Avatar: The Last Airbender did not end when the television series finished; Dark Horse Comics picked up the story with a run of graphic novel trilogies that bridge directly into The Legend of Korra.
Original creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko stayed involved throughout, which is why these books are treated as canon rather than side material by most of the fandom.
The reading order itself is straightforward once you know it, but the harder question for collectors is which physical format to actually buy.
This guide covers the full trilogy sequence and breaks down library editions, single volumes, and omnibus collections so you can pick the right format for your shelf.
The sequence runs The Promise, The Search, The Rift, Smoke and Shadow, North and South, and Imbalance, each released originally as a three-part graphic novel trilogy before being collected together.
The Promise picks up roughly a year after the war's end, The Search digs into Zuko's mother, The Rift centers on a spirit-world conflict, and the later trilogies carry the story into Korra-era politics.
Beyond the main trilogies, Dark Horse has released shorter one-shot stories and anthology-style side material tied to specific characters or side plots from the main sequence.
These are easy to miss since they rarely appear on a basic series checklist, so cross-checking against Dark Horse's own current catalog before considering your collection complete is worth the extra step.
Each trilogy was originally published as three individual softcover volumes, which remains the most widely available and most affordable way to read the series today.
Single volumes are the right call for readers who want to read the story once without necessarily building a premium shelf display, and they are easy to store alongside the rest of a graphic novel collection.
Dark Horse has also released hardcover Library Edition collections that bundle a full trilogy into one oversized hardcover, typically with bonus art and behind-the-scenes material not in the softcover printings.
Library Editions cost more and take up more shelf space per trilogy, but they hold up better to repeat handling and read as a noticeably more premium object for a dedicated Avatar shelf.
For readers who want multiple trilogies without buying each one as three separate softcovers, Dark Horse has also packaged the series into larger omnibus-style collected volumes.
An omnibus trades some of the Library Edition's bonus material for shelf efficiency, which makes it the practical middle ground between buying single volumes piecemeal and investing in the full hardcover line.
If you are reading the story for the first time, single volumes are the cheapest way in and the easiest to find secondhand or at a comic shop.
If you are building a long-term display collection, a Library Edition or omnibus is the better investment, since both are built to survive more handling than a standard softcover trade.
Some printings of the Avatar trilogies use a smaller, digest-style trim size closer to a manga volume than a standard American comic, particularly in certain international or reprint editions.
Checking the actual trim size before buying storage matters here; a digest-size resealable bag fits these smaller printings far better than a standard comic bag sized for a full-size American single issue.
The comics are set after the events of the original animated series and before The Legend of Korra, filling in a multi-year gap that the shows themselves never covered on screen.
Reading the full trilogy sequence in order essentially gives you the missing bridge between the two shows, which is part of why longtime fans treat these books as required reading rather than optional side material.
Older printings of the earlier trilogies sometimes differ slightly in cover art or trim from newer reprints, which is worth noting if you are trying to match a shelf's look across all six trilogies.
When buying secondhand, compare the spine and cover against a current listing from the publisher before assuming two copies of the same trilogy are identical printings.
The Promise, The Search, The Rift, Smoke and Shadow, North and South, then Imbalance.
Yes, original series creators DiMartino and Konietzko were involved throughout.
A Library Edition is an oversized hardcover bundling a full trilogy with bonus material; single volumes are the individual softcovers.
Yes, it saves shelf space compared to single volumes while costing less than a full Library Edition.
Whether you are stacking softcover volumes or protecting single issues picked up along the way, sizing your storage to the actual format matters; start with regular-size comic book bags for standard single issues and softcovers.
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