Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise, Part 1 Paperback – Illustrated, January 24, 2012

4.5 starsAfter a long war, peace should have descended. Right? Wrong. Peace does not come easy to the 4 Nations. In order to maintain balance in their world, the Fire Nation colonies based in different Nations needed to be disbanded. However, fear and anger spurred the Fire Nation colonies to fight for their homes. As the Fire Lord, Zuko has to protect his people. As the Avatar, Aang needed to achieve peace and balance. Zuko and Aang are caught in the middle of the unrest and it might push their friendship to the breaking point.Despite hoping for a happily ever after for Aang and company, there was a lot of work to clean up the mess the last Fire Lord created. The writers picked up the plot where Season 3 ended. Amazing storytelling, with just a hint of a predictable plot, that held you riveted to the pages. It easily captured and related their trademark humor and personalities. In graphic novels, events and actions tend by misconstrued or missed but the wording and the artwork in each panel were concise and action packed. The balance of action, intrigue and especially romance was done well. Zuko and Aang got equal page time. And for the AangxKatara fans out there, they were perfectly lovey-dovey that it was "oogie" at times.The artwork was on par with the animation from the shows. Even though only a year has past, you can see the subtle changes of the gang as they mature. The lines are clean and crisp. The colors were sharp and beautifully shaded. The quality of the pages was tight and glossy. My only gripe is the length of the comic. (That's my only reason for not giving it a strong 5 stars.) For $11, I expected a bit more than 76 pages but the enjoyment value I got out of this book was definitely worth it. If you have never watched the series, I suggest watching the show first. There are no rehashing here. If you are a fan and haven't picked it up yet, do so now at a lower price. You will not regret it.

I’d say overall this book is great, it continues the series. It wasn’t damaged and I enjoyed reading it.

Going into the comics for Avatar: The Last Airbender felt strange because I've grown so fond of the show. I was used to the lively animation and the characters made manifested by the great voice acting. I love reading comics, but I wasn't sure if the Avatar comics would be for me.Well, after this introduction, the comic verse for Avatar. I can say those feelings aren't dissatisfied because of the shift in the medium. I was enthralled to be joining the rest of the fandom who gave the comics the much-deserved attention.Initially, I was afraid the writing quality would falter due to the weight and expectation of the show. I was initially skeptical as I was learning of Zuko's trouble adapting to his duties as the new Firelord. I wondered if the writers undermined the redemption arc Zuko achieved in Book Three. However, those complexities made for a great sense of direction for Zuko.There are beats I cared less for, like the romanticism of "Katang" I was always rooting for Aang and Katara to be in a relationship by the end of the series. The promise presents the continuation of their relationship. It somehow feels awkward to see the pair together, but it was cool at the same time. I wonder how my feelings about their dynamic will change throughout the run.

Excellent!!!

The Promise Part 1 is an enjoyable read for anyone who has watched Avatar the Last Air Bender. It is the first of the promise trilogy and aids the connection between the Legend of Korra and ATLA. It continues the life of Aang, Katara, Zuko, Sokka, Toph, Mai, Suki, Iroh and Ozai.This trilogy is named the promise because of the relationship that Zuko and Aang have after the war. In his "clearest state of mind", Zuko asks the Avatar to end him should Zuko become like his father. The books revolves around this Promise. Overall, the books are very similar to the TV show. They both have similar humor and the characters look almost the same.I found that you can read/"watch" the comics on youtube. However, I suggest that you purchase the book because no video can capture how high quality the drawings are. In my opinion, it is worth it to buy the book.My only complaints are not large issues. Firstly, I found the book to be too short. It takes maybe 10-20 minutes to read. If it was presented on television; I believe that it might take 2 episodes to complete (30 minutes each). Although this is expected because it is an anime book, I was disappointed when it was over so quickly. Also, I didn't like the new ways Katara and Aang display affection for one another. When both of them repeatedly call each other sweetie, it is not only annoying but rather a break of character from what we used to know them to be. Also, on pg. 50 and 51 Katara states the sentence:"Stop-trying-to-set-my-boyfriend-on-fire"The reason I used dashes in between each word was because the writer devoted a a whole slide for one word. I found this to be a waste of space and something that I would never see Katara do in the Television series.An interesting thing I discovered was that in the Legend of Korra, Tenzin's bison is named Oogie. I suspect this comes from Sokka repeatedly calling Aang and Katara's PDA, Oogie.Generally, it was fun to read and had a very similar mindset to Avatar the Last Airbender.

My 10yr old grandson just lives these books! Will definitely be buying more