#also this is the first time in ages that i've colored and shaded a comic like this

[bambiraptorx]

i think Draxum deserves to have a cat and also be an asshole about it lmao

[kradeelav]

so i've got two strips going in parallel.

(this is a long 'talking shop' post about how both comics are diverging in visual style for different reasons.)

the first strip (I'm calling it 'combat instructor' for now) is the gunter/corrin porn comic i've wanted to do for ages, lol. me fucking around with hentai tropes, but also having fun subverting some Stuff with making the fanservice about him.

fanservice, see? :3c

keen eyes will notice i really like the textured inky style i used in 'dead is calling' - it was quick, it's got a slick dynamic sinister masculine quality, but with enough shades of "regular manga inking" so i'm re-using that for this one to block in the characters especially in the latter half of <combat instructor>.

(you see how deceptively simple that style is in the below two images from 'dead is calling' - it's actually very hellsing inspired with the high contrast almost graphically "flat" quality.)

that wasn't really working for the few backgrounds in this new strip though, which i kind of needed to just... fade as a more neutral color. so i started messing with my watercolor brushes, which are working so far here - i think the inherent messiness of the watercolors-as-shading will mesh well with the inking, and the surprisingly more intimate parts of eros. (rendering boob shine, gonads, etc)

pause on that.

this other strip... really should be titled 'the mortifying ordeal of being Known'.

it's uh. haha. it's about my self insert in fe: heroes (spin off gacha game) and meeting a few of the characters. (it's so much more than that with the emotional core - i ain't gonna explain everything but yumijoshi will Get This one on a level everyone else won't - but that's essentially what happens.)

it's also much less serious than the 'combat instructor' strip in a lot of ways. a good half of it is ribbing fe: heroes' gameplay (ultimately being a gacha/gambling game) but the latter half ... deals with a lot of delicate emotional undercurrents? more so than the other one which is just straight up uncomplicated porn.

so i waffled on the style for the longest time, feeling like it needed a much "lighter" (almost shoujo/romantic/dreamy style) - but trying to do precise delicate thin lines almost murdered my momentum on the YRMR epilouge strip. (gotta keep the momentum going.)

on the other hand, i was going fast enough with the watercolor approach for the backgrounds in the 'combat instructor' strip and wondered if the looseness couldn't be applied to the whole panel here, almost like scalera's work - the above is a great proof of concept to see how it works in action. watercolors have that soft dreaminess that works with the subject matter (emotional distance vs closeness etc), and more importantly, i can draft out the basic value/dynamic shapes quickly without getting hung up on specific parts.

i was getting stuck on anna (ponytail lady) in the above part when it was just the lines, but being able to block out the values of her hair vs the other character's outfit vs the background in five minutes is ... enormous.

that's the easy part.

hard part is making this consistent for ~20 pages :D;

[bob-artist]

Art vs artist 2023!

In terms of comics, this was my most productive year ever, which also meant that in terms of money and social media presence (two things entirely unrelated to each other for me), it was my worst year in recent memory, haha.

That's what happens when 90% of your work is for projects that aren't released yet. (And, income-wise, when you're doing more comics and less product design. But I really needed to make that shift...)

Here's some of what happened in 2023!

I finished 23 pages of DOTU

I finished 26 pages of Into the Smoke

I thumbed/penciled/inked/flatted an additional 45 ITS pages (meaning they're each about 2 hours away from being done)

I scripted chapters 2 and 3 of Into the Smoke (150-200 pages)

I sold a graphic novel to a publisher! 🎉

I scripted 260 pages of that graphic novel

I offloaded a HUGE amount of dead weight from my chest :D

I lost soooooooo much muscle :( (post-op restrictions)

But now I'm finally starting to gain it back!

I had to say goodbye to 3 elderly pets ;_; The worst

Oh and also there was freelance, though I took a lot less this year

Since I've been working on pages assembly-line style, I'm a little annoyed that my "finished" count of total comic pages is only 50 despite having nearly finished 95 pages. But that means that in January or February 2024, I'll get to magically say "I finished 45 full-color, shaded, 600dpi comic pages this month." XD

Part of me is happy with these numbers because they're better than any previous year. But they're also lower than I *want.* I'm at an age now where I'm calculating how many healthy years I have left to make these epic-length comics, and it's... not a great thought. I know that the only way to work faster is to simplify my style or hire help, but I have mixed feelings about both of those things.

