The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars

The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars^[1] is the first graphic novel trilogy created as a continuation of The Legend of Korra television series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

Written by Michael Dante DiMartino with art by Irene Koh, Turf Wars follows the events of "The Last Stand", the final episode of the television series, beginning with Korra and Asami on holiday in the spirit world.

Publication history

The series was originally announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2015.^[2] Later that same year, Brittney Williams was announced as the artist for the series, showing some of her concept art along with the announcement.^[3] When Williams dropped out of the project, a new artist was brought on board, Irene Koh, a bisexual Asian martial artist just like Korra herself.^[4]

Plot

Part One

Korra and Asami, now a couple, are forced to cut their spirit world holiday short after their supplies are lost in an altercation with a giant rock spirit, who resents Korra for her accidental creation of a new portal between the physical and spirit worlds following her battle with Kuvira. The pair travel to the South Pole to come out to Korra's parents, both of whom are happy and supportive upon hearing the news, though they warn Korra to be wary of sharing it with others, as the rest of the world may not be as accepting of a same-sex relationship.

Korra and Asami return to Republic City to discover that Wonyong Keum, a property developer who owns the land around the new spirit portal, is planning to capitalise on its appearance by turning the surrounding land into an amusement park and offering tours of the spirit world, despite opposition from the Air Nomads and the spirits. A dragon eel spirit urges Korra to close the portal to prevent such a conflict from happening, but Korra refuses, believing that the spiritual energy flowing in from the portal will ultimately benefit the people of Republic City. The dragon eel spirit reluctantly accepts her decision, but holds her responsible for keeping the portal safe.

Meanwhile, Lin Beifong, Mako and Bolin - who now works in the Republic City Police alongside his brother - learn that a man called Tokuga has taken over the Triple Threat Triad, one of Republic City's major crime syndicates, and started forcibly recruiting other criminals into it. Tokuga later leads an attack on the spirit portal on Keum's orders, aiming to drive away the Air Nomads and prevent them interfering with Keum's plans. Korra, Asami, Mako and Bolin show up to reinforce the Air Nomads, and a group of spirits also come through the portal to drive off the Triple Threats, with the dragon eel spirit accusing Korra of failing to protect the portal. Korra tries to convince the spirits to stay out of the battle, fearful that their participation will only increase tensions between humans and spirits, but is distracted when Asami is nearly killed in the fighting, allowing the dragon-eel spirit to wound Tokuga, mutating him into a spirit-human hybrid and forcing him to call a retreat. He mistakenly assumes that Korra deliberately summoned the spirits and ordered one to attack him.

In the battle's aftermath, Korra kisses Asami out of relief at finding her alive and unhurt, leading to Mako, Bolin, Jinora and Opal discovering they are bisexual. All four of them accept it, and Korra correctly guesses Keum's role in the attack. Elsewhere, Tokuga confronts Keum over not being warned about Korra before forcibly taking control of all the property developer's assets in retaliation.

Same-sex relationships in the Avatar world

The two animated series never overtly described how same-sex (LGBT) relationships are viewed in their fictional world setting. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, co-creator DiMartino and artist Koh explained that when the Korra/Asami relationship was introduced at the very end of the second animated series, the status of such relationships was left somewhat ambiguous - with some assuming that it was viewed no differently than a heterosexual relationship. In the first volume of the comic, however, instead of showing an idealized world in which this isn't an issue, they decided to explain that there is actually bias against same-sex relationships in the world of Avatar. A major reason behind the choice is that the creative time wanted to have Korra dealing with the same kind of issues and biases that readers of the comic might face. As Koh said, "There’s a lot of potency to seeing loved, powerful characters like Korra and Asami dealing with the same struggles I (and other queer people) face." DiMartino also explained how he approached the previously never addressed issue of how homosexual relationships are viewed in this fictional world:^[5]

DiMartino: "This was a tough one, to be honest. I didn’t want to bog down the story with a lengthy history lesson, but it was important to address how LGBTQ individuals were treated in the general context of the Avatar universe. Bryan and I thought the best approach was to view LGBTQ representation through the lens of the different cultures. Admittedly, the background I wrote in Turf Wars volume 1 is brief, but I think it provides a context to LGBTQ history in the Avatar world, which could be expanded upon in the future."

A brief sequence in the first volume gives an overview of how homosexuality is viewed in the Avatar world, when Korra and Asami are approached by Tenzin's sister Kya, also a child of Aang and Katara. Kya explains that she herself is homosexual, and her family and friends all know, but because Korra grew up in isolation she is unaware of the biases they might face by being open about it (only the terms "same-sex" and "orientation" are used, not specific real-world terms such as "homosexual", "bisexual", "gay", etc.). Kya explains that, historically, each of the Four Nations have actually had differing views on same-sex relationships:

• The Air Nomads were completely tolerant of same-sex relationships. They welcomed and embraced all strangers they encountered despite their differences, and were no different when it came to orientation. Their society didn't actually have family units, but lived as monks. The original Air Nomads society is now extinct, but Aang grew up in it, so he was totally welcoming when he learned of his daughter Kya's orientation.
• The Earth Kingdom, in contrast, had the most restrictive views on same-sex relationships, and could be quite homophobic. While its peoples are diverse, they are also generally the most socially rigid, conservative and resistant to change in all matters. Similarly, as seen with Toph, they also generally had strict views on the restricted social roles of women. Avatar Kyoshi, born into the Earth Kingdom, herself had relationships with both men and women, but even she faced criticism for this and could not change the kingdom's views on it.
• The Water Tribes are between these two extremes: they have a great respect for the bonds of family, and thus have a traditionalist view that family matters should stay private. They think it is inappropriate to discuss any romantic/sexual matters publicly, either openly coming out as homosexual, or publicly criticizing someone for being homosexual. Kya says that if the Korra publicly announced her same-sex relationship, no one in the Water Tribes would "disown" her, but it might cause enough awkwardness that she may want to keep it private among her family and friends. When Korra told her own parents in the Water Tribes, they had no negative reaction whatsoever, and were happy she found someone she loves.
• The Fire Nation attitudes towards same-sex relationships changed drastically over time. Not as rigid as the Earth Kingdom, for most of its history it was tolerant of them - even during most of the era of the Fire Lords. When Fire Lord Sozin turned the Fire Nation into an expansionist military state bent on world conquest, however, all of society became highly controlled. One aspect of this was that (for unspecified reasons) Sozin declared same-sex relationships to be an outright crime. These laws were in place for nearly a hundred years during the war, but it isn't stated what attitudes are like in Korra's time, some seventy years after the war's end.
• The new, fifth nation, the United Republic, is very modern and nominally accepts people from all different nations. Asami hopes this means it will be more tolerant of same-sex relationships than some of the others were at times in the past.

Reception

Book one holds an average rating of 9.6 by two professional critic on the review aggregation website Comic Book Roundup.^[6]

References