Mai’s father, Ukano, is visited by dark spirits in the middle of the night with threats and warnings that Zuko is not the Fire Lord that the Fire Nation needs. Ukano, who already had formed a secret society to put Ozai back on the throne, uses this premonition as fuel for his cause: Zuko must be removed because he is weak. As evidence of this, the spirits that visit Ukano are kidnapping children from the village and the Fire Lord is powerless to stop. Fire Lord Zuko, Avatar Aang, and Mai but band together to defeat the spirits and reassure the Fire Nation that Zuko is up to the task of leading and ruling.
This graphic novel was not my favorite so far in extending the Avatar universe. First and foremost, I do not care for Mai. I didn’t care for her during the animated series, and this graphic novel did nothing to make me like her any more. She’s just dull to me. I don’t read complexity or depth in her morose exterior yet soft interior. That’s just every goth kid that has ever existed. Secondly, it felt like we got some rehashing of Zuko’s fear and imbalances in ruling as we saw in the Promise. I understand that this is an ongoing struggle that Zuko will have to work on, but nothing felt new. Third, I felt like Ursula’s got the shaft. SPOILERS below on how.
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Azula comes back masquerading as one of the dark spirits and Ursula has outwardly worried about her daughter. Azula was obsessed with her mother in the animated series. It felt like there was a missed opportunity to have these two face off if they are both going to show up in the same village, in the same house, in the same story. Perhaps that confrontation will come later and this was all set-up. But that’s largely what this graphic novel felt like: set-up for something later.