Also, as someone who was a prose author first, I'll just always be frustrated by how much slower and more labor intensive comics are for the same amount of story.

I also have to occasionally remind myself that I lost some time this year to pet hospice care, pet grief, and a major surgery...

Also, I'm happy I got so much comics work done, but I'm sad that I didn't write any prose this year. But hopefully now that I'm so far ahead on the *writing* portion of my active comics, I'll have more steam to pick up Merritt's Story book 3 next year...

[theambivalentagender]

Okay with that whole "Never had a sleepover" thing in VECU (Valley Echos Cinematic Universe) I have also never had a sleepover where I wasn't just totally miserable so I want you to know that I'm living vicariously through Shane and Zeke.

Also, I feel like we know almost nothing about Zeke. Like, what's their favorite color? Favorite animal? Favorite food? Least favorite food? I'm invested now and I want to know everything.

I'm practically begging you to infodump.

Oh! Well, some of this stuff I've gone over, some of this stuff I've hinted to, and some I'll see if I can say without too many spoilers:

- Zeke's favorite color is green. They like viridian/teal colors for themselves but always found themselves particularly drawn to a certain eye shade...

- Zeke's favorite animal is pigs. They just haven't been able to afford them yet.

- Favorite foods include strawberries and honey. Least favorite include the damn pepper poppers Shane sent them in the mail that nearly killed them. They have a stupidly low spice tolerance.

- Their father's name was Finn Kelley. Their grandfather was Phelan Kelley, the one who founded the farm. They also have/had an uncle named Collin Kelley who went missing not long after their father died. Collin was a legendary marketing genius for Joja Corp - think like how some corporate people used to talk about Steve Jobs.

- Zeke's grandfather knew Shane's.

- Zeke was raised in an extremely strict abusive household after their father died. After escaping it at 17 they got a bit wild with doing questionable legal things. Their first attempt at getting on some kind of track in their life was using their uncle's name to get a job at Joja Corp.

- Zeke was a web content and SEO specialist at Joja Corp. They also handled customer service chats because Joja Corp decided literally anyone who was lower ranked than a senior manager at the company also had to do customer service/sales "so the customers could truly get to know Joja as a family" aka to squeeze sales in as many parts of the pipeline as possible. No I'm not putting this in their background from my own bitter personal experience why do you as-

- Zeke was the kind of kid who made dirt potions and ate random plants. Even at a young age they were already trying to explore different names because of Gender Feelings they wouldn't understand for a few years yet.

- Zeke's favorite movie, Chrono Pirates, is based on Time Bandits.

- Zeke has adhd and takes medication for it. Zeke takes their medication with energy drinks. Don't be like Zeke.

- Zeke has had more relationship experience with women than men, and by that I mean they've had two semi long term girlfriends and one very casual boyfriend who lasted a month before Zeke ghosted him to go live in Pelican Town. I'm not sure if I'm gonna have that ever come up as a thing in the comic.

- Zeke never was the type to sleep around, not because they didn't want to, but they have a very hard time approaching people and picking up on flirtation

- Zeke is 5'11" to Shane's 5'7" (eh, let's be real, 5'6.7ish)

- While Zeke has 0 spice tolerance they can and do eat raw lemons

[soleminisanction]

Saw yet another post about how all modern comics are bad and the industry is decaying etc. since you’ve seemed at least a bit more optomistic (and want to write yourself) what are your thoughts on comics, things you think are good or bad about the current state of things, and where you think it’ll go?

I don't like making predictions for the future. I make plans and I hope for the best and if the best doesn't come, I readjust.

What's true is that the industry is not exactly robust right now. There's not a lot of money in comics. From what I've heard, most companies' profit margins are razor-thin, and the Big Two may actually be operating at a loss, because their real value is as "test kitchens" for stories and characters who might conceivably spin off into the much more lucrative film, TV or video game markets.

But that's also true for most hobby industries. TTRPGs comes to mind because that's where I'm currently working -- most publishers barely scrape enough together to keep producing their content. You don't go into these markets to get rich, you go into them because you like making things.

