AtLA: The Promise - part 3
Sep. 28th, 2012 07:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizbeeIs not yet released in Australia (which is weird, since the first two came out bang on time), but there are scans here. And I'm in the minority, though with rather good company, since I agree with Racebending that that was pretty great. In fact, their review is pretty much my thoughts all over, especially their framing of the Gaang as former child soldiers. It covers pretty heavy ground for a comic aimed at children and skewed slightly younger than the series itself, and does it quite well. Naturally, therefore, fandom hates it and is calling for Gene Luen Yang to be fired/assaulted/etc.
(Tumblr, man.)
At some stage I'm probably going to snap and write meta explaining why Mai/Zuko shippers should stop being so fucking entitled and consider Mai's relevance to either the plot or this phase of Zuko's character arc, which is: NOT MUCH. Adolescents who are dealing with a legacy of child abuse don't make good love interests because they're still trying to make sense of the dysfunction in their earliest significant relationships, which is with their parents. Zuko's relationship to Mai is secondary to that, and should stay that way until he's healthier. TL;DR she's right to leave, right to stay away (for her own sake), and is pretty much irrelevant to the plot after that.
(If it was a story about Zuko alone, without the overall political stuff, I'd expect more Mai. But calling for her to be in it and get back together with Zuko right at the end of the comic strikes me as misunderstanding the nature of Zuko's issues and also what healthy relationships look like. No, getting back together with Mai won't help Zuko get better, and it's unreasonable to put that burden on her.)
Anyway, I'm either going to write that, OR I'm going to stop reading shipper tags on Tumblr.
Have reservations re Azula, though;terajk more or less sums up my feelings in general about disability in AtLA and Azula in particular.
(Tumblr, man.)
At some stage I'm probably going to snap and write meta explaining why Mai/Zuko shippers should stop being so fucking entitled and consider Mai's relevance to either the plot or this phase of Zuko's character arc, which is: NOT MUCH. Adolescents who are dealing with a legacy of child abuse don't make good love interests because they're still trying to make sense of the dysfunction in their earliest significant relationships, which is with their parents. Zuko's relationship to Mai is secondary to that, and should stay that way until he's healthier. TL;DR she's right to leave, right to stay away (for her own sake), and is pretty much irrelevant to the plot after that.
(If it was a story about Zuko alone, without the overall political stuff, I'd expect more Mai. But calling for her to be in it and get back together with Zuko right at the end of the comic strikes me as misunderstanding the nature of Zuko's issues and also what healthy relationships look like. No, getting back together with Mai won't help Zuko get better, and it's unreasonable to put that burden on her.)
Anyway, I'm either going to write that, OR I'm going to stop reading shipper tags on Tumblr.
Have reservations re Azula, though;
terajk more or less sums up my feelings in general about disability in AtLA and Azula in particular.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-27 11:15 pm (UTC)I haven't read any of The Promise yet (there is a comic book store near my new house! Maybe I can ask them to order it for me!), but this sounds fabulous. (So do other things I read about it or seen from scans, like Aang and Zuko's relationship and whatnot.)
Have reservations re Azula, though;
Speaking of scans (and Azula), I give the scans of Zuko talking to Azula from part 3 serious side-eye. I know I'm seeing them out of context, but...A straightjacket? Really? She's a terrible person, but...bad horror movie killer in general and Hannibal Lecter in particular? (You know my feelings on Hannibal Lecter--namely that he is boring as fuck and I don't think he can carry a story. JEEZ.)
Side. Eye.
On a much happier note, I have read the Epic Tophzula. I am trying to think of more articulate and helpful things to say than EEEEEEEEEEE! <3 <3 <3.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-30 12:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-28 05:01 pm (UTC)(I will grudgingly admit that I liked Part 3 better than I thought I would. Not great, but not offensively terrible. My optimism for the Ursa comic has been renewed somewhat.)
no subject
Date: 2012-09-29 05:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-29 08:46 pm (UTC)FairladyZ2005