Anti Atla Comics - Tumblr Posts
My "favorite" part of the kat.aang from the comics was when Aang gave up searching for the missing Katara in order to convince ONE dude that the Avatar is not evil. Like... Man, your BELOVED is missing, maybe you could put her a little higher in your value system?
I also don't like how the rest of the Gaang are starting to justify this action. Sokka is very concerned about his sister's disappearance just until Aang needs to stroke his ego.
I don't know why this insert is needed. To show how no one really cares about Katara? Ugh...
"Was this the best plan or was this the plot plan" is a perfect encapsulation of the problem I have with the way the comics were written. There are so many things that happen solely to create pointless drama and elongate the story for the sake of padding the run time: Aang flirting with the idea of killing Zuko, even though we knew he was going to do it, Mai hiding her father's involvement the NOS, until it suddenly dawned on her that he had a hand in the kidnappings(even though he already kidnapped her brother, and she should realize that he is the type of person that would benefit from this chaos), the Ursa letter. I honestly feel like all the comics should have been one-shots. It's obvious that neither Yang nor Bryke had enough material or imagination to make them trilogies.
More effective letters that Ursa could have written to find out that Ozai is reading her letters:
Dear Mother:
Just in case I am found out, I’m writing you this letter in advance…don’t worry, I’m just kidding, nothing’s going to happen to me because of this, but I’m going to play a prank on my husband. It’s the Fire Festival next week, and I’m going to make sure that my husband’s komodo chicken has extra spice in the center. He’ll breathe fire all over the table–it will be hilarious! I will tell you how it all turns out, but I’ll probably have to wait a while so that I’m not giggling all throughout it.
I hope you’re well, and I hope that Father is, too!
Your daughter, Ursa.
And then she just sits there and watches Ozai search his chicken.
She could have also done things like hide something important to him and then tell her mother where she hid it, spoil the ending of a story, tell her what she’s getting Ozai for his surprise birthday party…except that he HADN’T EVEN BEEN READING THEM because it was the woman who read them. It wasn’t until she went all CRUCIAL INFORMATION that things went wrong.
But seriously, was that the best plan she could come up with? Or was that the PLOT plan that she could come up with?
Mai didn't break up with Zuko because their personality differences and their different wants and needs drove them apart. She didn't break up with him because she was so heartbroken by his visit with Ozai that she couldn't stand to be with him anymore. She broke up with him because Gene Yang wrote her out the story. She only appears twice in the entire trilogy, Zuko doesn't seem to remember she exists unless she's in the room, and Yang doesn't even let us hear her reasoning for the break up from her perspective. Yang admitted to being a Zutara shipper, and the only reason he didn't break up Kataang is because he wasn't allowed to. The writing did both of Zuko and Mai a huge disservice.
Maybe it's just me, but I really feel like Mai should have heard Zuko out in this scene:
Like I get being mad at him for not confiding in her about what was going on with him, but going as far as to break up with him over it? The Mai from the show would have at least asked him why he was going to visit Ozai in secret and listened to his reasons. Maybe even give him some advice of her own on the matter. Not...whatever the fuck this is.
And it's even more stupid when you have this scene from part 1 of The Promise:
Yang made Mai go from caring about Zuko's well-being (not to say that she still doesn't care, she quite obviously does since she doesn't want Zuko visiting Ozai, which comes from a place of love and care because she knows that Ozai can hurt him) to breaking up with him because he didn't tell her that he was going to see his father for advice on how to be the Firelord. I swear this man really loved including pointless drama into these comics.
Side note, I remember hearing that Yang is apparently a Zutara shipper. Is that true? Because if it is then it definitely explains how he wrote Mai and Maiko.
Gene Yang treated Ursa in The Search the same way House of the Dragon treated Alicent in Season 2. Once you see the similarities, it's easier to see the problem.
As much as I hate everything the comics did to Mai and Zuko (both together and individually), Mai not being willing to sacrifice her entire family on the altar of protecting her ex boyfriend (the same man who let her attempted murderer out the asylum without any concern for her safety, and just left her to roam free without any consideration for the people she might hurt) actually makes sense.