People have saying that the industry is dying for longer than I've been alive. Probably the only times they weren't saying that was during the first big Golden Age superhero boom and the 90s speculator bubble. I personally suspect that some form of the industry will always survive as long as there are people who enjoy creating and reading sequential art. It may not be the industry as we know it -- the Big Two may well collapse, or superheroes could go out of fashion again, or the economy could get so bad that the entire direct market crashes and the only survivors will be book publishers putting out full graphic novels. But I doubt it'll get that far.

As for the quality of modern comics, anyone who says they're bad is just ignorant, full stop. If anything, one of the industry's problems on the American side is that they're putting out some really high-quality physical products and it's really pushing the boundaries of how much people are willing to pay for them -- glossy full-color digital printing is waaaaaaaay more expensive than the simple two-tone shading on newsprint that you find in, for example, manga magazines.

But there are great books being made, at the Big Two, smaller publishers, indies and self-publishing, including web comics. There's a lot of high-quality variation, a lot big topics being addressed, and a lot of gorgeous art and great writing from creative pools that are growing more and more diverse with each passing year. And sure, there are plenty of stinkers too, but that's true of literally every era of comics; people just forget that because the shit goes away and the good stuff sticks around.

So yeah, that's my two cents: it's a creative industry, the creative part is great, the industry part sucks, and this is the nature of telling stories under capitalism. Doom & gloomsayers are just too short-sighted to see it.

[bladeoffairness]

Full Avery Reference

(Yes, I know it's super messy. Any tips on how I can clean up future refs are very much welcome!)

Well, as promised, I have the reference to Avery from the webcomic I'm starting soon. The ref is pretty messy, but hey, this is the first one I've done.

Personality

Avery's NB, shy, and non-confrontational. They've been in foster care for 5 years, and everything before that is spoiler-y stuff that'll be explored in the comic. As a result, they don't feel like anything's permanent. It isn't pure, edgy apathy, they just haven't ever had a (healthy) long-term relationship with anyone in their life, and don't know how they work.

Info & Magic

General Info:

Height: 4' 10"

Age: 13

Favorite Food: Strawberry Milkshake (I swear this is plot-relevant)

Magic:

Swords that they can summon as melee weapons.

Wings they can use to fly for a short period of time.

Levitation (Don't worry I totally spelled it right in the reference). They can move objects and people with surprising precision, but it takes a lot out of them.

Weak is up there since I couldn't figure out a better word to use. Avery's main drawback is that they're basically a glass cannon. They have a lot of mobility options, but if they're hit, they're pretty much down for the count.

Art Tips

Normally with all of my characters, I start at the head and work with an outline all the way down. I go back, fill in all the colors, add shading, and then any extra details. With Avery, a few things to keep in mind are their red bow and the strand of hair between their eyes. I didn't show it super well in the reference, but they also have a scar on their left cheek.

Hopefully I can do some more of these at some point! If you have any questions at all about the comic, its characters, or anything else, my ask box is always open!

[norbezjones]

I did the art meme! It was actually quite interesting, digging up pieces from my past for this retrospective, and it made me reflect quite a bit. So here's a full reflection of my art journey as depicted in this timeline:

2015: I was dedicating myself more to my art, and made a comic with a friend for a contest that year. I had always been passionate about comics, and had made comics in the past, but with this one, I really stretched my creative muscles. I was trying to learn more techniques with inking & lining. I did traditional art, as I had tried digital art, and considered myself very bad at it. I had been drawing consistently from a young age, and loved the craft.

2016: more traditional art, more comics. Still very passionate about art. The art depicted was for a little exercise I made that became the story idea "Complex Chords" (which is ironic, because I said in the caption of the original piece that, "I won’t be continuing this story." TOTAL LIE LMAO).

2017: the art depicted is the cover art I made for the public release of my game The Mouse, which is an interactive project about a college student named Evelyn Grey who is being abused by their roommate. I drew a lot of Evelyn Grey and her friend, Miss Dexter, that year.

2018: I can't remember much about this year, to be honest. The art depicted is the yearly self-portrait I did from 2015 to 2018ish if I recall correctly.

