It’s finally time to answer the question that’s been on fans’ minds for years. But as Zuko searches out the answer, he finds there are even more secrets than he imagined.

Creative Staff

Creators: Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko

Writer: Gene Luen Yang

Artist: Gurihiru

What They Say:

For years, fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra have burned with one question—what happened to Fire Lord Zuko’s mother? Finding a clue at last, Zuko enlists the aid of Team Avatar—and the most unlikely ally of all—to help uncover the biggest secret of his life.

Content:

Ever since that Zuko episode aired back in season 2 of the cartoon, I have been haunted by the question: What ON EARTH happened to Zuko’s mom? I’m far from the only fan dying to know the answer, and it’s something the creators are obviously aware of — they make a joke about it in the Avatar art book, and are even cruel enough to troll us with a near-answer in the first episode of The Legend of Korra. But finally, DiMartino and Konietzko are going to answer the question for real (we hope).

The story starts off with a flashback as we see a young woman named Ursa (who is later confirmed to be Zuko’s mother) preparing for a play with her boyfriend, who then proposes to her. The story quickly jumps back to the present, but the flashbacks continue to pop up in short bursts throughout the book, slowly building up Ursa’s backstory, revealing her own struggles with having to suddenly marry Ozai, and also illuminating events happening in the present.

While we know that Zuko wants to find his mother, or at least figure out what happened to her, based on the end of the cartoon and some parts of the dialogue in the last comic series The Promise, the events in this series are actually propelled by Zuko’s sense of guilt. With his father locked in jail and his sister confined to a mental institution, he is shamed by the lack of “dignity” he’s been showing to his own family, and allows the two time alone to talk. This is when Ozai lets his daughter in on a few secrets, including the location of their mother. The only way to get Azula to release the information is to let her come long for the search, completely unbound.

Azula is pretty fascinating to take in during the entire comic. The instability we were shown at the end of the cartoon has only gotten worse; not only does she see her mother in every reflective surface, but she’s utterly convinced that she’s talking to everyone so they’ll turn against her. Still, she manages to keep hold of her calculating nature, allowing her to work on a bigger plan hidden from her brother, making readers even more anxious about what will eventually occur.

Just like in the last short series, the art is almost identical to that of the show, which lends a hand to making this an easy shift for the fans. The story is also fast paced, with action-filled panels and lively dialogue that keeps everything in constant motion, so that despite the small page count Yang is able to put a good deal of story and character growth in the book. Even the silent panels draw you in as Gurihiru creates dynamic martial art scenes like when Azula breaks free from her straight jacket, or even fills an action as simple as writing and hiding a letter with a sense of drama and anxiety. And despite the heavy themes going on, the comic is just as funny as the cartoon ever was, relying on Sokka’s expressions and exclamations for some laughs and even a few chuckles from Iroh’s short appearance. With Toph missing from this storyline we’re missing out on her excellent deadpan humor, but I’m crossing my fingers our favorite blind girl makes at least a short appearance later on.

As if I wasn’t already invested enough to actively seek out the next installment, the final page hits us with a sudden twist that not only is going to have a major effect on the last two thirds of the plot, but will also mean that the eventual (possible) reuniting of mother and child will have an even more profound effect on the characters than was previously imagined.

In Summary

The creators probably could have taken a simpler approach toward explaining the fate of Zuko’s mother, with either a portion of the original show or a much smaller comic being dedicated to it, and still managed to satisfy many of the fans. Instead, they handed the reins over to Yang and Gurihiru to give us another story that’s just as deep and surprisingly complicated as the cartoon. Zuko obviously gets the main focus here, but with him always having been the most complex and conflicted character there is still a great deal of potential for his character arc. It’s amazing and deeply satisfying to see the characters continue to develop and grow even beyond the confines of the original story, and even though this comic series has only just begun, it already feels like a reward for having waited so long to finally be told the secret.

Grade: A