'Suki, Alone' is a lovely and heartfelt comic, and a more than worthy addition to the 'Avatar' canon.
Suki the Kyoshi Warrior leader has always been an underutilised and underappreciated character in 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' and beyond. Even when she becomes an official member of Team Avatar in season three, it's not until near the finale, and she still mostly exists as Sokka's girlfriend. Any heroics she performs seem like an afterthought.'Suki, Alone' makes up for her character deficiency. It not only remembers that she exists, but it is her story, where she is at the center of everything, and it gives her the development and fresh, fleshed-out presence she deserves. That the comic is a midquel that takes place during her time in the Boiling Rock prison - before 'The Boiling Rock' arc in season three which, let's face it, is one of if not the weakest arc in the entire series - and even then it manages to succeed in telling a compelling, sad yet hopeful tale... it is a beautiful accomplishment.'Suki, Alone' is about sisterhood, community, growing hope and fighting back against adversity and oppression in impossible circumstances - the weed/seedpods found even in the Boiling Rock is an effective metaphor - and the importance of partnership; working together to survive and overcome a common threat and problem. Nothing good or noble comes of isolation, indifference, complicity, and/or betrayal; those people are the ones who are truly cowards, and truly miserable.Who are truly alone.Basically, the plot of this eighty-page comic is that Suki is trying to spark a rebellion in the Boiling Rock, by talking to one fellow prisoner at a time, and by building a figurative and literal secret garden, to feed the prisoners and give them back their strength and resolve to fight their Fire Nation captors. This being a midquel, we know Suki's brave attempt will get squashed eventually, but amazingly, because she is well written and well rounded, that does not lessen the impact of the sheer devastation that both Suki and the reader shall feel in the aftermath.
Her determination, her tenacity, her never giving up on her sisters from Kyoshi Island, her vulnerable yet iron grip on hope in the face of disillusionment - these traits will see her be rewarded in a more spiritual and unexpected way. The whole thing suggests that, through blood, sweat and tears, she would have boldly tried another uprising without any need of a rescue.
Suki is a warrior and a sister, worthy of Avatar Kyoshi herself, and no prison walls - physical, mental, and emotional - are going to crush her.
In true 'Zuko Alone' style, there are also flashbacks to Suki's childhood, and other times when she lived on Kyoshi Island, and after, when she finally realised that isolation from the world and the war was not the right answer, and she wished to do her part in helping people on the outside and ending the hundred years war. Not much is seen of her as a Kyoshi Warrior, in the makeup and everything, but that could be to show that she is just as capable a heroine when she looks ordinary and "nonthreatening".
We witness further depths and sides to the action girl's personality in 'Suki, Alone', such as her sense of humour, meant to break the ice and show open, fresh-faced friendliness. Or snark, depending on the situation. It's quite similar to Sokka's humour, in fact, demonstrating why they would work well as a couple. Suki is dedicated to Kyoshi, and to her Warrior sisters, and she misses them very much in her (often solitary) confinement.
Bonus feature: in a flashback, Suki reunites with a sister, who is plus-sized and had left Kyoshi Island years before, and the sister introduces her girlfriend to Suki. Brilliant! More queer rep in this world, please!
Sadly, the biggest and most obvious flaw of 'Suki, Alone' is that it is a midquel, so the audience, who will undoubtedly have seen the original animated series, is previously made aware of what happens to the main character by the end of their story, and what their fate is. Suki says in the very beginning of the comic that she doesn't need to be rescued, when we know that that will turn out not to be true. No matter how hopeful and strong willed she is at the end, she will still be rescued, or at least quickly assisted in any rebellion she might have planned, by two guys, Sokka and Zuko. Two more popular guy characters from the outside will succeed where Suki had failed, and will be lauded and showered in credit for it, while she will be relegated to a damsel in distress at worst, or a footnote in the rescue operation at least worst. Not a good look for feminism overall.
It's kind of like how the MCU tried to "redeem" Black Widow's character in her long-overdue solo feature film, which on its own is a great, empowering story. But it can't be avoided that it is also a midquel, set before 'Endgame', aka the mark of the end of an era for the MCU, and oh yeah, the highest grossing film of all time, released the year before. So the audience already knows what Natasha's ultimate fate is before seeing 'Black Widow' (and also how typically male centered and prone to fridging the MCU is), therefore any development and badassery she gains in her movie is rendered moot and rather pointless. One small feminist story, however good, cannot override the super popular, juggernaut mainstream canon of (unconsciously biased or not) patriarchal crap that surrounds it, past, present and future. Unless time travel and retconning are actually involved. But we wouldn't want to upset the insecure and entitled fanboys by doing that, would we!*
Putting hindsight aside, however, 'Suki, Alone' is a terrifically written triumph, as both its own separate story, and as part of a wider pop culture property. It doesn't just partly save Suki's character, but two other female characters who were done dirty in the 'Avatar' canon: Kyoshi, after her horrible treatment (in my opinion) in the novel 'The Shadow of Kyoshi', and Azula, who's been placed in the lazy and misogynistic archetypal role of the crazy, unhinged, dishevelled female in power since the 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' series finale, and has been stuck there since. She only appears in the first few pages of 'Suki, Alone', but she makes an impression. She's so proudly, deliciously evil, and so in control, and I love it.
Faith Erin Hicks really did these girls justice.
Final Score: 4/5
*It's hard to convey sarcasm in writing.