2019: I tried doing more digital art, using the Fire Alpaca creation tool. I didn't consider myself very good at it, and that discouraged me. The art depicted is a crossover piece between Good Omens and a friend's game, which I gave to that friend as fanart. The most important thing to know is this: I basically gave up on art completely this year or 2020, because I became convinced I wasn't good enough at it, as I had been told by people in my life I wasn't good enough at drawing. So I basically stopped, aside from doodles for myself in my notebook.

2020: I barely drew this year, aside from the coronavirus zine for charity, which the art depicted is from.

2021: I searched far and wide, but I couldn't find any saved pieces from this year. I assume this is because I still wasn't drawing at that time, so there wasn't much to save.

2022: This is where things take a shift. Due to my pseudo-dementia (which was not yet diagnosed), I needed an outlet to express my feelings, and began drawing again. I was very scared to return to drawing, because I was convinced I was so bad at it, but to my pleasant surprise, doing so was a rediscovery of a lost love. I had forgotten how passionate I was about drawing, and I eagerly continued where I had left off, drawing A TON that year. I especially loved returning to inking & lining with pen. The art above is from an animatic I made of my friend's actual play show, Heart Town Hunters. Go watch it, it's really good!

2023: I decided to try digital art again with the program Ibis Paint X, because I was in pseudo-dementia recovery, and only had a phone in my possession. Ibis Paint X is a mobile & PC application, and it's pretty versatile as well. I soon found a great meeting point between my traditional art, and my desire to thrive in the digital art space: I could line the art traditionally, and color it digitally. This meant I used my copic markers less, but it really helped develop my skills in an aspect of art I hadn't yet practiced much. I also participated in ArtFight for the first time ever that year! The art depicted is from my NSFW alt, of my 4 horsemen characters and their handler.

2024: this year, I've only developed my digital art skills more, though I'm no good at shading--that still alludes me (if you have any advice/tips for that, please share them!). I drew all of the art for my upcoming game Romance The Backrooms, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I'm making a lot of progress, and I'm happy. Here's to more art in the future!

[madam-melon-meow]

Bisexual Kyoshi is something that can be so personal, actually

Panel edit by @flagellasturbation

[image I.D. : An edit of a comic panel of avatar Kyoshi. On the left in the image is a close-up of Kyoshi from the torso up, contained within an upside-down trapezoid shape. She wears her full battle uniform of olive and emerald robes, dark gloves and bracers, and a golden headpiece in a fan-like shape. Her eyes are the same emerald shade as her robes, she has black hair billowing to the left edge of the image, and her black eyebrows have been dramatically lengthened by black face paint. Her face and neck are artificially whitened with chalky makeup, she has black winged eyeliner, red eyeshadow that sweeps upwards to her temples and down the sides of her nose, and red lipstick outlined in black. This is the classic Kyoshi makeup. Her arms are crossed, the left arm behind her head pointing a golden fan away from the viewer, the right arm extended in front of her face, another golden fan pointed towards the viewer. She appears to be looking upwards and towards the right of the image. Above Kyoshi’s eye level and in the top right of the image is a comic text box. It reads in all caps: “even avatar Kyoshi- who by all accounts loved men and women- was unable to effect any kind of real progress.” The background art and color has been replaced with the Bisexual Flag, a thick horizontal line of pink on top, stopping at Kyoshi’s cheek level, then a thinner line of purple ending at her shoulders, and a thick line of blue that extends to the bottom of the image. End I.D.]

(If someone does not find my image I.D. sufficient, please let me know. This is my first time trying to make such a thing, as i am a lurker, not a poster)

Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee, page 99 (text copy / pasted from the b&n ebook version)

““Are those . . . fire lilies?” he said, a wide, knowing grin spreading across his face.

Kyoshi flushed beet red. “Stop it,” she said.

“That’s right,” Yun said. “The Ember Island tourism minister brought a bunch when he visited two weeks ago. I can’t believe you simply shred the flowers once they dry out. I guess nothing goes to waste in this house.”

“Knock it off,” Kyoshi snapped. But it was too hard keeping the corners of her lips from curling upward.

“Knock what off?” he said, enjoying her reaction. “I’m just commenting on a fragrance I’ve come to particularly enjoy.”

