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Prince Zuko. The name alone conjures a flood of wildly varying thoughts and emotions from fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender: disgraced, enemy, friend, nephew, son, brother, betrayer, teacher….Zutara.  What most fans can agree on is that the scarred prince is one of the deepest and most compelling characters to be found in the acclaimed Nickelodeon television series, and that fact has not been lost on the creative minds behind the forthcoming live action adaptation. Speculation has run wild since Del Rey Manga, a division of publisher Random House, announced a Last Airbender tie-in manga at Comic Con 2009. That tie-in was eventually revealed to be a prequel featuring everyone’s favorite “hot man.” Officially released May 18, we’ve now had our chance to sit down and absorb every panel of Zuko’s Story. Does it reveal any titillating new insight into Aang’s complex enemy? Read on, but beware spoilers!

When Prince Zuko dared to question authority, his father, Fire Lord Ozai, banished him from the Fire Nation. Horribly scarred and stripped of everything he held dear, Zuko has wandered the earth for almost three years in search of  his only chance at redemption: the Avatar, a mystical being who once kept the four nations in balance. Everyone he encounters believes this is an impossible task, as the Avatar disappeared a century ago. But Zuko stubbornly continues the search. He must regain his honor, so his quest is all he has left.

Written by Dave Roman & Alison Wilgus, with art by Nina Matsumoto, the story opens moments after Prince Zuko receives medical treatment for his injuries sustained during the Agni Kai (a fire duel) with his father, Fire Lord Ozai. After a brief moment of failed consolation from his uncle, Iroh, and glib derision from his sister, Azula, Zuko finds himself disgraced, disowned, and banished from the palace.

After some time spent living on the streets, Zuko sends for his sister’s help. In a scene very reminiscent of Zuko’s visits to an imprisoned Iroh in Book 3 of the animated series, Zuko acknowledges that Azula has always been the most favored in the eyes of their father, and pleads for her to ask the Fire Lord for a ship to hunt down the Avatar. In an act of seemingly unfathomable generosity, or having had her ego sufficiently stroked, Azula agrees to help “Zuzu” but there will be a condition: he must take his equally disgraced uncle along on the quest.

Uncle and nephew set sail through the Great Gates of Azulon, and journey forth to the Western Air Temple in the hopes of finding a clue to the Avatar’s whereabouts. Having found nothing of use, Iroh convinces his nephew that the best course of action would be to learn about the Avatar’s past lives in order to glean some sort of understanding about what he should be searching for. From there they travel to the Crescent Island, home of Avatar Roku’s Temple, and meet Fire Sage Shyu whom reveals his grandfather, Kaja, was the first sage to teach Roku at the temple. After hitting the books, and a brief but heated confrontation with the Great Sage, Zuko finally removes his bandages to reveal a horribly scarred left eye.

Upon arriving at the docks of a nondescript town celebrating the Fire Days festival, Commander Kanku refuses to produce any maps or intel on the surrounding region for the banished prince in fear of losing the Fire Lord’s good favor. Zuko storms off into the bowels of the ship enraged, where he hears a ruckus in one of the supply rooms. Bursting through the door, fire daggers drawn, Zuko finds himself face to face with the Blue Spirit! Pursuing the thief back into town it is revealed that it was in fact the Red Spirit (whose mask is identical to the Blue Spirit’s in the animated series), whom has been raiding military supplies and giving to the poor, that had plundered Zuko’s ship. Zuko soon discovers the identity of the thief, a young firebending performer named Hong Shen, who’s playing the role of Fire Nation hero Sun Wukong in the traveling Fire Days festival play.

Confronting the thief, Zuko learns that Shen has only been stealing the things that Commander Kanku has unjustly taken from the villagers, and convinces Zuko to help him retrieve an item Kanku has taken from him, along with the maps of the area Zuko needs. Shen gives Zuko the Blue Spirit mask as seen in the forthcoming live action film, and they set off. After the successful mission, Zuko finds that Kanku has been holding Shen’s son, Zhen, hostage in order to coerce the talented firebender into enlisting in the military. Shen condemns the Fire Lord for allowing such acts to occur. Zuko is torn between the vile cruelty he’s witnessed and been subjected to himself at the hands of the Fire Lord, and his love and devotion for his father. When Iroh attempts to comfort his nephew, Zuko lashes out with a particularly cruel attack on Iroh’s failures as a General, as an heir to the throne, and as a father. Before departing for the Eastern Air Temple, Zuko finds that Shen has left his dual broadswords for him as a gift.

After a long and laborious climb, Zuko and Iroh finally arrive at the Eastern Air Temple only to find one man still residing in Avatar Yang Chen’s hermitage: Guru Pathik. In a rather humorous scene, Zuko falsely identifies the old man as the Avatar before chasing him off into the woods. Iroh has a heart-to-heart talk with his nephew that really drives home the essence of their strong relationship. It is a very touching moment, and will probably be the highlight of the manga for many. Pathik returns later that night with a vision from Avatar Yang Chen, in which she foresees Zuko and the Avatar standing before the world.

The story picks up some time later in the South Pole, where Zuko has begun to accept his life and appreciate the family he still has, when everything changes. A beam of light cuts through the sky. A beacon of hope. Finally.

The creative triumvirate behind Zuko’s Story deserve a lot of credit. While fashioning an approachable segue into The Last Airbender live action film, they’ve also crafted a prequel story that fits into the animated series quite nicely. There are dozens of references and nods to events, characters, and themes found in the animated series that will surely excited die hard fans; from the aforementioned Blue Spirit (now Red Spirit) mask, to Iroh’s tea obsession. Nina Matsumoto’s art, while being exquisitely detailed, is also very faithful to the aesthetics of the animated series. Aside from the movie accurate Blue Spirit and Iroh, the art looks more like an adaptation of the cartoon than the film.

Though the dynamic action is fast paced, it is often short lived, and remains appropriate for younger readers. Do not expect much in the way of extended firebending duels. For the most part the story centers around Zuko’s psychological healing, more so than his physical healing from the Agni Kai. Through his experience dealing with the death of his own son, Iroh plays a large part in the healing process, helping Zuko come to terms with the great lose he was forced to endure, and learning to live again. When all is said and done, these scenes are the ones that stuck with me, and elevate this tie-in manga above the standard movie cash-ins.

In a neat bonus, we are treated to a behind-the-scenes of sorts with the first 19 pages of the original script and the accompanying rough sketches Matsumoto created from that script’s descriptions and dialog. It is interesting to see how the creative process unfolds in a collaborative manga such as this.

Fans will find a great deal to like in Zuko’s Story, manga enthusiasts in general will find a personable story with attractive art, and newcomers will have an excellent frame of reference leading into The Last Airbender film. Retailing for $10.99, any self respecting Airbender fan would be remiss to skip out on this great read.

3 out of 4 PENGUINS!!

Tags: alison wilgus, avatar, blue spirit, Dave Roman, del rey, iroh, Manga, Nina Matsumoto, prequel, The Last Airbender, Zuko, zuko's story

This entry was posted on May 20, 2010 at 2:46 am and is filed under Manga, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.