#atla comics critical

[mfelewzi]

My two favourite romantic couples with Prince Burned Steak. The funny thing about this fanart is its been Canon, but It was more funny.

Fanart by @failingradish

[myimaginationplain]

On one hand, I think that Kiyi is actually a wonderful idea for a character; you can get a lot of interesting stories out of inserting this innocent, guiless little girl into such a fraught & complex pre-existing family dynamic.

However, some mind-numbingly bad storytelling decisions surround Kiyi's existence in canon. Ursa's magical amnesia chief among them; it is so goddamm boring to take a character with as much baggage to chew on as Ursa has, only to make it so she has to grapple with literally none of it.

No Ursa looking at baby Kiyi & mourning for the two babies she was forced to leave behind, grieving children who are still alive. No Ursa looking at Kiyi grow up & seeing Zuko & Azula in her, equally as happy as she is afraid for her. No Ursa trying to give Kiyi as normal & happy a childhood as she can, while constantly looking over her own shoulder, praying that she won't be recognized. No Ursa hearing wild rumors about her older children's whereabouts & actions, not knowing what to believe.

No, instead of any of that, we just get Ursa becoming a blank slate who can now go off & live a blissfully ignorant happily ever after with her (equally blank) high school sweetheart, forgetting the very children whom she risked everything for in the first place. And that sucks.

Also, if I were writing Kiyi, I'd just say fuck it & make her Ozai's kid. That's a thousand times more interesting.

[misty-memories09]

We talk about ursa's backstory but I've scarcely seen anyone talk about Zuko's reason to find her in the first place as potrayed in the Search...

Because in the show :

But in the comics :

Zuko feels like such a different character in the comics and not because of growth or something but because he just isn't the same Zuko. He's been dumbed down so bad that they're two seperate entities as a whole.

Zuko has strong feelings and opinions (It took him 3 years to learn that his father does not care for him and will never accept him as is ffs) but Comic!Zuko needs to be told what to do, and is EASILY swayed off of his opinions...that's not my Zuko. I don't know what happened to him but that's not Zuko.

In the show when Zuko asks for the location for his mother, he doesn't need any external reminder, he simply does it because he wants to look for her and also :

it's obvious ursa lingers in his mind constantly, he doesn't need external reminders to look for his mother or think of her.

He also says that Ozai should consider himself Lucky because Aang spared his life and then does a 180 in the comics for advice from him. Yeah, that's not lining up.

Also why tf is his hair that short ass length it should be long by now atleast do something right >:(

[valariecomet]

Right. Because that's how story's work. When a plotline happens off screen that is amazinggggg writing. Absolutely great. I love it when characters randomly start acting entirely different to how they usually do! It's sooooo much fun!

Seriously? I haven't read much of the comics and I don't plan to since from what I have seen they're shit, I read the promise years ago and I tried to read imbalance before giving up on it (the only comic I enjoyed was Katara and the pirates silver), so I'm not even sure if this criticism is justified. However, that doesn't mean this defense is right. If a character grows or changes, show it on screen or give an explanation, if not it's bad writing. Simple.

This isn't the real world, it's fiction so while in real life they should change over that time, in a fictional setting they shouldn't grow off screen because you have to suspend your disbelief and be able to easily follow along. If a character randomly changes it disrupts this flow of the story and messes with the audience. If this happens on the comics (which again, I'm not saying it does) it's bad writing. Plain and simple.

If this seems salty it's because I am. I am genuinely so tired of this fandom, it can't handle any fucking criticism against this show or any of the related bloody comics. Please just accept that nothing is perfect (except Katara) and no piece of media is entirely great. I'm not saying you have to engage with the criticism, just acknowledge there is stuff to critique.

[sapphic-agent]

Kataang Shippers: Netflix Katara sucks! Where's her fire??