It was an inside reference that only the two of them shared. Rangi didn’t know. She hadn’t been there in the gifting room eight months ago while Kyoshi arranged a vast quantity of fire lilies sent by an admiral in the Fire Navy, one of Hei-Ran’s friends.

Yun had spent the afternoon watching Kyoshi work. Against every scrap of her better judgment, she’d allowed him to lie down on the floor and rest his head in her lap while she plucked deformed leaves and trimmed stems to the right length. Had anyone caught the two of them like that, there would have been a scandal that not even the Avatar could have recovered from.

That day, entranced by Yun’s upside-down features dappled with the flower petals she’d teasingly sprinkled over his face, she’d almost leaned down and kissed him. And he knew it. Because he’d almost reached up and kissed her.

They never spoke of it afterward, the shared impulse that had nearly crashed both of their carriages. It was too . . . well, they each had their duties was a good way to put it. That moment did not fit anywhere among their responsibilities.

But since then, whenever the two of them were in the presence of fire lilies, Yun’s eyes would dart toward the flowers repeatedly until he was sure Kyoshi noticed. She would try unsuccessfully to keep a straight face, the heat coloring her neck, and he’d sigh as if to mourn what could have been.

Today was no different. With a wistful blush on his own cheeks, Yun stared her down until her defenses broke and she let out a giggle through her nose.

“There’s that beautiful smile,” he said. He pressed his heels into the floor, sliding up against the wall, and straightened his rumpled shirt. “Kyoshi, trust me when I say this: If it turns out not to be me, I’ll be glad it’s you.”

~~~~~~~~~

Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee, page 210 (text copy / pasted from the b&n ebook version)

“You think you don’t deserve peace and happiness and good things, but you do!” Rangi yelled. “You, Kyoshi! Not the Avatar, but you!”

She closed the distance and wrapped her arms around Kyoshi’s waist. The embrace was a clever way to hide her face.

“Do you have any idea how painful it’s been for me to follow you on this journey where you’re so determined to punish yourself?” she said. “Watching you treat yourself like an empty vessel for revenge, when I’ve known you since you were a servant girl who couldn’t bend a pebble? The Avatar can be reborn. But you can’t, Kyoshi. I don’t want to give you up to the next generation. I couldn’t bear to lose you.”

Kyoshi realized she’d had it all wrong. Rangi was a true believer. But her greatest faith had been for her friends, not her assignment. She pulled Rangi in closer. She thought she heard a slight, contented sigh come from the other girl.

“I wish I could give you your due,” Rangi muttered after some time had passed. “The wisest teachers. Armies to defend you. A palace to live in.”

Kyoshi raised an eyebrow. “The Avatar gets a palace?”

“No, but you deserve one.”

“I don’t need it,” Kyoshi said. She smiled into Rangi’s hair, the soft strands caressing her lips. “And I don’t need an army. I have you.”

Psh,” Rangi scoffed. “A lot of good I’ve been so far. If I were better at my job you would never feel scared. Only loved. Adored by all.”

Kyoshi gently nudged Rangi’s chin upward. She could no more prevent herself from doing this than she could keep from breathing, living, fearing.

“I do feel loved,” she declared.

Rangi’s beautiful face shone in reflection. Kyoshi leaned in and kissed her.

A warm glow mapped Kyoshi’s veins. Eternity distilled in a single brush of skin. She thought she would never be more alive than now.

And then—

The shock of hands pushing her away. Kyoshi snapped out of her trance, aghast.

Rangi had flinched at the contact. Repelled her. Viscerally, reflexively.

Oh no. Oh no.

This couldn’t—not after everything they’d been through—this couldn’t be how it—

Kyoshi shut her eyes until they hurt. She wanted to shrink until she vanished within the cracks of the earth. She wanted to become dust and blow away in the wind.

But the sound of laughter pulled her back. Rangi was coughing, drowning herself with her own tears and mirth. She caught her breath and retook Kyoshi by the hips, turning to the side, offering up the smooth, unblemished skin of her throat.

“That side of my face is busted up, stupid,” she whispered in the darkness. “Kiss me where I’m not hurt.”

