Michael Dante DiMartino looks back at recent developments in the
Avatar-verse.
Best known for his role as co-creator of the epic Nickelodeon series
Avatar: The Last Airbender and
The Legend of Korra, DiMartino also recently published
Warrior Genius, the second book in his Rebel Geniuses trilogy. DiMartino spoke to
Hypable about
The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars, Dark Horse’s three-volume original graphic novel which officially continues the saga of Korra, Asami and the rest of the cast from the beloved Nickelodeon animated series, plus reveals how his own experiences have impacted his work, and what’s ahead for his further creative pursuits.
How is the [The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars] series going?
It’s three volumes, and I just finished the script for the third volume and finished that little story arc. It’s been a long-gestating project, but it turned out really cool, so I’m really excited.
What can you tell us about the overall arc of the story?
Once people read Volume I they’ll get a better sense, but the villain who emerges out of this story goes through a transformation of sorts, and becomes a bit more powerful and dangerous and scary…. it’s the type of villain that I’ve been wanting to do for a while, and it fits in with what’s going on in Republic City.
Were there any ideas that you were able to incorporate in the comic that you hadn’t in the show? Of course, there’s Korra and Asami’s relationship…
Yeah, that’s probably the biggest one, but it’s more extending out from the show. The biggest challenge of this was that there were too many storylines! It’s the same problem I have with my book. We had all these characters, especially with
Avatar, there’s like a million characters, and all these storylines that I needed to deal with.
There’s also a presidential election going on in Republic City. I have to ask, were you at all inspired by current events?
You know, it ends up being somewhat related, I suppose! [laughs] But when I started it, it was well before the election. I think it was before anyone knew who the main candidates were. But I guess Raiko has a little Trump in him sometimes! [laughs]
His wife actually looks a little like Melania…
That’s so funny. I tried to get her in the comic — not Melania! I tried to get Buttercup Raiko in there, but it just didn’t work out. She was one that I couldn’t organically weave into the story.
How much are you working with your Avatar co-creator Bryan Konietzko on Turf Wars?
I basically would pitch him ideas, and we would go back and with developing the stories, and stuff he wanted to see in the books. And he’s also been helping out consulting on the art with [artist] Irene [Koh]. So he’s definitely involved in making sure it feels like the show!
[Turning to Warrior Genius] do you have to get in a different head space to write the villainess of the series?
Nah, I guess that stuff just comes naturally from
Avatar and
Korra. You’re never doing it from [the villains’] point of view, but you are trying to get into the characters’ heads and figure out where they’re coming from. [Nerezza’s] motivations get much more fleshed out and there’s some of her backstory, and it definitely deepens the characters and the world, and their relationships.
Does being a dad influence the way you work on your stories?
Not so much with this book, but I am more aware of kids’ books, and stories for kids. Because my wife and I love books, so we just want to get them a lot of books! It’s one of their main toys in the morning, putting out a bunch of books for them to check out. We read to them a lot, but they’ll also just sit there with a book and play with it! Seeing through their eyes, what makes something interesting in a book to them — obviously, it’s not really the plot — there’s so many things moving in the book. So many things you pull and slide, and so they definitely really like those types of things, like textures. There’s a cool book, Never Touch a Monster, it’s got these little prickly things on all the pages and stuff.
The books I write, they obviously won’t read them until they’re a little older. But I am excited to one day read them to them, or have them watch
Avatar.
Do you have any future projects in mind for after you finish Rebel Geniuses?
I’ve got a bunch of story ideas, [and] I’m trying to decide which one I want to pursue next, and what format. Maybe graphic novels would be fun — writing
Korra was my first graphic novel script, and it was fun to collaborate with one artist on it. I learned a lot about telling a story in that medium, which I really enjoyed. So maybe I’ll explore that down the road!
The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars Part 2 and
Warrior Genius are available from booksellers and comic book stores today!
Click
here to read Michael's full interview with Hypable!
