than what they were before, and what they do furthers both her character and changes the nature of her relationship with Zuko, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how that develops in subsequent stories. The drawing on her in particular is flawless. Every look she gives, every line she says is just so, Azula.I also like seeing the political situation escalates. It moves from mild unrest to full out riots, and the way Zuko handles the situation is very interesting. I like seeing this series challenge it's characters with real problems of being in power and trying to find the best way to solve them and struggle to do what is right. It's a great way to evolve the story from the simple adventure we saw in the TV show to young adults trying to rebuild a broken world.Ursa was also handled very well. In Part 2 she was shoved to the background and mostly a worrying mom, which I didn't like. However, the transition between her worrying about Kiyi to facing her greatest fear - Ozai - is so good that it actual makes me glad she got so little focus in Part 2. Again. this story did a great job of not giving me what I wanted, but instead showing me what I didn't realize I wanted.I do have two complaints it would be that Ursa's confrontation with Ozai feels rushed. It played out the way it should, but it was only a few panels long. I felt like that really deserved an extra page or two. Even so, it's satisfying, and the ending, which focuses on Ursa, still feels very earned.The second has to do with the love triangle. Let's just say, I pretty much hate them on principle. I actually like Kei-Lo and Mai together and think Zuko should just get over her, but they have to keep throwing this forced drama in my face. I mean, it's not terrible. It doesn't ever feel like Mai is leading Kei-Lo or Zuko on, it does seem that she is legitimately confused, so it doesn't ruin her character for me, and the fact that Kei-Lo is useful beyond being a plot device is good. I just wish they could move beyond this stupid cliche and quit trying to force us to care about characters we already care about.In spite of those two complaints, I think this is a wonderful conclusion for the story. It evolves Avatar universe, gives fantastic character development (Ukano is done very well, too), and still has a nice level of humor. If Part 2 left you on the fence, but this, because it certainly makes everything in Part 2 worthwhile.