~~~~~

I include both these quotes because i've seen a few posts about the “gigantic lesbian” avatar, and although i am glad my sapphic sisters feel connected to Kyoshi (as well they should!), that doesn't mean i wish to simply be quiet on the matter of her textual bisexuality. I understand that not everyone has read her novels, nor has everyone read legend of Korra comics, but Kyoshi is *textually* bisexual.

Kyoshi had a loving romantic relationship with her firebending friend Rangi, but this does not erase her feelings for her earthbending friend Yun, even if neither of them were able to properly express it due to their respective “status”. (For context if you haven’t read, the masters believed that Yun was the avatar, and though he was bodyguarded by Rangi, and though Kyoshi was his servent, the three of them were simiar ages and thus close friends until the discovery of Kyoshi’s true ability destroyed their former lives). Hell, Kyoshi and Rangi do not become intimate until after fleeing their former lives. Who is to say what would have happened, had Yun not been captured by father glowworm ?

I know that there is a chance you will scoff at this, will write this off as comphet, accuse me of disproportionately weighting an almost-kiss with a true relationship, but these above quotes (as well as the comic panel from “the legend of korra: turf wars- part 1”) serve as proof that Kyoshi, “by all accounts loved men and women” (see panel directly below)

[image I.D. : the same comic panel as the edit above, this one without the bisexual flag edited in. Directly behind Kyoshi, within the upside-down trapezoid shape, is an olive to lime gradient, darker around her head and lighter near the bottom. Around and to the right in the image, outside of the trapezoid, is an aerial shot of buildings within an Earth Kingdom city, and what appears to be the lines of troops on the ground far below. the text box in the image is the same, but I have underlined the word “men” in blue, the word “and” in purple, and the word “women” in pink, to reflect the bisexual flag. End I.D.]

I am making such a big deal over this because Kyoshi is a massive figure, her long shadow cast over Aang’s life alongside Roku’s, and even before her novels came out there were often jokes about her “bloodthirsty” nature. I implore you to read the novels and see why Kyoshi believed in deadly justice at times, but also so you can see what a dynamic, loving, and beautiful character she is.

Some members of fandom have taken a “step on me” attitude towards Kyoshi, who has, even if the 7 feet tall thing is more fanon than canon, been explicitly described as “exceptionally tall”, and “towering” over others. This “strong woman who will break me and I thank them” attitude is one that butch &/or physically imposing sapphics, as well as trans women with similar statures to Kyoshi have expressed discomfort when applied to themselves and characters like them. I would love for more people to acknowledge her flaws and multi-faceted nature, that she is more than a “warrior goddess”, just as Aang is more than a living relic. Flattening her out to the easily-fetishable parts erases the depth of her character and the complexity of circumstances that led to the instances of deadly force.

There are very few bisexual characters in media, especially women, and especially in children’s media. Bisexual women have often been caricatured as loose, promiscuous, good for a threesome and not much else. (This is mot to say that i think any lesser of my fellow bisexuals who are proudly promiscious, nor can an actual live bisexual person be considered a stereotype for living their life, but media’s portayal of us as obsessed with desire is incredibly harmful). Knowing that a strong, beautiful, and important character in the avatar universe is a bisexual woman is amazing, even more so to have her first lady-love described in the novels with such care. F. C. Yee, the author of these novels, has my eternal gratitude. I sincerely hope that the new generation of fans, whether they are drawn to the cartoon or even the hypothetical live action show, will pick up these novels and discover the kind of bisexual character that I wish existed in my early days as a reader, and if a small fraction of them resonate with Kyoshi’s reciprocal on Yun and love for Rangi, then the world becomes a little bit brighter for it.

I mentioned her importance for the simple reason that Kyoshi IS important with the text of ATLA. As one of the avatars, she is one of the most historically important figures in that universe, one of the few avatars that Aang knows by name, and one of the only avatars to speak through his body. The fact that she has two whole novels to herself testifies to that effect, making her bisexual representation all the more important than a simple background character might be. 

