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Avatar: The High Ground #3
Avatar: The High Ground, Volume 3
Jake Sully's fears have come crashing to Pandora, guns blazing. The Sky People are planet-side, and taking Hell's Gate by storm.
Jake and Neytiri's children are still on base, surrounded and outgunned. Years of advancement on Earth means they'll be bringing more firepower than Jake could anticipate. Unable to fully rely on his intel, Jake will have to improvise and risk it all to protect his family, his people, and their home. The battle is underway and every Na’vi is in danger.
Experience the epic finale of James Cameron’s original story “The High Ground” in this graphic novel adaptation written by award-winning author Sherri L. Smith (The Toymaker’s Apprentice, Orleans) and illustrated by Agustin Padilla (Suicide Squad, Transformers, Borderlands, Predator: Hunters II) and Miguel Angel Ruiz (The Passing, Crossed: Badlands). The exciting conclusion to Avatar: The High Ground leads you directly into the opening of the long-awaited film sequel Avatar 2!
Jake and Neytiri's children are still on base, surrounded and outgunned. Years of advancement on Earth means they'll be bringing more firepower than Jake could anticipate. Unable to fully rely on his intel, Jake will have to improvise and risk it all to protect his family, his people, and their home. The battle is underway and every Na’vi is in danger.
Experience the epic finale of James Cameron’s original story “The High Ground” in this graphic novel adaptation written by award-winning author Sherri L. Smith (The Toymaker’s Apprentice, Orleans) and illustrated by Agustin Padilla (Suicide Squad, Transformers, Borderlands, Predator: Hunters II) and Miguel Angel Ruiz (The Passing, Crossed: Badlands). The exciting conclusion to Avatar: The High Ground leads you directly into the opening of the long-awaited film sequel Avatar 2!
88 pages, Hardcover
First published January 10, 2023
20 people are currently reading
299 people want to read
About the author
Sherri L. Smith
49 books515 followersSherri L. Smith is the award-winning author of YA novels LUCY THE GIANT, SPARROW, HOT SOUR SALTY SWEET, FLYGIRL and ORLEANS. In October 2015, she makes her middle grade debut with THE TOYMAKER’S APPRENTICE from G.P. Putnam and Sons for Penguin Random House.
Sherri has worked in film, animation, comic books and construction. Her books have been listed as Amelia Bloomer, American Library Association Best Books for Young People, and Junior Library Guild Selections. FLYGIRL was the 2009 California Book Awards Gold Medalist.
She loves her family, travel, chocolate chip cookies, reading, and and a really good cup of tea.
Sherri has worked in film, animation, comic books and construction. Her books have been listed as Amelia Bloomer, American Library Association Best Books for Young People, and Junior Library Guild Selections. FLYGIRL was the 2009 California Book Awards Gold Medalist.
She loves her family, travel, chocolate chip cookies, reading, and and a really good cup of tea.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
November 26, 2022
Avatar High Ground takes you on a journey full of action and adventure again which we witnessed in the movie. The plot takes us further where Jake Sully has a family, but he knows that sky people will be back. how he prepares himself and his family is the main crux of the story. It was really fascinating re living the story. Full of action and adventure gives you a an enjoying experience. Also, graphics are nice.
Definitely, a 4 star book. Thanks to Edelweiss and Dark Horse Books for giving me an opportunity to read and review the book.
Read more on https://bibliophileverse.blogspot.com...
Definitely, a 4 star book. Thanks to Edelweiss and Dark Horse Books for giving me an opportunity to read and review the book.
Read more on https://bibliophileverse.blogspot.com...
August 8, 2023
I can never love something in moderation
November 27, 2023
The third volume neither did offer a lot of reading but fighting scenes. Pages were simply filled with shot bodies and jumping and more stunts. Which is a lot of work for the illustrators, but less plot. I also found it confusing to find some technology in this graphic novel that didn’t make it into the movie. Maybe they couldn’t find a way to integrate these mechanic hounds, or the humans found them to be inefficient after their destruction in this fight.
What I liked to some degree was the self-induced liberation of the Sully kids thanks to Spider. Nonetheless, his contribution was not commented on in any way by their parents. I further liked to see a human female pilot help Jake and wondered where she did end up in the movie. The last pages nevertheless gave a clue on that. On them, they were also attacked by a water creature that resembles a shark. This way—plus through Jake’s final remarks about the family as their fortress—the graphic novel connects back to the second movie and foreshadows it.
