Avatar The Last Airbender is one of the biggest franchises that I never really got into. I played the video game of course, but I couldn’t get into the show. I can’t say that I had high hopes for the comic, but it definitely under performed. I’m pleased to say that it wasn’t Avatar’s fault….it was the backups that were to blame!

The Avatar comic features two of the main characters as they head into a shop to collect some shells. The guy has always wanted to start collecting them, but he could never find the time (or money) to do so. Another girl walks in to inspect some shells, but the shop owner believes that girls cannot truly appreciate shells so she must be fake. The main characters stop the bullies and teach the girl the values of learning self defense. Will she take them up on the offer?

The first backup story is about Hellboy. It’s only about a page or two and there is really no point. Hellboy mocks his friend’s design as a ghost and then he throws him in a coffin. The comic wasn’t funny and it just wasn’t good. It definitely wouldn’t entice me to actually buy the series. The final backup comic was the worst as it was from the Juice Squeezers. I had never heard of the series and after this comic…I hope that I never hear about it again! The comic involves a kid who gets bullied by some other kids and they put ants in his pants. He decides to get revenge on them by infiltrating the lair of some giant Ants. His plan is to ultimately get the other ants to go in the pants of the bully. An eye for an eye after all…that’s what the main character goes for. By the end of the comic, you’ll likely be wincing.

The Avatar comic wasn’t bad. The art was solid, but the plot was a little generic and not very exciting. The main characters should have just knocked out the shop owner and just left with the shells. Teaching the girl how to fight is definitely a good move, but the shop owner does have fire powers so it’s still a little risky. Leaving him in business could have dire consequences. I can definitely see why I didn’t get into the show, but it’s not bad. I’m sure that a fight would have helped the issue.

There isn’t much to say about the Hellboy comic. The art wasn’t for me and Hellboy was a terrible main character. None of the jokes were funny and the comic just fell flat. The ant comic had so much that was wrong with it. I barely even know where to begin in that regard! It gets old seeing the main character get bullied. We’ve seen that in so many forms of media already. Then the “hero” gets revenge by doing something equally mean to the bully. Of course, his revenge affects the whole school team so hopefully he didn’t have any friends who were playing. Apparently, there are also giant insects that are around and the main character has his own super hero title. None of it made sense and the comic was boring and not cool. The art was also pretty sub par.

Overall, this is a comic that I definitely would not recommend. The Avatar comic may have been all right, but the Hellboy one was boring and the ant story was just terrible. I don’t think that you would walk away from this comic with high hopes for future issues. It’s best to just skip this one and read something a little more thought provoking like the Mega Man comics. I haven’t read a comic this awful in quite a long time!

Overall 2/10