Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Search Omnibus

This starts off almost exactly after the end of the animated series, and then skips ahead to a year later, going into the complications of a post-war world, and the burden it is on its young leaders. It effectively captures the atmosphere and tone of the show, complete with humor, action and a character driven story. The art is not anything special, its meant to resemble the show as much as possible. The show's most impressive visual moments were often fight scenes, and while that is something comics are built to show off, its still not nearly as fun to read as it is watch. Nevertheless, I am very happy to see this story coming out, in any form, and am looking forward to the next installment.

This galley was provided to me by Dark Horse Comics via NetGalley.com.

Part 1 of a series of graphic novels explaining some of the story between the end of the war at the end of A:TLA and the events of A:LoK. Great artwork that captures the essence of the TV show. The writing is canon, so this is essential for some knowledge of the situation in the Legend of Korra, although the show stands alone. 4 stars have for some minor quibbles: the story is not long and I think it could easily have been released as a single volume. Now, we will need to get the other parts in order to appreciate the story. The other is that the script does make very overt attempts to distinguish the characters (Sokka with plenty of jokes, Toph really in-your-face etc.) I think having watched some of LoK, I am disappointed that this novel is almost more juvenile than the original show, and has not aged with its audience.

I am pretty much always up for more Avatar, so getting this graphic novel was a welcome treat. This serves as a bridge (or the start of one, at any rate) between the first series and the upcoming Legend of Korra series.

My only real complaint is the length of the book, or lack thereof. The second volume doesn't come out until May, which is a frustrating wait.