What I liked to some degree was the self-induced liberation of the Sully kids thanks to Spider. Nonetheless, his contribution was not commented on in any way by their parents. I further liked to see a human female pilot help Jake and wondered where she did end up in the movie. The last pages nevertheless gave a clue on that. On them, they were also attacked by a water creature that resembles a shark. This way—plus through Jake’s final remarks about the family as their fortress—the graphic novel connects back to the second movie and foreshadows it.
July 3, 2024
Less talk, more action.
That art was a pleasant surprise, too. Should have showcased that on the cover, though,
That art was a pleasant surprise, too. Should have showcased that on the cover, though,
January 27, 2023
it’s weird that i keep having to talk about star wars in my avatar reviews, but there are a lot of truly bizarre connections between the two considering i don’t think there’s any real cross-pollination between them aside from disney having a stake in both of them? but, yeah.
a lot of star wars fans are probably familiar with the story of splinter of the mind’s eye. this was a novel by alan dean foster (the ghostwriter of the first film’s novelization) that george lucas commissioned as a book that could be easily adapted into a low-budget sequel for star wars if the first movie didn’t make enough money to finance a sequel. of course, that was before the first movie totally redefined expectations for a summer blockbuster, so foster’s novel ended up not being needed for its original purpose, and it just sort of existed as a kind of awkward entry in the canon of the eu until disney nuked it. dark horse did a comic adaptation of the novel in the 90s with some of that gorgeous coverart that the dark horse star wars comics always had, which is the way i found out about it.
avatar: the high ground, on the other hand, was james cameron’s first pass at an avatar sequel script. it doesn’t appear that cameron altered the trajectory of the sequel for budgetary reasons, but rather due to a combination of just deciding to break the story differently and possibly technological breakthroughs in convincing underwater cgi? regardless, rather than wasting his first script idea, a decision was made to adapt it into a series of three hardcover graphic novels.
the resulting comis are… honestly not great, immo? i’d actually say this is my least favorite avatar comic i’ve read so far. like, even adapt or die which wasn’t great at least felt like it was something different? this felt like “avatar 2, but worse.” and repurposing it as a prequel is also kind of fraught because they obviously had a lot of the same storytelling goals in this version of the sequel so you end up with weird stuff like jake & meytiri’s kids running through what should’ve been their parents’ entire budget of “telling them to stay & wait in a place, them not listening & getting kidnapped” patience before the first movie? like, when the kids first get captured by blue!quatritch in the sequel, it’s this big shocking moment, but imagine if they had just been kidnapped & daringly rescued, like, last week? it would totally change how that would feel, right? there’s a very real feeling in the movie that this is the first time their innocence has been challenged like this.
… come to think of it, that’s actually another parallel with splinter of the mind’s eye? because towards the end of that book, luke has a lightsaber fight with darth vader, and when splinter of the mind’s eye was still considered canon that just made it really awkward that their confrontation in the empire strikes back was clearly supposed to be the first of its kind? i think this comic is just avatar’s splinter of the mind’s eye. i think it’s best to just pretend it doesn’t exist, because it’s definitely not going to impact the movies–i mean, no one’s really thinking “this is awkward becasue splinter of the mind’s eye got there first” when they watch empire, right? but it just makes the high ground pretty unsatisfying at the end of the day.
even ignoring those sorts of issues, it’s also just super obvious that this story wasn’t intended for a comic book format? it’s just a series of honestly pretty flat action scenes that don’t really translate all that well on the page. and it isn’t helped by the fact that the art, while pretty enough to look at, doesn’t actually do a great job of conveying the action in a way that’s painless to follow? it’s sometimes hard to tell characters apart except for in extreme closeup. so yeah, on the whole, really not a huge fan of this one, unfortunately.
a lot of star wars fans are probably familiar with the story of splinter of the mind’s eye. this was a novel by alan dean foster (the ghostwriter of the first film’s novelization) that george lucas commissioned as a book that could be easily adapted into a low-budget sequel for star wars if the first movie didn’t make enough money to finance a sequel. of course, that was before the first movie totally redefined expectations for a summer blockbuster, so foster’s novel ended up not being needed for its original purpose, and it just sort of existed as a kind of awkward entry in the canon of the eu until disney nuked it. dark horse did a comic adaptation of the novel in the 90s with some of that gorgeous coverart that the dark horse star wars comics always had, which is the way i found out about it.
