#azula comic

[selenite-moonstone-2019]

I finished!!!

Here’s my runaway comic princess!!!!!

I might Reshade it latter or some idk yet!!!!

[pavis-destiny1]

[fernofstar]

“Should you wish for those things”

oh okay so it’s like that

[balanceoflightanddark]

I would be curious to hear your full thoughts on Azula in the Spirit Temple

...oh boy...my full thoughts on Azula in the Spirit Temple...

Needless to say, there has been a LOT of discourse on the release of the Azula one-shot these past few days. I know cause...well, I made a post saying my fic was on hiatus till I got my head straight. So needless to say, I've been in the middle of it myself.

The thing about the one-shot though is that it's not just the comic itself but all the baggage and expectations that comes with something that we've been waiting 15 years for. This is the first time Azula has EVER gotten the focus for once. For many of us, this has sort of been a make-or-break situation. I'll get to why in a moment but needless to say, it's been a stressful week.

But having read the comic, I'm ready to give my opinions on it. Spoilers. Obviously.

By now you should know the synopsis: after a raid on a granary, Azula's Fire Warriors make a rescue attempt for one of their comrades, leaving Azula behind. After trying to track them down for their "betrayal", Azula stumbles across a temple deep within the wood home to a monk. Of course, not all is as it seems, as it becomes apparent that something dark resides within, pitting the Princess against her very own psyche.

As I mentioned before, this is Azula's first time in the spotlight. The whole comic is written from her point of view, and she is effectively the protagonist. Going in, I was both excited...and terrified. See, this is her first appearance since the Yang comics and...

...yeah. Needless to say, there's a LOT of bad blood for me going into this comic. So much so that I nearly lost it when I heard some of the spoilers going in.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

To begin, this comic does the most critical thing right: Azula is NOT portrayed as being an irredeemable monster. While she's still a villain and makes a lot of questionable choices (her treatment of the Fire Warriors is reminiscent of how she treated Mai and Ty Lee after all), she's also given a great deal of sympathy. Probably the most we've seen out of the franchise so far.

If Azula was some kind of monster, there's no way panels like this should even exist. What's more, I actually think it does something that I think wasn't handled well in the series and treated little!Azula as...well, a kid. Not a monster or "sick" as Zuko called her in "Zuko Alone". Just a talented kid who unfortunately caught the eye of Ozai for being good at firebending. Hell, that teaser image of her burning the turtleduck was actually a toy and not the real deal.

It's stuff like this that got me excited for the comic initially. This was what we've been waiting for years now. Writers actually acknowledging that Azula was a victim and not some monster.

...which is why I blew up when the previews turned out to be misleading.

See, Azula doesn't get her redemption here. She's offered one (we'll get to that in a minute), but she rejects it and ends the story as a bad guy. Granted there are hints that she's starting to change, but she's still going after the throne and is still opposed to Zuko. Which...kind of got me upset. Mainly cause I thought it was another bait-and-switch like with Yang hinting at Azula changing at the end of The Search, then going around with her crappy portrayal in Smoke and Shadows.

Course there's only so much you can do within a single one-shot, so admittedly...my hopes were too high. Like, there was a lot I wanted. I wanted the heroes to finally get called out on their bull crap. I wanted Azula to get a break. I wanted...I guess I wanted to feel validated that somebody was listening to us.

And granted there is a little bit here and there. The asylum is NOT looked on kindly by Azula or any of the Fire Warriors, with her even trying to reassure herself she's not being held there anymore.

She even calls out Ursa on abandoning her, saying that Ozai effectively conditioned her into being a weapon when she didn't have any choice in the matter. Hell, there's a heavy implication she's genuinely hurt by what Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee pulled in the past (which considering what they did in the comics, is a lot) and wants some kind of apology from them.

Again, while she's not entirely a saint here, I don't think they'd have this panels if she was entirely in the wrong.

Which then we get to the redemption offer. Basically, the Spirit offers to give her a chance to change...which she rejects.

The problem is, said chance involves her apologizing to THEM first. And I don't think that's portrayed as a good thing since the hallucination of Zuko looks eerily reminiscent of Ozai and downright monstrous. As others have pointed out, it's clear that the Spirit doesn't know Azula and the "redemption" sounds more like groveling for forgiveness. So of COURSE it's not going to work for somebody like Azula since that won't solve anything for her.