If or when the ATLA live action tv show occurs, we can expect some mention of Kyoshi. After all, there is a whole episode dedicated to exploring one of her missions, and the way that the descendants of her enemy have recolored history. It is my sincere desire that enough discussion is made about her canon bisexuality , that fandom trumphets it from the roof with as much force as crackshipping zukka, that when she does make it to the screen, there is some subtle nod in her bisexuality’s direction, even if it is something as meta as casting a bisexual actress for her. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

edit by @flagellasturbation​

[image I.D. : An edit of a comic panel of avatar Kyoshi. This is like the first image, Kyoshi and the text box of the comic panel untouched, the background color and art replaced with the bisexual flag. However, this version has the words “by all accounts” blown up large and placed diagonally in the image, directly under Kyoshi’s face and stretching from one side of the image to the other. The bottom third of the image is similarly obscured, the words  “men” , “and” , “women” blown up large enough to fill the panel and cover most of Kyoshi’s torso, as well as the purple and blue areas of the background flag. End I.D.]

[low-budget-korra]

The Legend Of Korra_Book One : “That’s Dark”

So reviewing TLOK made me not only caught up in the nostalgia of this wonderful and special animated show but also reflected on the journey not only from Korra but also from all Team Avatar.

 (Remembering that all this is just my opinion and some of the various interpretations that I have about the show)

 Book 1 is in my opinion the second best of TLOK and the darkest of all.

And reviewing I think I've noticed why.

Book One is the most "real" of all. All the problems there can be seen in the most different societies.

We have an ideological political clash in an environment where segregation between benders and non-benders is still a reality.

I think the whole atmosphere of Republic City is more dark , so at the very beginning we are introduced to those problems that I honestly think we can all understand. Fear of violence, lack of confidence in figures who hold power, a "savior" who appeals to the fear of this population and take's power, conspiracies for power, politics shit , social inequality , etc

Problems that are real at a international  level. I here in Brazil can feel and understand this in the same way as a person who whatch’s the show in Canada. I think 

Not to mention the urban colors and shades of grey and brown more saturated and not so bright (especially at night) , showing that the city is kind of a trap, something “Too good to be true." Its beautiful and scary at the same time.

So we have Korra, who in book one has 17 years (the same age as I when i started to watch the series) and as it is visible in her’s first moments, is that she has the “spirit of a kid”.

I think the expression "kid's mind in a Woman's Body" can define the Korra in Book One. She is naive, immature, spoiled, a bit arrogant, very self-confident, playfull...

I think it was one of the things that enchanted me in her and undoubtedly was what made me connect with her, because I was also, especially,  naive as she.

Korra comes with the glare for just being at Republic City, that childish naivete of thinking that everything will work fine, without consequences.

And it is precisely when she, for the first time, is confronted with the possible consequences of the  fight that she has just entered, she breaks. But before we talk more about Korra, let's talk about her nemesis here, Amon.

 Amon is a white and heterosexual man representing the patriarchy .... lmao im joking, or not...

Anyway, Amon ... The way he uses to subjugate and dominate his enemies, the violation he makes to achieve this ... I find it almost impossible not to parallel this with cases of sexual violence. Amom takes some of these people for himself, he forces something into them, they get devastated and depressed after losing the benders to him and also they look kinda of feeling humiliated by that.

So we have the terrible and beautiful  episode :"The Voice in the Night". Here we see  this 17 year old girl, absolutely terrified by the idea of ​​confronting this man who must be in his late 30′s.

I think that when Korra saw what Amon was capable of , it was the first time in her life when she felt truly afraid. And for us girls, being afraid of a man, especially when walking alone in the night , sadly still is a reality.

Anyway, going back to the show ...

After being coerced to fight on the front line against the Equalists for Tarrlok ( I will speak of him soon), Korra gains confidence and in her naiveness, invites Amon to a duel.

Amon not only arrives late as he is disloyal and does not come alone. An adult man ambushes a 17-year-old girl in a dark place with the help of his crew ... Man, this is dark ! And all the lighting and animation of the final scenes of the episode are excellent because it resembles more a horror story than a kid’s show.

The way they hold her on her knees, making her so small in comparation to him, who looks even more frightening. But not only this, because “be on knees” historically and culturally associated with submission and she was forced to be in that position. The way Amon holds her face makes it clear that the avatar was totally impotent since her rival had already crossed the “touch barrier” by touching her face.  The Touch for many people is something intimate and touch someone face is not only something more intimate but also associated with caring and love. And this motherfucker just crossed this line 

Amon accepted the challenge with the goal of destroying the Avatar independent of who she was. And thats terrible and scary, but also, so real for so many people.