avatar: the high ground, on the other hand, was james cameron’s first pass at an avatar sequel script. it doesn’t appear that cameron altered the trajectory of the sequel for budgetary reasons, but rather due to a combination of just deciding to break the story differently and possibly technological breakthroughs in convincing underwater cgi? regardless, rather than wasting his first script idea, a decision was made to adapt it into a series of three hardcover graphic novels.
the resulting comis are… honestly not great, immo? i’d actually say this is my least favorite avatar comic i’ve read so far. like, even adapt or die which wasn’t great at least felt like it was something different? this felt like “avatar 2, but worse.” and repurposing it as a prequel is also kind of fraught because they obviously had a lot of the same storytelling goals in this version of the sequel so you end up with weird stuff like jake & meytiri’s kids running through what should’ve been their parents’ entire budget of “telling them to stay & wait in a place, them not listening & getting kidnapped” patience before the first movie? like, when the kids first get captured by blue!quatritch in the sequel, it’s this big shocking moment, but imagine if they had just been kidnapped & daringly rescued, like, last week? it would totally change how that would feel, right? there’s a very real feeling in the movie that this is the first time their innocence has been challenged like this.
… come to think of it, that’s actually another parallel with splinter of the mind’s eye? because towards the end of that book, luke has a lightsaber fight with darth vader, and when splinter of the mind’s eye was still considered canon that just made it really awkward that their confrontation in the empire strikes back was clearly supposed to be the first of its kind? i think this comic is just avatar’s splinter of the mind’s eye. i think it’s best to just pretend it doesn’t exist, because it’s definitely not going to impact the movies–i mean, no one’s really thinking “this is awkward becasue splinter of the mind’s eye got there first” when they watch empire, right? but it just makes the high ground pretty unsatisfying at the end of the day.
even ignoring those sorts of issues, it’s also just super obvious that this story wasn’t intended for a comic book format? it’s just a series of honestly pretty flat action scenes that don’t really translate all that well on the page. and it isn’t helped by the fact that the art, while pretty enough to look at, doesn’t actually do a great job of conveying the action in a way that’s painless to follow? it’s sometimes hard to tell characters apart except for in extreme closeup. so yeah, on the whole, really not a huge fan of this one, unfortunately.
January 2, 2024
spiders beef with the sullies is undeserved
February 26, 2023
The art is gritty again, and difficult to know who is who.
I was undecided in V1 and V2 if High Ground was canon, but now I can say: It’s not. It’s more like a “What If” scenario.
Obviously, the screenplay on which it was based was an early draft of the script. The recom team didn’t seem to be a thing yet. Why? Because V3 put the kids in the forest being chased by bot dogs instead of the recom team, and the last part of V3 is visually almost like the last battle in the Way of Water. I’m glad they rework the script, because here a lot of characters, especially Jake, are so out of character.
In general, I would say that High Ground as a “what if” is an ok story, but as a prequel to The Way of Water is awful.
I was undecided in V1 and V2 if High Ground was canon, but now I can say: It’s not. It’s more like a “What If” scenario.
Obviously, the screenplay on which it was based was an early draft of the script. The recom team didn’t seem to be a thing yet. Why? Because V3 put the kids in the forest being chased by bot dogs instead of the recom team, and the last part of V3 is visually almost like the last battle in the Way of Water. I’m glad they rework the script, because here a lot of characters, especially Jake, are so out of character.
In general, I would say that High Ground as a “what if” is an ok story, but as a prequel to The Way of Water is awful.
November 16, 2025
Me gusta mucho el mundo de Avatar. Detrás de una narrativa simplona de salvador blanco hay un universo muy rico a través de unas películas y cómics super entretenidos y épicos.
The High Ground era la secuela original de la primera película, siendo The Way of Water la tercera entrega. Finalmente, y debido a todos los retrasos, The Way of Water se convirtió en la segunda entrega, y The High Ground acabó en viñetas, en una trilogía de tres álbumes que va de más a menos.
Un planteamiento super chulo que se desinfla en su tomo final, siendo reiterativo en estructura con la segunda película (ahí se ve lo que recicló para la misma, como todo ese acto final en el agua, o el secuestro de los hijos), y que termina de manera abrupta. Una trilogía que comienza con un ritmo lento se ve terminando apresuradamente en su volumen final para, supuestamente, dar paso a The Way of Water.