So...we come to the ending.

The Spirit calls Azula a monster, says she's squandered a chance for redemption, and she looks upon the Fire Warriors having fun together and...she leaves...

...alone...

...look. I understand that @prying-pandora666 said this was essentially a reset. Getting Azula to a post-Sozin's Comet state with a fresh start. And I get that. Particularly if the animated stuff is gonna feature her.

...but she's alone...again...

I'm okay with her not getting a redemption since I don't think she was mentally ready for one. But...

sighs

Listen, remember how I said I wanted a lot from this comic? Too much in fact? Yeah. I was so focused on what I needed as opposed to what Azula needed. A fresh slate might be what she needs. And in a vacuum, I think this comic is pretty solid.

It's just everything else is where I have problems.

15 years waiting. 15 years of Bryke/Yang's comics, ableism, and lack of empathy. 15 years of stress, of being seen as an outcast by the fandom. It's...it's a lot to hold. And there's no way a single good comic is gonna be able to rebuild those burned-down bridges. I understand that there's talk of a potential follow-up and stuff for her from Avatar Studios.

It's just...you know. You're always afraid of this being the end. Which...doesn't sit well with me. I'm just afraid they're gonna use Azula as a marketing tool to sell future comics. That they're gonna drag this out. That they're gonna keep playing this centrist field instead of committing (it's fine here, and I do think Faith does lean in towards Azula being sympathetic after all), it's just...

I'm sorry. I want to love this comic and be excited for more stuff with Azula but...15 years is a long time. And it's going to take more than a single good comic to get me back on board fully.

[privatefire]

It runs in the family.

And then there is Uncle Iroh who operates on a whole other level.

[kimanh173992]

I hope some fics will address the post-war Fire Nation issue. The Fire Nation has been at war for 100 years, they have probably been taught that the Fire Nation is more advanced and brave than the other nations, so that's why they still fight for the Fire Nation. So in their eyes, Zuko and Iroh are traitors, why should they agree to let Zuko take the throne? Meanwhile, Azula is a war hero after conquering the city they spent days conquering in the past Ba Sing Se, the Fire Nation would definitely want her more than Zuko after Ozai's defeat.

And there are many questions about what did Azula do wrong? Azula brought her exiled brother back alive and safe and got the crown prince title she wanted, but she refused and went back to being the second heir.

As for Mai and Ty Lee, Azula is a princess of course she has a higher status than the two of them, giving orders or whatever, that's her title. When Mai and Ty Lee betrayed Azula at the Boiling Rock, Azula spared them from the death penalty for betraying the royal family. So what are they blaming Azula for?

After the war, Azula suffered from PTSD and had hallucinations of her mother, Azula should have been treated in a hospital facility not an asylum (I guess it looked like a prison), she was also wearing a straitjacket. I don't know if anyone visited her in canon, or was she alone in the asylum with that straitjacket for almost 1-2 years? Then how could she get better?

Not only that, Zuko brought up the title "I am the Fire Lord, and I want you to help me find my mother". Well, and what, in the early drafts of the comic, they actually wanted Azula to go looking for her with a straitjacket??? wtf.

Also, what if the Fire Nation knew the truth that Zuko and Team Avatar intended to harm Azula? If Azula died, how would they react? Not only that, Aang was the one who understood the most about hallucinations, why didn't he help? Katara too, she witnessed the fall but no, she still considered Azula an enemy.

And more importantly, why did Ursa write a letter to Ozai saying that Zuko wasn't his son? If Azula had made this letter public, Azula would have completely won the people's support, but she didn't and left the letter for Zuko.

In my country, they say "A son takes after his mother, a daughter takes after her father".

[prodogg]

She’s coming this year, CAPEZULA WILL ARRIVE.

[subterraneanwatcher]

To @waterfire1848 @ilikepjo24 and other mutuals, I have a little favor to ask for if it is okay for you. Could you please hide everything you post about the new Azula-comic behind a "Continue reading"-button with a spoiler warning before that? That stuff just triggered me as I don't really want to know anything about the comics (because of personal experiences regarding mental health) but it happened that I couldn't really get this topic out of my head after seeing the posts. It just fucked up my head so much. So please if you could do this, please it would be very nice. Thank you! :)