Me: Yeah, I would have preferred they kept her temper and spirit too. But to be fair the comics and LOK also-

Kataang Shippers: Katara deserved a quiet life after the war! She deserves better than feminists shitting on her for doing absolutely nothing after the war while her friends and husband and brother were fostering a new era! Just because fighting was one of her defining character traits and an integral part of her character arc doesn't mean it's bad writing that she gave it up! It makes TOTAL sense that she didn't do anything to earn a statue while even the cabbage man did!

Me: eye twitch

[the-genius-az]

Azula and her time locked up.

Listen, I've noticed (not really, I've created thousands of scenarios about this) that Azula spent a year or two (or more) in every fic in an asylum/prison after the war.

And yes, we have seen many times what happens inside the asylum/prison, a lot of violence, a lot of abuse, real healing and reconciliations in some? And the list goes on and on ...

But have we seen what happens to Azula next? I don't mean AFTER, meaning that she has a better life outside of the asylum/prison or anything like that. No, I'm talking about Azula's lost years.

Can you imagine being locked in one place for a long time regardless of whether it is for your own good? You wasted years of your life, you don't know anything about current events because of it, you don't know the new things people are talking about, and you don't really know if you'll ever make up for lost time.

[sokkastyles]

Imagine if you were Jin and you went on one date with an extremely nervous boy with a huge burn scar who is a refugee from the fire nation and a few weeks later, the fire nation occupies the city. Then you see the boy again and he's still extremely nervous and lying about it while his companion encourages you to throw knives at him. I'd be like "hey blink if you're being coerced."

[nono-bunny]

Seeing people saying they "don't have high hopes for the ATLA live action because the original creators aren't working on it" and I'm like??? Bitch what?? That's the exact reason I even have any shred of hope for it AT ALL!! Did you even see how they butchered ALL OF THEM as soon as they were the ones who had sole control over the narrative in the comics? Did you not watch the same dumb deux-ex-lion finale I did? Like Bryke are awfullll and they have such a flawed understanding of their own world and characters that it's not even funny- them departing the project because of creative differences is a BLESSING, because their creative vision sucks, there's no lack of proof out there about it either!!

Anyway I'm very very excited for the live action after watching the trailer! Honestly as long as there's no Kataang I'll probably be happy with it given that that's the number one reason for Aang's character stagnation and I don't want to hate LA Aang too lol

[erinoma9]

Problems with "The Search" Comic

Retconning Ursa's backstory

Some old lore about Ursa, before the comic came out.

Admittedly, this page conflates "royalty" with "nobility," which extends to Mai and Onji's page.

Contrast these excerpts to the Search. (SPOILERS AHEAD! And Long!)

"Born to Fire Nation royalty [nobility] and - raised as such."

Search! Ursa: Her family went into hiding after Roku's death. She grew up as a commoner in Hira'a - a small, remote 'backwater village' located on the far edge of the Fire Nation. Her father, Jinzuk worked as the town's magistrate, and her mother, Rina was a master herbalist. Her mother is the daughter of Avatar Roku and has his headpiece in her possession.

"She was the perfect match for Prince Ozai and soon became his wife"

Search! Ursa: Azulon and Ozai track down Avatar Roku's (supposedly remaining) descendants and possibly monitor them for months. They (forcibly) propose a union between Ursa and Ozai for eugenics purposes.

In a nutshell, her relation to Avatar Roku is enough to qualify her as the perfect match.

"There was a time when it probably wasn't such a bad marriage. I think they probably started okay. Certainly better than it ended up."

Search! Ursa: She didn't want to marry Ozai, she wanted to marry her one true love, Ikem but she didn't get much of a say. And come the wedding, Ozai drops a massive bombshell on her.

In short, it starts out as a bad marriage, to put it mildly.

Someone on TV tropes (Fridge Horror section. Be Warned!) posited that "started out okay" can mean anything. And that "okay" doesn't mean happy or willing.

To that I say, it's a massive stretch to claim this scene is equivalent to "started out okay." Okay is not another word for utterly miserable! Words similar to okay can range from alright, pleasant, acceptable or tolerable. So, "started out okay" and the conveniently ignored "better than it ended up" doesn't apply to the Search.

