During San Diego Comic-Con, the publishing company Dark Horse announced that a solo graphic novel set in the Avatar: The Last Airbender world will release in the summer of 2023 and focuses on Azula. With the title Azula in the Spirit Temple, many fans wonder what this new temple could be and how it plays a role in Azula’s character development.
Throughout the series, Azula was a firebending prodigy favored by her father, Firelord Ozai. Her exceptional skill as a firebender and her dad’s favoritism made Azula’s life seem perfect, except for her relationship with her mother, Ursa. Azula believed Ursa liked her younger brother Zuko more and considered her a monster. After Ursa’s disappearance, Azula buried her resentment and masked it with overconfidence and power until she finally lost control during the show’s series finale. She later reappears in the comic sequel Smoke and Shadow, where she and her firebenders challenge Zuko. Azula admits she wants to mold him into the Fire Lord she attempted to be: someone who is strong and rules through fear. In her last appearance before she vanishes into the smoke, Azula explains that when Zuko acts like her, she will become Fire Lord in a sense.
Following these events, the upcoming one-shot issue - Azula in the Spirit Temple, announced at San Diego Comic-Con - leaves fans wondering whether Azula will be up to her old antics and causing trouble in the Spirit World. On the other hand, many are hoping Azula will be turning over a new leaf and undergoing a self-reflective journey that leads her down a path away from fear and manipulation (and perhaps towards reconciliation with Zuko.). Dark Horse Comics has revealed the issue will come from the creative team of Faith Erin Hicks, Peter Wartman, Adele Matera, and COMICRAFT! Avatar: Azula in the Spirit Temple will be released in Summer 2023.
Along with this information, Dark Horse released the cover art for the new issue, depicting Azula wearing tattered clothing and holding a blue flame in her hand as she enters a mysterious building. Considering Air Temples and the Spirit World are fleshed-out concepts in the series, the Spirit Temple is believed to be a combination of both: a sacred place that holds remnants of ancient knowledge and culture that have been lost to time and a gateway with a powerful connection to the Spirit World. The dust sitting toward the bottom of the cover art supports this theory since it suggests the place has not been visited by humans for a long time, implying that maybe Azula is searching for long-lost information.
Her tattered clothes suggest that Azula’s experiences have taken her far away from her privileged and luxurious lifestyle as a princess, offering the interpretation that she may be looking for answers on how to be better than the unhinged princess she once was. Finally, the blue fire she is holding may be used to illuminate the area she is exploring. Still, the size of the flame seems unnecessary for that purpose, implying that Azula may be searching for something, but she is still on the offensive.
Although no official description of the upcoming graphic novel has been released, fans are eager to learn more about what's to come for the former princess of the Fire Nation. The Avatar: The Last Airbender comic’s cover art has piqued interest in Azula and the Spirit Temple, and fans can look forward to the next chapter in the saga next year.
Source: Dark Horse Comics