Avatar: The Last Airbender - North and South Omnibus

Avatar: The Last Airbender Comics #5

by Gene Luen Yang, Gurihiru (Illustrator), Bryan Konietzko

When Katara and Sokka return home to the Southern Water Tribe, they are shocked to find that it has gone from a small village to a bustling city! Malina, a Northerner, is behind the change and plans to unify the two groups, but Gilak, a Southerner, leads a fierce rebellion to stop her. In the face of these two opposing tribes, Katara will have to make peace with her nostalgia and distrust to save the home she loves from being permanently torn apart.
This special, oversized edition of Avatar: the Last Airbender -- North and South features volumes 1-3 with annotations by writer Gene Luen Yang and artists Gurihiru, as well as a sketchbook section with new, behind-the-scenes material!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fantasy, Fiction, Young Adult, Graphic Novels Comics, Adventure

231 pages, Paperback

First published November 7, 2017

About the author

Gene Luen Yang writes, and sometimes draws, comic books and graphic novels. As the Library of Congress’ fifth National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, he advocates for the importance of reading, especially reading diversely. American Born Chinese, his first graphic novel from First Second Books, was a National Book Award finalist, as well as the winner of the Printz Award and an Eisner Award. His two-volume graphic novel Boxers & Saints won the L.A. Times Book Prize and was a National Book Award Finalist. His other works include Secret Coders (with Mike Holmes), The Shadow Hero (with Sonny Liew), Superman from DC Comics (with various artists), and the Avatar: The Last Airbender series from Dark Horse Comics (with Gurihiru). In 2016, he was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow. His most recent books are Dragon Hoops from First Second Books and Superman Smashes the Klan from DC Comics.

Reviews

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This comic continues to be a great continuation of the TV show, but I really wish Aang and Katara would stop calling each other "sweetie." It makes all of my insides cringe.

[April (Aprilius Maximus) · Rating 4 out of 5]

1.) The Promise ★★★★.5
2.) The Search ★★★★.5
3.) The Rift ★★★★
4.) Smoke and Shadow ★★★★.5
5.) North and South ★★★★.5

-----------------------------------------------

This was so good. You can see so many parallels to the real world in this entire series and in this one especially. We have the Southern Water Tribe, who are in a transition period between the old and the new and everything that comes with it (technology, working with other nations to grow their civilisation and the struggles that some people have with that). It's hard reading about some of these people who are so narrow-minded and so set in their old ways that they refuse to live and work with people from other nations, even if it's necessary in order to move forward. It's really sad, and something that we have to deal with in our world too.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked that this focused on Katara and Sokka. They return home to their village to find it's grown into a city. But not everyone is happy with the changes. Yes, there is something of a formula to these stories. Team Avatar has a tendency to head to another nation where there's a conflict between tradition and modern machines. Still this one was done very well. Gurihiru's art is terrific.

[Mrinmayi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am gonna HOPE that the next comic is better *sighs*
I was disappointed by the previous book BUT this book disappointed me, even more,

I am waiting for this comic series to regain its honor!!

And TBH I was *shocked*
I am a water bender
So obviously I was *excited* to be back with the water tribe
BUT what happened was..I got bored
Never thought AtLA could be predictable !!
If you have seen this series you might now that it has the BEST plot twist in the history of TV series
BUT this book was sooooooo predictable and repetitive !!
To sum to this book in one meme:|

Yup!!! Thats it!!
And why the heck did Sokka not making any jokes??!!
I AM MISSING SOKKA'S SENSE OF HUMOR!!!

Calm down Sokka!! I KNOW you deserve better!! *sighs*
Onto the next book!!! Lets hope its better!!*fingers crossed*

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm seeing the trend by now: the Gaang arrives to an old place, finds a new factory or something planted in there, gets involved in a struggle between progress and tradition, the villain is always on the latter side, ends on a bittersweet note with nothing really resolved. Characters and situations change, but otherwise it's mostly the same. Taken in a vacuum, Inbalance pulled this off probably the best - while North and South was likely the worst.

Still a few good jokes, though.

[ray ౨ৎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

❄️꒱ mini review !
i’ve always appreciated how atla had politics that we can tie to real life. the dynamic between benders and non-benders, forgiving nations for their wrongs, and how there are pros and cons to the industrialization of villages and how some might be against it. overall it was a really fun book and i love these omnibuses giving me extra team avatar content set after the events of the show! (also, i lived for the zuko content and the banter between toph and sokka)

[Leonie.reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't really like the book that much. Which really is a shame because water is my favorite element in the Avatar world. The color scheme of the drawings and the landscape were admittedly amazing.

I get the themes that they were going for, but I felt they were very surface level. (And for the love of god, they should keep that oil in the ground. If not they can make Avatar Part 3 one day where the current Avatar has to fight climate change.) Overall there were some weird implications, for example that the indigenous tribes had to modernize and basically become capitalists to thrive. While keeping their traditional way of life was portayed as backwards. Yikes.

There were also some huge plot holes. Like when a group of nonbenders were able to defeat all of the best benders in the world and then they were able to outrun Aang. It made absolutely no sense.