After he leaves, Tenzin arrives and  ask if everything is okay and all. Korra then says that she still has her bendings and finally opens with him over her fears as she cries in his arms.

Then after, we have an episode more focused on love triangle and comedy. Cause its a kids show right?

 How will Korra deal with Amon now that she has already lost the first battle?

Honestly I dont think she overcame her fears there, I think she just buried them for the greater good that was defeating him. Something like “im scared as fuck but im gonna do it anyway”. And you need to be brave to do that

And after losing her bendings to the enemy in the final episode, when her worst nightmare comes true , she has nothing left to lose. And in desperation to save her friend and crush from going through what she had just been through, Korra discovers she can airbend. And this new wave of confidence makes her defeat Amon at his own game, exposing him as the fraud he is. But is that enough? I see later that she still suffering for losing all the other bendings, she’s still broken until Avatar Aang pass by to say “hey” and give her all the bendings back

(This scene had me on tears)

Tarrlok is a character that I just did not like. And guys since he saw Korra, he directed all the attention to her.

Of course he wanted to use her to climb the ladder and take Republic City's political power for himself. But seriously ... I know that maybe you find yourself thinking "Damn, you will put sexual subtext and sexual interpretation where they do not have". But listen to me.

Tarrlok is an older man who does not accept Korra’s "no" for his partnership proposals.

Then we have the episode where her confrots him by the arrest of her friends. Of course Tarrlok used the bloodbend on her cause she was ready to burn his ass down.

And it is logical that he would disappear with her so she does not unmask him to everybody. Now, though it seemed like something got at the moment, Tarrlok had it all ready. The place where Korra would be taken  and where he kept her arrested .

Of course, the most obvious answer is that the place might have been prepared to receive Amon, though he did not know that he was a bender so he did not need that metal box because a normal cell would work, but with all that happened , Tarrlok had this change of plans. I think he may think that she could bring problems to his plans and the let this as plan B

But then an now unmasked and hunted by Republic City police force and just before Amon invades the place, he tells Korra that he will run away and that he will take her as his hostage.

But why? If he had hated her for ending his plans, he could just leave her there to die of hunger / thirst. Not to mention that, Korra would definitely fight and delay him in his escape, so why take her ?

Another thing, Amon wouldnt hurt Korra, he doesnt even saw her as a person, he only saw the symbol, the Avatar and that must be destroyed but all costs. Tarrlok in other hand wants to use the symbol but also know the person behind, he knows the 17old Korra and would hurt her if he has to.

The politics, the intimidation, the haressament, the fear, the power dinamics between those 3 characters...

 **

Mako and Bolin do not have much development in book One . Mako is the love interest and Bolin is the comic relief.

 **

Asami has a very remarkable moment. She has to choose between her father and what is right.

And the Fire Ferrets certainly helped her in that choice. Especially Mako, Asami's mother was killed by benders, probably fire benders cause they kinda murder people parents sometimes, and Mako is a firebender. So relating to him might have knocked over all the rest of prejudice and anger she may have for benders until that.

This arc between Asami and her father is also about the loss of innocence. In that case, lose the innocence of thinking that our parents cant be bad people.

And even more, from then on, Asami is shaped much more like someone who makes right choices in difficult times, even if those choices are heart-breaking.

 **

Tenzin leaves his comfort zone. He will train Korra, who is someone who almost totally contradicts who he is. And right away, we see that he is an excellent teacher. All your patience, your diplomacy is inspiring and will certainly help to make Korra the most conscientious and mature woman at the end of book four.

He also has tough choices, and shows himself steadfast in them, doing everything to protect his family and friends.

 **

Lin, there's a moment I think is incredible. When she sacrifices herself to save Tenzin's family. Lin does not flee the fight. Just like her mother, she is determined in her goals. And we have more depth development  in Book 3.

**

In another post i will talk about the book Two cause this is already too big.

So i believe one of the main sub themes or simple stuff that i can see on book One is the Loss Of Innocence