Faith Erin Hicks

Faith Erin Hicks’ Avatar: The Last Airbender – Azula in the Spirit Temple features art by Peter Wartman, colors by Adele Matera, and letters by Richard Starkings and Jimmy Betancourt. The story takes place shortly after the events of Avatar. Azula leads a band of women whose parents placed them in an institution for failing to conform to expectations. With them, she harries the Fire Nation in order to harass her brother, Fire Lord Zuko. Working to stop her is her former friend, Ty Lee, now one of the Kyoshi Warriors. Azula finds herself in a temple where a spirit confronts her with the friends and family for whom she holds the most enmity. Rather than make her peace, she challenges them and demands they beg her forgiveness. While this fails to provide her the peace that the spirit offers, she does find a sort of peace in seeing her new band forge their own bonds without her. A fun continuation for the fans, but it reads like a standalone episode rather than part of a larger story arc. That said, Hicks’ writing admirably captures the tone of the show while Wartman and Matera’s art beautifully brings it to vivid life.… (meer)