Si mola Avatar os va a molar (a mi todos los cómics que he leido me han gustado mucho) pero es cierto que es una historia que se desinfla y se lee en un suspiro (cosa que si le sumas el precio que tiene cada volumen, es un hándicap).
The High Ground era la secuela original de la primera película, siendo The Way of Water la tercera entrega. Finalmente, y debido a todos los retrasos, The Way of Water se convirtió en la segunda entrega, y The High Ground acabó en viñetas, en una trilogía de tres álbumes que va de más a menos.
Un planteamiento super chulo que se desinfla en su tomo final, siendo reiterativo en estructura con la segunda película (ahí se ve lo que recicló para la misma, como todo ese acto final en el agua, o el secuestro de los hijos), y que termina de manera abrupta. Una trilogía que comienza con un ritmo lento se ve terminando apresuradamente en su volumen final para, supuestamente, dar paso a The Way of Water.
Si mola Avatar os va a molar (a mi todos los cómics que he leido me han gustado mucho) pero es cierto que es una historia que se desinfla y se lee en un suspiro (cosa que si le sumas el precio que tiene cada volumen, es un hándicap).
June 20, 2024
This one felt a little fresher than the others. Although it’s starting to dawn on me that even if this wasn’t a draft of what became way of water, maybe I’m just seeing similarities because that’s just all of Cameron’s stuff. All his plots have similar beats. And you know what. I’m ok with that. It’s still great entertaining dramatic action packed fun.
My main issue with this instalment was how abruptly it ended. It doesn’t feel like the end leads straight into the film, which would have excused the abruptness for me, but this just left me with questions and a feeling of incompleteness.
Also after reading other reviews I realised there were different artists across the three books which may have explained why in the first the kids weren’t really clear in the art (as opposed to it being that the movie was early in visual development).
My main issue with this instalment was how abruptly it ended. It doesn’t feel like the end leads straight into the film, which would have excused the abruptness for me, but this just left me with questions and a feeling of incompleteness.
Also after reading other reviews I realised there were different artists across the three books which may have explained why in the first the kids weren’t really clear in the art (as opposed to it being that the movie was early in visual development).
June 30, 2023
Often muddied art depicting action sequences, action sequences that often feel mostly 1:1 with what appears in the movie and which don’t have stakes if you’ve seen the film (because the only named characters are in the film, you know they’re Teflon and all the other disposable characters are either unnamed or minimally developed if at all). I feel like this whole series could have been compressed into either a single 100 page volume parting down to the few “essential” story beats, or left untold as exposition in the film. Pretty big bummer for such a nicely curated product.
November 28, 2023
I really enjoyed watching both movies, even though they were both two hours long. However, the length did not bother me at all because it gave me something to watch for a few days. Sometimes, I struggle to decide what movies to watch, so I end up re-watching movies. This particular movie, though, I can watch over and over again. However, my all-time favorite movie is Transformers. I don't know why, but that movie is my absolute favorite.
March 11, 2024
The conclusion to the story is here and it's not a total miss...
This reads like a storyboard for the most part. Less dialogue in this portion and LOTS of high spot action moments. There isn't much you can do to add things to this story. I feel like there's content that gets introduced here that HAS to get eliminated before Avatar 2, since there's no mention there of any of it.
I still can't believe there's going to be 5 of these movies out there in the world.
This reads like a storyboard for the most part. Less dialogue in this portion and LOTS of high spot action moments. There isn't much you can do to add things to this story. I feel like there's content that gets introduced here that HAS to get eliminated before Avatar 2, since there's no mention there of any of it.
I still can't believe there's going to be 5 of these movies out there in the world.
November 29, 2022
A solid prequel to the new film. Jake Sully and Ney'tiri now have a family. The 2nd volume pretty much sets up this finish. Jake and Ney'tiri have been separated from their children and are racing back to save them while the Sky People are trying to murder them all. It's a 4 issue chase story, really.
February 5, 2023
Ill be honest i straight up did not like this. The art was better in the third volume but the volumes before had really ugly art and weirdly drawn faces imo. The story was a bummer and not that interesting and way too action heavy.
