Speaking of Toph, do you have any thoughts on her potential romantic relationships? Because it seems like every time there’s a man in Toph’s life–
People freak out? [laughs]
I’ll say this — this is something I learned really on after getting involved in this world, is that shipping is a good way to just destroy your soul! [laughs] So I really try to dodge [those questions]!
It’s true, one of the only ‘safe’ relationships to really get into is Aang and Katara, who have been noticeably developing through the comics. How do you see their relationship unfolding in the future?
There definitely is an end. It’s been written in, we saw glimpses of it in The Legend of Korra, so that’s always in the future. The question is how they get there. We’re hoping that as the comics progress, we’ll be able to pull some drama out of that — how they get to that point.
Related: Avatar: The Last Airbender comics to continue with Smoke and Shadow
Another character who gets caught up in both relationship drama is Mai. You wrote a small comic about Mai for Free Comic Book Day a few years ago — what was it like to return to the character in Smoke and Shadow?
Smoke and Shadow comes out of that Free Comic Book Day book. [Writing Mai] has been fun — I feel like all of us know somebody like her, but for some reason we almost never see someone like her in media. So it was satisfying to get to explore her character for longer. She’s one of the main characters in Smoke and Shadow.
Does Mai get to interact with Zuko a little more?
She gets to interact with Zuko. We explore the future of their relationship — or if there is a future of their relationship.
And can we expect to see Azula in the new series?
Well… Smoke and Shadow is all about the Fire Nation, it’s all about [their] dysfunction. The main problem that we deal with is, Zuko brings his mom and his half-sister back to the Fire Nation – we deal with the fallout of that. So you would think that a book focused is on the Fire Nation royal family, that Azula might be a part of that! That’s all I’m going to say!
Can you tease anything else about Smoke and Shadow?
There was a concept that Mike and Bryan were playing with for the show, kind of like a Fire Nation version of the Kyoshi warriors, that never actually made it into the show. So that’s a concept that we have incorporated into Smoke and Shadow. It was designed by Gurihiru, who are amazing… they’re just astounding artists.
You’ve been working on the Avatar comics for several years now. What have you learned from writing these new stories?
I feel like I’ve learned a lot about writing story, and that just comes from getting to see how Mike and Bryan approach story. Avatar was the very first time I had to write to a specific page count — kind of like how when you’re writing for television, you have to write a specific number of minutes. In my own graphic novels, I’ve always been able to make it as short or as long as I wanted to, so I’ve learned a lot about that. I think in a way it forces you to pace in a certain way. It forces you to get into a rhythm really quick, and tell your story at that rhythm.
Other than that, I’ve learned something about character construction. These characters are constructed SO well, that in a lot of ways as I’m writing them, they kind of write themselves – especially Toph. I can just hear her! I think all of us can. And I think what that taught me was when you are building the seed of the character, if you do a good job, you make the rest of your job as a writer so much easier.
For more information…
Learn more about Gene and his work on the Avatar: The Last Airbender comics — as well as his award-winning original graphic novels — at his website, and follow him on Twitter at @geneluenyang for all the latest news.
Avatar: The Last Airbender – Smoke and Shadow will be released on Sept. 15, 2015.
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