"She is a very sweet woman and a wonderful mother, but she is also very protective -- especially of her favorite child Zuko" ... "Ursa spent most of her time raising her children to be good Fire Nation citizens and the ideal royal family."

Search! Ursa: The comics intentionally or unintentionally avoid portraying Ursa as an imperialist but don't contradict that she taught Zuko and Azula Fire Nation Propaganda offscreen.

She didn't seem to care about being the "ideal royal" herself, privately at least.

For instance, she writes that infamous letter falsely citing Ikem as Zuko's father to spite Ozai among other reasons. Most damningly, she sees her life in the palace as "a life that [she] did not choose for herself," leading to the infamous memory wipe. Both examples have attracted critics, hence the "infamous" connotation, and arguably butcher her 'protective mother' characterisation.

Zuko Alone Ursa: Zuko. That's what moms are like. If you mess with their babies, humph, they're gonna bite you back! [Later on] Ursa: Zuko, please, my love, listen to me. Everything I've done, I've done to protect you. Remember this, Zuko. No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are. DoBS pt 2Ozai: My father, Fire Lord Azulon, had commanded me to do the unthinkable to you, my own son, and I was going to do it. Your mother found out and swore she would protect you at any cost. She knew I wanted the throne and she proposed a plan, a plan in which I would become Fire Lord and your life would be spared. [Later] Your mother did vicious, treasonous things that night. She knew the consequences and accepted them. For her treason, she was banished. "She (Ursa) kind of saved Zuko's life by doing something not very nice to Fire Lord Azulon" ~ Mike "Ursa mysteriously disappeared on the same night as Fire Lord Azulon's death. Some say that she was somehow involved in Fire Lord Azulon's death -- and that she did it to protect Zuko. But the truth is not known."

Search! Ursa: Despite these quotes stressing her role in Azulon's death and clearly implying that she murdered him, that role is given to Ozai. Instead, Search! Ursa merely makes the plan and a deadly poison, all because the writers didn't want her hands dirty.

Is it just me or is this scene so rushed? What happened to the "swore she would protect you at any cost" line?

Why does she assume she'll get to take her children, even though they are his heirs?

And then there's Ozai's response: he calls them, his collateral and has no problem referring to them as your children. He even threatens their lives, along with Ursa's, if she doesn’t keep her word.

Aside from how stupid it is for him to say that, it begs the question of why he didn't kill Ursa afterwards? He just lets her walk free when she's a loose end to him. Plot hole much!

So, Ursa's mum taught her how to make that poison - okay, in the vein of "what kind of mother forgets her children", what kind of mother teaches her daughter how to make an extremely deadly poison? Literally, no one talks about that!

[zukosdualdao]

you know what puzzles me about atla twitter.. seeing the “katara hates zuko” take bc where? by the end of s3 and post-canon/comics/LOK/etc, they are long term close friends??????

yeah, it’s just people who hate the ship and therefore choose to act either like the reconciliation between them didn’t happen or was meaningless/disingenuous. which, i don’t know if they realize how insulting that is to katara? forgiving zuko was an act of her own agency, because she wanted to. and i don’t see her as someone who would ever really pretend to be friends with someone. for as kind as she is, if she hates you, you’ll fucking know it lmao.

i will say, though these people would probably say these things anyway, it doesn’t help that bryke quite vocally resent the ship. they barely interact in the comics, they don’t interact at all in lok (even in situations where it’s really weird for them to not. i haven’t watched but i’ve heard that katara wasn’t at her own granddaughter’s airbending ceremony when zuko was???? which really makes it seem like they just Could Not have them in the same room.) like, the gaang is supposed to be lifelong friends canonically, but we don’t SEE it, and with zutara in particular it feels intentional.

like i said, the antis definitely would have said these things anyway, but it doesn’t help that bryke has been so obvious about their resentment of zutara being such a popular ship, because it means that the antis can point to them sayinh zutara is unhealthy or whatever and feel validated and reasonable.

[late-draft]

I guess the existence of ATLA comics is proof that the animated show didn't end because "the story was meant to have only 3 books and then the story would be complete, the end".

[mah-o-daryaa]

For a show that's progressive, one-of-a-kind, ground-breaking for its time, and relies on "Show, don't Tell" a lot throughout the series, it bugs me how ATLA (or, more specifically, Bryke) preferred to tell the audience that Aang is a master airbender without showing us why. I mean, Toph, Zuko, Azula, and Katara are all shown practicing and improving their mastery in bending (although Katara has become rather overpowered), so why can't Aang have the same treatment?

Yes, Aang may be a child prodigy, and he did get airbending tattoos from inventing the air scooter, but I personally think that inventing an airbending technique (which demonstrates impressive ability and skill) is a way to gain the arrows prematurely, but isn't a requirement. Nothing in the show ever suggests just how far he's mastered his native element, let alone the other three. In the beginning of Sozin's Comet, Part 1: The Phoenix King (3:18), Aang says he thinks he still needs to practice his firebending more (which in hindsight makes sense, as he's just started relearning it from the dragons five episodes ago), and Toph notes that his earthbending could use more work too. Right off the bat, Aang is two elements away from complete mastery of all four, but later on he's seen practicing waterbending with Katara, implying he hasn't mastered it either.

We don't even see Aang practicing his airbending by himself post-iceberg, preferring to show off to random girls (like in Kyoshi Island). He just learns the elements, but doesn't really learn the philosophies behind each element. In this regard, he makes Kuruk and Roku look venerated in contrast. (To be fair to Aang, he had a specific deadline to master the four elements before Sozin's Comet that no other Avatar besides Wan had to deal with, but couldn't he try to make an effort to learn from the other nations?) Additionally, compared to Tenzin and Zaheer, Aang doesn't stand a chance against either of them (even though Tenzin is his son, but since Tenzin wasn't the Avatar, he could focus on upholding the Air Nomad culture and legacy). Even Jinora could go toe-to-toe with him at similar ages. He isn't really that impressive in any of the elements, to be honest; we've seen what a master of any specific element can do in both ATLA and LOK, as well as in the novels.

The main thing people often get wrong is that mastery isn't a final goal; it's a specific mindset. As in Pai Sho, what separates true masters from everyone else is that true masters always look for improvement in their strategy or skills. That's why Aang isn't a real master of the four elements: He always takes the easy way out, never trying to better himself or improve what he can already do.

I think this quote from Zaheer perfectly sums up what I've been saying: When you base your expectations on what you see, you blind yourself to the possibilities of a new reality. Even though it stems from his anarchist beliefs, it is genuinely one of the more insightful pieces of wisdom in the franchise because it promotes progress, a constant theme in life. Toph was able to invent metalbending because she wanted to "see" a reality where she could be recognized for her own talent in spite of her blindness; Zuko could learn firebending from the dragons because he could see a reality where he would regain his honor and fight alongside the Avatar, and so on. By contrast, Aang only takes things from surface-level, not putting any effort into understanding the true meaning of being the Avatar.

Speaking of Pai Sho, guess which Avatar constantly improved his/her abilities? Kuruk. Unlike Aang, Kuruk readily asked his companions, Jianzhu, Hei-Ran, and Kelsang, to continue teaching him, ever after he mastered the four elements that he was required to do, saying they would all benefit from the experience (the "true master" quote I mentioned above was actually said by him). Not only that, it was even inverted; sometimes they taught Kuruk, other times he taught them (which technically makes him the first known Avatar to teach bending to others). He was right, as during their lifetimes, they were the most powerful benders of their respective elements in the world!

Kuruk also had an intuitive connection to each of the four bending philosophies, which to this day remains unrivaled by any other Avatar, and was also one of the first people to suggest the idea that the four elements are connected (homeboy's literally a younger Water Tribe Avatar version of proto-Iroh, I'm honestly not going to be surprised if Iroh actually learned his belief from Kuruk during the former's visits to the Spirit World over tea and Pai Sho matches). If you ask me, Mone, learning the cultures and philosophies of the four nations is way more important than mastering the four elements, because the Avatar isn't just the bridge between the four nations; he/she is also the symbol of a unified world, and the franchise is saying that only one Avatar even bothered to do that? In my opinion, if we go by this rule, that easily cements Kuruk as the greatest Avatar in history!

Aang, on the other hand, never does this. Instead, he puts the Air Nomads on a high pedestal (which in turn causes him to place Katara on a high pedestal), and doesn't respect or learn from other nations' philosophies. He openly disrespects SWT culture and actively makes sure Tenzin doesn't have any exposure to the culture that Tenzin still belongs too, and worse, he pushes his own culture on other people's throats (remember the time he forced a homeless couple to "give up on hope because it's a big waste of time"? Or the time he forced Katara to not murder Yon Rha?) and values his own nation and values above the rest of the world (like the time he refused to kill Firelord Ozai because "all life is sacred", even though he has actually killed before, but if he doesn't kill Ozai, the latter's going to burn the entire Earth Kingdom to the ground!). That doesn't sound like something the Avatar is allowed to do, but Aang gets away with it anyway because ... hero?

There's actually another Avatar who focused on his/her own nation above the rest of the world. Avatar Szeto, Yangchen's predecessor, became a government official in his homeland, the Fire Nation. Under his tenure, the Fire Nation transformed from a fragmented, disaster-stricken state to the centralized, technologically-advanced nation we know of today. Unfortunately, this led him to neglect the other nations and, shortly after his death, the four nations were caught in a political event known as the Platinum Affair, which Yangchen had to deal with, eventually kick-starting the cycle of the current Avatar fixing their past lives' mistakes, while leaving problems for their future selves to fix. This problem might have even led to the growing ambition of Firelords Zoryu and Sozin as dictators, with the latter starting the Hundred Years War.

Aang not only valued his own nation's values above the others, he also forced said values on his non-Air Nomad companions; signed anti-miscegenation laws and tried to forcefully deport Fire Nationals from the colonies to return the land to the Earth Kingdom, even though they had already blended in with Earth Kingdom citizens, didn't wan to be separated from their families, and Zuko perceived the citizens of mixed heritage as his own subjects; refused to let his family practice SWT culture, even though his children could benefit from being members of both cultures, not just one or the other, and set an example for mixed-race families around the world; refused to teach Kya and Bumi Air Nomad culture because he thought they weren't airbenders and therefore "not real Air Nomads", even though they were just as Air Nomad as Tenzin was, if not more; and forced Tenzin to uphold the legacy of an entire nation on his shoulders. The fact that this was all written by complete accident is the cherry on top, representing just how badly Bryke screwed up.

... On a completely unrelated note, The Other Side of Paradise by Glass Animals (which is also one of my favorite songs) is definitely a Kuruk song. The last third of the song in particular sums up his tragic journey as the Avatar so well, and I always think of him while listening to it.

[peachpitfan]

Guys I hate the Atla comics so much I know this is not a revolutionary take but omg they’re so bad it’s actually insane

Why is literally every character insanely mischaracterised??? How did that get published??? Like it’s actually crazy how they managed to mischaracterise every single one of them

It’s such a shame too because I LOVE comics like they’re one of my favourite things ever, and in comics you can go further than what you can in the show bc it’s easier to draw still images than animate them, so you can explore so many new ideas in this incredibly built world! And then you create… that!

[balanceoflightanddark]

You can NEVER belong

You know, I was watching Lilo & Stitch the other day when something sort of dawned on me. Mainly, I believe I figured out why, at least to me, Azula's handling in the comics was so horrible.

Her storyline basically was "you don't belong anywhere".

Think about it. Her brother shoved her in an asylum and basically saw her as a tool. Her mother replaced her with a half-daughter. Her friends hate her guts. And she has absolutely NOBODY in the post-war era who is willing to hear her out or treat her anything less than a monster.

Going back to Lilo & Stitch, this was something that Jumba flat out told Stitch when he ran away into the jungle. That he was meant to destroy, and he didn't belong with anyone. Mind you, this is after Stitch leaves Lilo and Nani cause he believed he screwed things up so badly, the two are gonna be separated.

What the comics did was basically validate Jumba's comment to Stitch, only with Azula. That because she was raised to be a weapon and conditioned by her father, she was a burden and didn't belong in society.

...please note that the comics were geared towards kids. Some of which are probably gonna be atypical and struggling with the same stuff Azula or Stitch were grappling with.

Imagine them reading this comic...and walking away with them believing that like Azula, they're good for nothing. People like Zuko can belong because they fit easier into society.

If you identify with Azula though, the comics might as well have a big sign that says "we don't want you around".

[five-flavor-soup]

i see zuko barely mentioning his friends in LOK 100% as a result from the absolute shitshow that was the promise. literally only suki was genuinely in his corner. the kid got left alone to run a war-torn, highly unstable country at 16. his uncle fucked off to ba sing se and his friends went to gallivant around the world and be relatively free in what they were doing and he’s like. stressed out of his mind trying to keep his nation AND himself from unraveling. we don’t hear about letters inquiring as to how he is doing. we don’t hear about genuine and helpful visits from any of them. iroh HAS to know zuko has an aversion to asking for help in addition to a massive sense of responsibility but he just?? assumes everything is peachy?

AND THEN. the conclusion to the comic, after zuko almost gets KILLED, is that zuko is ‘still just a boy’??? if so, then why the fuck wasn’t anyone helping??? if he’s still just a boy (just a CHILD) why did everybody just let him run himself into the ground??

oh, but no. he’s totally gone ‘barmy’, surely, while you allcarelessly ran around having a bit of a sort-of-break post-war. no wonder the remains and memories of the gaang feel so splintered in LOK. they really just destroyed the found family aspect that was so appealing in ATLA.

[loopy777]

Is Zuko a Gary Stu? A lot more people are becoming anti-Zuko especially after the comics. Thoughts?

Well, it depends how we're defining "Gary Stu." I tend to prefer a strict definition for it and "Mary Sue," that of a self-insert wish-fulfillment character. I also don't personally consider it to necessarily be a negative; one of my favorite fictional characters is George Lucas' Flash Gordon Gary Stu, Luke Skywalker.

But the common internet usages for the term typically translates to "character favored by the narrative and/or storyteller(s) to a degree that harms the story." So I'll address both definitions.

I don't think Zuko is any kind of wish-fulfillment character in the AtLA cartoon, nor do I think the narrative shows him any favoritism. In fact, I'd say the story goes out of its way to make things harder for Zuko than the basic character arc demands. It could've had him switch sides at the end of Book Earth, and I don't think there would have been much complaining. Likewise, the story could have had gAang come around to him a lot sooner in Book Fire, rather than spending entire episodes (and in Sokka's case a two-parter) reconciling him with the gAang one-by-one. I think his character arc is improved and given more impact by the desire to cover this extra rocky ground, although I also think 'The Boiling Rock' didn't need to be a two-parter and all of early Book Fire's filler episodes with the gAang should have been relocated to after Zuko's defection so that they'd have the added interest of showcasing the expanded gAang's new dynamic.

Ah, but then we get to the comics. I'm going to assume we're talking about Gene Yang's comics specifically, since Zuko has not appeared substantially in anything written by anyone else. It's easy to harp on these comics' use and treatment of Zuko, but I want to be clear that they're poorly written on pretty much every level. The dialogue is bad. Major plot threads are abandoned without comment. Everyone is mischaracterized. The humor is more juvenile than anything in the cartoon. What stories are told spin their wheels until they get wrapped up in a rush. There's bad, racist, pro-colonialism messages baked into them all. Etc and so on.

And yes, I do think these comics favor Zuko to their detriment and his. Gene Yang has admitted that Zuko is his favorite character in the cast. But even if he hadn't, we can see in 'The Promise' that the presentation has a lopsided preference for Zuko over Aang, the other main character of the story. Zuko is not portrayed as wrong for pressuring Aang to promise to kill him, despite Aang being uncomfortable with it and the whole idea being against Aang's major beliefs; compare that to the cartoon, where Zuko was portrayed as wrong and bullying in his attitude to try to get Aang to kill Ozai. In the matter of the former Fire Nation colonies, Aang and Zuko have opposing approaches, but rather than the story taking the stance that they need to compromise and mix'n'match their ideas, Zuko gets to utter the line, "I was right all along," while Aang has to be lectured by Katara, admit to being wrong, compromise with the Air Acolytes, and break off his relationship with his ghost mentor.

In 'The Search,' Zuko goes on to find his mother and learn her backstory, something that ends up not troubling or challenging him at all. She gives up her new identity to become his doting mother again and Zuko doesn't have a single doubt about it. He gets an adoring little sister in the form of Kiyi, despite her having a real problem with her mother choosing to become Ursa instead of keeping her familiar form. And his questionable treatment of Azula is not addressed; like Aang in 'The Promise,' she's the one who has to compromise (or in this case refuses to compromise).

You can see the pattern here of Zuko's presentation. This is where we can start to question if Zuko is Gene Yang's self-insert, but to do so, we would have to assume a lot of stuff about Gene Yang. For example, he breaks up Zuko's romance with Mai and then starts hinting at something with him and Suki; does that mean Gene Yang wants to date Suki? Then why bring Mai back so prominently in 'Smoke & Shadow' and then both go easy on her mistakes and break her up from Kei Lo at the end? Maybe Gene Yang wants a harem with both Suki and Mai, but if that's the case, then it's pretty odd that he ends his run on the comics with Zuko dating neither.

We could do the same for other aspects of Zuko's presentation (Does Yang want a tiny powerful Firebender as a little sister? Does he think all colonizers are awesome? Does he advocate denying first-amendment rights in times of danger? Is his favorite food to eat at winter time extra-spicy fire noodles?) But we'd probably run into similar questions we can't answer, leaving us to either assume way too much that would likely be wrong or admit that it doesn't matter.

Which brings us back to the much simpler idea of the character being favored beyond what is warranted. That helps with examining 'Smoke & Shadow,' where Zuko is actually portrayed as making some wrong choices for once in all of Yang's run of comics, like ordering his people's homes invaded and trashed on a vague hope that he'll find some information about Azula- but before that, he's somehow enlightened enough to make rainbow fire, and afterward, he solves everything with a quick apology to his people.

Usually, the narratives ignore Zuko's flaws and twist themselves into weird shapes to justify things. It's like Gene Yang started with the intentions of having Zuko make mistakes and grow over the course of the various stories, but then chickens out, so we're left with themes that feel incomplete or outright harmful. Zuko doesn't need to grow beyond his desire to have a Fire Nation elite (and their pet Earth Kingdom spouses and servants) rule over the former colonies forever, he gets to say, "I was right all along." He starts by locking Azula away in a straight-jacket, but then doesn't find a way to reconcile with her and treat her more humanely, because she goes fully homicidal and then runs away so he doesn't need to deal with her. But in 'Smoke & Shadow,' we get one example where, probably because Yang doesn't see it as that bad in the first, Zuko is allowed to temporarily be wrong before returning to a state of grace.

I think Gene Yang is trying to tell good Avatar stories. But, among his (many, many, many) mistakes, I think he's letting his favor for Zuko influence the stories he's trying to tell. He's trying to give his favorite character juicy dramatic material that lets him grow into an even more awesome character- but then he shies away from depicting his favorite in too harsh a light, ruining the whole thing.

The stories don't feel like they're going anywhere with him, despite him being a main character.

So if that fits with your definition of "Gary Stu," then yes, Zuko has become one in the comics. But he didn't start as one in the cartoon, and I don't think Gene Yang writes stories out of a desire for his favorite to marry Suki because Sword Girlfriend > Knife Wife.

Perhaps that's why he never got Maiko back together; he likes Mai too much to make her the one in the wrong, but then that would mean Zuko needs to learn and grow, and that can't be right. ;)