I'm really glad this stayed a screenplay. Avatar 2 was beautiful and it's beauty maybe even surpasses the first one and this graphic series was not
I'm really glad this stayed a screenplay. Avatar 2 was beautiful and it's beauty maybe even surpasses the first one and this graphic series was not
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 4, 2023
The artist got confused on who they were drawing a few times but it was more obvious who was who than in the first volume, and the transition made more sense overall, if you can forget the bizarreness of where they just came from. Still, it was a bit too much of a cliffhanger. The shot of Norm’s avatar was cool though when he stepped in to help.
January 12, 2023
Good end to the graphic novels! Very exciting and the art was great. I am definitely relieved this storyline didn’t end up being avatar 2 because way of water was sooo good, but what they were able to turn it into ended up being pretty entertaining!
September 28, 2023
Excellent prequel to Avatar sequel
I enjoyed this 3 parter. Excellent action and finale. Artwork was great on this issue as well. If you enjoy the world of Pandora. I recommend all three volumes. Well paced.
I enjoyed this 3 parter. Excellent action and finale. Artwork was great on this issue as well. If you enjoy the world of Pandora. I recommend all three volumes. Well paced.
December 26, 2025
some alright stuff here. it's just alright though. clunky dialogue mixed with clunky hard to follow panels. Where the films make up for their bad dialogue in the artwork, unfortunately the comic series does not.
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January 28, 2023Ka pa vem, ni veliko zgodbe, narisano je sicer vredu, anatomija in to, ma obrazi so pa tko prbližno, pol časa nism vedu kdo je kdo, če ni blo iz konteksta jasno.
No, ja, prebral sem do konca...
No, ja, prebral sem do konca...
February 8, 2023
Idk if there is gonna be a 4th book but i need one
June 13, 2023
Had the most dynamic art of the 3! Kept up with the pace of the story really well. These shouldn’t have been published in separate volumes- the separation really affects the (already weak) story.
June 25, 2023
se que no está relacionado pero que viva lo'ak y tsireya✋
July 6, 2023
Didn't like this series, just found it boring
September 9, 2023
Dang dawg, Kiri was struggling in this one lolll. Loved it though!! Great ending!
November 24, 2023
2.5 ⭐
Only for the art work and the fact that I could fly through it. There was no nonsense BS chatter. Only the fights, which consisted of buppas and ta-dams.
Only for the art work and the fact that I could fly through it. There was no nonsense BS chatter. Only the fights, which consisted of buppas and ta-dams.
February 21, 2024
3,5/5⭐️
August 19, 2024
I love Avatar so much. ❤️❤️
August 5, 2025
Not quite the big finish I was hoping for, but still a great end to the series.
September 28, 2025
This was a fun and functional ending to the three-part Avatar 2 prequel series that is Avatar: The High Ground (you can see my reviews for Volume 1 and 2 here and here). The first served as setup, the second gave us awesome space combat and sick visuals, and the third is a standard rescue mission, with an open-ended conclusion intended to lead directly into the aforementioned Avatar 2.
Volume 3 continues to deliver with wonderful visuals that really make me appreciate my recent forays into the world of graphic novels. However, I do think that The High Ground is best enjoyed as an alternate universe, 'What if?' version of Avatar: The Way of Water, rather than a direct tie-in or prequel. If this is canon, then that brings the Sully-kids-being-kidnapped-and-held-hostage count to four, which is pushing it for me personally - and I just accepted that the Na'vi went to space.
This was more of a 3.5 for me, but I’m rounding up because graphic novels are primarily a visual medium, and on that front, this was a stellar conclusion. Or maybe I’m just a sucker for the Pandora night scenes and red-and-blue colour palette - who knows.
Volume 3 continues to deliver with wonderful visuals that really make me appreciate my recent forays into the world of graphic novels. However, I do think that The High Ground is best enjoyed as an alternate universe, 'What if?' version of Avatar: The Way of Water, rather than a direct tie-in or prequel. If this is canon, then that brings the Sully-kids-being-kidnapped-and-held-hostage count to four, which is pushing it for me personally - and I just accepted that the Na'vi went to space.
This was more of a 3.5 for me, but I’m rounding up because graphic novels are primarily a visual medium, and on that front, this was a stellar conclusion. Or maybe I’m just a sucker for the Pandora night scenes and red-and-blue colour palette - who knows.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews