Avatar the Last Airbender: Team Avatar Tales is an anthology of short comics created by a variety of artists/writers that celebrate the characters and world of Avatar the Last Airbender. While I don’t believe any of these stories can be considered to be canon, it’s interesting to see other creators takes on these beloved characters.
Most of the stories in this collection are quite short, making this a very quick read. The stories that most stood out to me were “Shells” and “Toph and the Boulder”. “Shells” focuses on Suki, one of my favourite side characters from the series, as she deals with some misogynistic shop owners who are trying to keep a girl, who they’ve labeled as a “Fake Collector”, out of their collectible shell shop. The parallels to real world gatekeeping in fandoms and the concept of “Fake Geek Girls” is self-evident. I’m always down to watch Suki kick some butt and it was very satisfying to watch these smug jerks get some comeuppance. “Toph and the Boulder”, on the other hand, was a more humorous tale and, in my opinion, the funniest story in the book. Toph attempts to help her former rival, The Boulder, discover what is ailing his pet Croco Cat. The little critter has suddenly become insatiably hungry and isn’t satisfied, no matter what the pair try. The solution to this mystery is pretty obvious, but it was still a very cute story and I loved Sara Goetter’s distinctive art.
Other than these two, however, I found the rest of the stories in this collection to be somewhat lack-luster. I enjoyed seeing the characters portrayed in the various different art styles, but found that some of the writers didn’t do a great job of capturing the style of humor of the original series and ended up coming off as overly cheesy. I suppose these are meant to be different interpretations of the source material, so it’s to be expected that they would have a different feel, but even taking that into consideration, many of these stories felt a bit trite.
Team Avatar Tales ended up being something of a mixed bag. There were a few stories that I really enjoyed, but not enough to make me feel like I got my money’s worth out of this collection. Your mileage may vary on these stories, but I think this book is skippable, unless you’re a completionist who wants absolutely all the Avatar the Last Airbender comics in your collection.
Final Score: 5 out of 10.
For more information on Avatar the Last Airbender: Team Avatar Tales visit Dark Horse Comics website: https://www.darkhorse.com/Books/3002-096/Avatar-The-Last-Airbender–Team-Avatar-Tales-TPB#prettyPhoto
What did you think of this comic? Do you have a favourite story in the collection? Let me know in the comments.
Also be sure to check out some of my other All-Ages comics reviews:
- Hex Vet Vol 1 & 2 Review
- Newsprints Review
- A Sparrow’s Roar Review
- Extraordinary: A Story of an Ordinary Princess Review
- Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant Review
Al's Manga Blog 
“Fake Geek Girls” get attacked from all sides, especially the cosplayers. I have seen examples of hardcore fans shunning female cosplayers for being fakes who are trying to make cash off a fandom whilst feminists demand that their skimpy outfits get banned. Seems like a few bad eggs make everyone suffer and harm the hobby from growing.
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