Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Rift Part 1

Détails de Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Rift Part 1

Anyone who was disappointed that Toph was absent from 'The Search' trilogy can rest assured that we're getting a major dose of her in 'The Rift'. (Although Zuko fans may be disappointed that he will probably not appear.)It's old versus new in this most recent addition to the 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' series, as Toph's attempts to keep moving forward with her life are at odds with Aang's to embrace his past. Things only get more frustrating for both of them when they discover a joint Earth-Fire refinery at work on land that was once sacred to the Air Nomads. Drama, cliffhangers, and possibly spirit attacks ensue.Like 'The Promise' and "The Search' before it, the story for 'The Rift' is pretty solid, and I love how writer Gene Yang manages to come up with real, difficult and downright BIG problems for the GAang, not just your typical one-episode-and-it's-done dilemmas, which makes sense given the Avatar's duties to the world. You're not quite sure what the best solution is yourself, and you're not quite sure where it's going, which makes for a rich and thought-provoking read.The characters are well done, too. One of the problems I've had with the new characters brought in during the graphic novels is that most are not nearly as fun or interesting as the ones from the show. That seems to change here. We are quickly introduced to three Air Acolytes that are learning Air Nomad culture from Aang (Xing Ying, Yee-Li and Jingbo), and they're a joy to watch and mix in with the GAng easily. We also meet a young engineer named Satoru, who may prove to be very important in the future, and there may also be a small sub-plot with Katara and some workers at the refinery, though the issue is just touched on here. On top of the OCs, we reconnect with some classic characters, too, some we're surprised to see, and others we're very surprised to see.The artwork has taken another jump in quality as well. Since the Airbender graphic novels started, the art team, Gurihiru, has been at the wheel, and while their work was a tad rough in 'The Promise', it has steadily been getting better and better. The art here is fantastic; they capture the characters splendidly and do a great job at subtly aging them without losing their essence. The backgrounds are beautiful and the colours are amazing, adding depth and life to the Avatar world without coating it.I guess the only problem I have is with Katara. Not that she's depicted poorly or out of character in this (or any) graphic novel, but that she seems to be stuck as just a supporting character. Now make no mistake, she's still who she's always been: smart, caring, talented and level-headed with that slight critical edge, but it would be nice to see a little more of her. I realize that within each 80 pages of comic, its hard to squeeze some things in, but I'm hoping that if they make another trilogy after this one, it's centred more on Katara and Sokka (and I wouldn't be remiss to see Suki, Ty Lee and maybe Mai again, too).