There were some moments I enjoyed though and the art work was beautiful.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished these too fast and now I’m sad

[m i l o u ✨ (Grumpy Hobbit) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have often wondered how drastically the South Pole would have changed since Katara and Sokka left it to help Aang and this time we finally get an answer to it. Modernisation has found its way to the South Pole and Katara and Sokko are having difficulty with finding the place where they have grown up at. That paints a picture of how radically everything has changed.

It's kind of odd to me to see the South Pole resembling the architectural style of the North Pole because I had always imagined that the modernisation wouldn't be effecting the South Pole to that extend, but I was proven wrong. It seems modernisation finds everything in the Avatar Universe.


I can totally understand why Katara is having issues with adjusting to the place where she has grown up, which doesn't look anything like it anymore. It will made you feel out of your element.



Now I'm kind of sad that I've finished all of these Avatar comics because it is something that I can never tire from.


Books in the series:



1: Avatar: The Last Airbender #1 ★★★★★
2: Avatar: The Last Airbender #2 ★★★★★
3: Avatar: The Last Airbender #3 ★★★★★
4: Avatar: The Last Airbender #4 ★★★


↠ Genre: The Avatar the Last Airbender Universe, Comics
↠ Pov: Multiple
↠ Type: Book 5 out of ? in the Avatar the Last Airbender series
↠ Rating: 4,5 stars



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[Himanshu Karmacharya · Rating 3 out of 5]

The conflict between progress and tradition is the major theme explored in this book. Though, this theme is not new in Avatar Universe, Gene Luen Yang has still managed to make the book interesting, accompanied by beautiful artwork from Michael Dante DiMartino.

[Alyson Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book: Avatar: The Last Airbender: North and South
Author: Gene Luen Yang
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

This is another difficult one to rate. I did enjoy it, but I wasn’t completely wowed by it. it feels like these graphic novels have kind of fallen into the same formula. It feels like we are just writing these for the sake of keeping the world going. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still having a great time reading them, but it feels like we are losing a lot of the momentum behind them.

I really did find the focus on the water tribe a lot less interesting than some of the other places that we have been. I have never really felt a strong connection to the water tribes. I have always been more connected to the fire and earth parts of the world. Still, I am glad that we got to go home with Sokka and Katara. I’m still happy that the world is still experiencing the aftereffects of the world and that not everything is okay. I really do appreciate that the authors are doing this.

I like that the Southern Water Tribe has changed. Sokka and Katara have to deal with these changes and it’s jarring. Think about returning home after a long journey and when you come back things are completely different. That’s what Sokka and Katara are dealing with. When they come back, they find that their home has completely changed. It’s not the little village that they left behind, but is now, in fact, a city. We get to see them be kind of torn between holding onto the old ways and maybe moving forward. We also see how people from the past have changed.

I liked getting to see the whole North vs South. Both sides really did put out good points and I really could see why both believed what they were doing was right. I also liked getting to see all of the nations come together again and work together to work this out. It was great getting to see this again. I love seeing how far everyone has come since the start of the series.

No, this wasn’t my favourite, but it’s still worth the read. With that being said, I do hope that these graphic novels don’t go on for much longer. I do kind of feel like we are losing the story.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably my least favorite of the comics so far, though still enjoyable. Katara had some sick moves in this one. Just wish that a) the new characters were more developed and memorable and b) Katara and Aang would call each other literally anything other than “sweetie.”

[parvaneh · Rating 4 out of 5]

my favorite part was when zuko arrived

[*❆ Kαɾҽɳ ❆* · Rating 5 out of 5]

Team Avatar is reunited again! Here we see Sokka and Katara return to their home, the South Pole since they left with the Avatar all those years ago. Things are changing, some for good, some not so much. We see again conflicts between keeping things traditions or moving on to the future. I enjoyed watching them all learn and grow from the past and think about the future.

[Sara Narro R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 / 5 estrellas

Katara siempre ha sido mi personaje favorita del mundo de Avatar, y por eso en especial no podía esperar para llegar a leer este cómic; sin embargo, si tenía miedo que la trama, la cual es un inicio al mundo moderno que conocemos en La Leyenda de Korra, no fuera totalmente de mi agrado.

Y al final, eso es lo que terminó sucediendo: aunque amé a los personajes y sus interacciones con los demás, la trama me molestaba al igual que Katara, pues esperaba encontrarme con las viejas tribus del agua en lugar de las versiones modernizadas que conocemos en el cómic.

Siento que parte de mi decepción también tiene que ver con el hecho que es el último cómic de los personajes de ATLA, antes de que pasarme con los correspondientes al mundo de Korra y las demás historias cortas que cambian de estilo de animación; así que en general, esperaba algo similar a lo que encontramos en The Search o The Promise, que son historias igual de interesantes como sus protagonistas.

