No matter how hard we try, we can never keep our children completely safe
Creative Staff:
Story: Gene Luen Yang
Art: Gurihiru
Lettering: Michael Heisler
What They Say:
Zuko and Mai dig deep into Fire Nation history to unravel the mystery of a children’s story come to life—the Kemurikage!
Soon after returning home following the events of The Search, fire Lord Zuko discovers that a rebel organization calling itself the New Ozai Society has slowly gained traction among the Fire nation’s citizens. Its goal? Assassinate Zuko and restore Ozai to the throne, before the country perishes! Laying evidence to their claim of a nation at risk are the shadowy Kemurikage—figures originating in myth who are kidnapping children across the Fire Nation. As fear takes root in the capital, Zuko, Mai, and their families become entangled in a dangerous plot executed by someone they least expect.
Collecting Smoke and Shadow Parts 1-3 and featuring commentary from Eisner Award-winning writer Gene Luen Yang and artist team Gurihiru, as well as a sketchbook section chock full of never-before-seen materials, this deluxe library edition provides a unique look at the making of this beloved comic series!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The Yang/Gurihiru ATLA comics are interesting in that the arcs themselves are self-contained in a way—needing prior knowledge of the TV series, but not any of their previous ATLA comics to fully enjoy them. Smoke and Shadow, the fourth comic arc from the duo, changes this up, a majority of the plot needing at least some knowledge of the happenings that went down in the last arc, The Search.
Now having found his mother as well as mother’s new husband and daughter, Zuko returns to the Fire Nation capital with his newfound family by his side. It’s the kind of setup with leftover story bits from the last arc that you’d expect to get neatly wrapped up within the first few pages, and yet Ursa, Noren, and their daughter Kiya remain in decently prominent roles throughout the story, bringing home the theme of parenthood and the lengths one is willing to go for their child. Said theme is only further underlined through Ukano—Mai’s father and leader of the New Ozai Society—who threatens Zuko upon his return to the mainland only to have this plan take a rather odd series of twists and turns.
To start off: we know from the get-go that Ukano is a weak-willed individual, his opening scene having him being threatened by the Kemurikage—ghostly individuals spoken only as urban legends. As cowardly as he comes off as, though, he does have great respect for his nation as well as for his family (even though he’s been separated from his wife for some time now), even if he goes about it the wrong way. So while the New Ozai Society’s attack on Zuko and The Avatar don’t feel as threatening as they should be, it’s because a more major threat with ulterior motives outside of reinstating Ozai as Fire Lord are at work.
As the adults deal with matters of keeping their children safe in an ever-changing world, it’s the younger cast that actually makes an attempt to set their minds at ease. Zuko, now under the public eye as the Fire Lord, struggles to find a balance in decision-making that appeases all, while Aang buddies up with Mai and her new boyfriend Kei Lo to do some detective-work of their own on the Kemurikage. The seemingly endless factors Zuko must take into consideration as Fire Lord expertly demonstrate the stresses a world leader must go through, while Mai’s actions as she’s torn between outing her father and seeking justice for the rest of her family act as the perfect counter to Ukano’s arc, Aang simply being along for the ride.
It’s this natural progression in these characters, seeing them in a new light that they couldn’t have gone through earlier in the series, that’s the true pull to this story. Mai’s character in particular is a far cry from the henchman she was when she was first introduced, now showing worry for her family as well as taking the chance to open herself up emotionally to Kei Lo. Yes, it’s a noticeable change to her character, but it’s written in a way that makes sense, given how she’s progressed so far.
The only main complaint with the arc is how it balances its multiple side-stories. With so many characters bouncing between so many locations, it’s difficult to make any kind of clean transition between scenes, sometimes feeling like panels were skipped over while reading. The added drama in the form of some budding possible romances between certain characters only further adds to the story-juggling plate. And while each individual story is entertaining in itself, the overarching story does feel disjointed at times.
Author notes and sketches round out this hardcover release, providing clear and useful insight that helps further illustrating the train of thought of the creative team as they worked towards completing this story, Yang and Gurihiru’s commentary and preliminary art enough to justify this purchase.
In Summary:
Smoke and Shadow continues the Yang/Gurihiru tag-team trend of expanding the Avatar world alongside its maturing cast of characters. While the large cast this time around makes the story feel disjointed at times, it’s still a solid entry in the series that gives depth even to its most minor of characters.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A
Age Rating: All Ages
Released By: Dark Horse
Release Date: October 4th, 2016
MSRP: $39.99