Pero todo esto no quita el hecho que es una historia ambientada en este grandioso mundo con el cual ya estoy fascinada, por lo que si considero que es una lectura indispensable si te consideras fanático al igual que yo <3

[Blake the Book Eater · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://youtu.be/-6in3gffH4w

Gene Luen Yang finished off his run on the Avatar comics in high form. North and South focuses on a conflict that is explored in Korra season 2, but gets its important start here: the conflict between the Northern and Southern water tribes. This also explains how the Southern water tribe grew in the 70 years between the two shows!

More importantly however, this series gives us great characters, great conflict, and a insanely compelling story. I’m sad this was the end of Yang’s run on the Avatar comics because I felt like he truly captured the Gaang’s voices and created some of the most memorable arcs in the Avatar series!

[Sasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE U KATARA

[olivia bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars because I lose years off my life when Katara and Aang call each other "sweetie"

[Readasaurus Rex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific

This series just keeps getting better. I'm not big on comics but I am loving these! On to the next in the series!

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, I think that was my favorite of the Gene and Gurihiru projects!! A beautiful conclusion to their time on this project, with increased stakes, new rivals, and of course, beautiful art. It was nice to see Team Aang back together for one last time. (And interestingly, in the same as the order of the show, Toph arriving in the second arc, and Zuko in the third; a chef’s kiss of coming full circle.)

[Kayla Charisse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the A:TLA universe so, so much, and highly recommend reading the comics to those fans who haven’t picked them up yet!

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one- I would've preferred it if it included more of my favourite characters, but it was still very interesting.

[aarya · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Read via library.

[Amelia Oswald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Returned to the Northern Tribe because after a little time it has become a freaking city. There is a group that is too bitter for change and think it would erase their culture so they try to sabotage. That is when the Avatar gang show up and fix it.
I enjoy this story, I think it's good to see how Katara and Sokka's tribe has been doing after the war.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn’t enjoy this one as much but it did make me hungry 😋

[Fatemeh Bahrami · Rating 2 out of 5]

از نظر توجه به جزئیات و رعایت کردنشون حتی از کمیک ″قول″ هم بدتر بود!

[Dustin (dragonarmybooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a BookTube channel where I review books, give reading suggestions, and more! Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/dragonarmybooks

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My Rating - 4.5 Stars

The prodigious and untouchable merger of Yang/Gurihiru conclude their epic run with North and South, a story highlighting the brother and sister duo, Katara and Sokka. Like much of the rest of the Avatar world, the Southern Water Tribe is trying to figure out if and how to move forward into modernity without losing their identity. As the North sends in their own representatives to assist with progress, the Southern Tribe is split on how to respond. With a civil war looming just over the horizon, Team Avatar must band together one more time to bring unity and peace to a disjointed people.

North and South is a solid story but I think some odd choices were made during the climax and denouement. The entire scene at the Bridge of No Return could have been SO much better! Alas, I wasn't consulted for the story (thank God!). I really like the blue/white color aesthetic that the water tribes implement. I hope you like the color combo too, because that is the scheme of virtually every single panel in this three part novel. Again, it really works for me and is certainly easy on the eyes, but if you're not a fan of the aesthetic, I could see it being overwhelming for some. Thankfully, all of Team Avatar makes an appearance in the story and it's all wrapped up so beautifully--around a table full of food and surrounded by loved ones. It couldn't have concluded a better way.

I have so enjoyed these graphic novels by Yang and Gurihiru. They are, collectively, one of the best companion pieces I've ever seen. As storytellers and illustrators, Yang and Gurihiru were so respectful to the source material and their love and passion for the show is so evident. The storytelling is incredibly faithful to the animated series. I've said many times before, but each of these graphic novels could be multiple episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender and no one would bat an eye. They fit so well! And as far as the illustrations go, I had absolutely zero complaints. Guirhiru is a powerhouse of talent, remaining faithful to the animated series while maintaining their own artistic flair. It was just perfect.

For anyone who cares, The Rift was my favorite. North and South was second. Smoke and Shadow third. The Promise fourth. The Search, simply due to poor story choices, was my least favorite of the collection.

[John Nygma · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars, I think. While I did have fun reading this and the characterisation and art style are as wonderful as always, I feel like this comic didn't do anything new. We're basically covering very similar topics that were addressed in previous comics already and in a more interesting way, too. I do appreciate that Sokka and Katara are the main characters in this, and it's cool to see how their family and the South Pole have developed. However, the new characters here are mostly forgettable (except Hakoda's new partner maybe), especially the villains, who were a bit too basic. By the end, I feel like the comic dealt with the immediate threat at hand, but not the cultural conflicts that the story tried to address. This isn't bad, but noticeably not as good as previous comics. (Also, I feel like the whole North vs. South Pole thing was more interesting when Legend of Korra did it...)

[Huda Al-Mossalli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Currently rewatching Legend of Korra season 2 and it shows the relationship between the southern and northern clans.

So it was interesting to read this and see how it begun and the troubles faced.

The scenery art was awesome

[Kiara · Rating 4 out of 5]

minus .5 stars because a lot of the characters just looked SLIGHTLY off model and minus another .5 stars because the story was good but it was pretty much just the same story as the other post-100 year war comics