A summary of this particular piece of Avatar canon is difficult. Each story in the anthology is only a handful of pages long. Any synopsis would amount to a full-on spoiler of each narrative’s arc. The entries in this collection offer short, fable-like extensions of The Legend Of Korra. As someone who 1) likes any ATLA-related content and 2) wanted a quick-read comic to add to his reading goal for the year, I found Patterns In Time completely satisfactory.
The opening story follows young Korra and shows us how she met her polar bear dog Naga. The second entry shows us a youthful Asami and her mother bonding. “Lost Pets” sees Meelo rescuing pets lost in the evacuation of Republic City (which reminded me of Aang’s story in the Tales of Ba Sing Se episode of the original show).
My favorite was “A Change In The Wind,” in which Jinora must confront her anxiety and overcome the need to please everyone, thus removing pressure from herself. It results in heartfelt moments with Asami and Korra, and the story’s simple moral feels at home in a collection of Korra vignettes.
That’s exactly the zone in which Patterns of Time succeeds. Simple morals and heartfelt stories to back them up. None of these tales could support full episodes of a core Avatar show, so they feel perfectly at home in the anthology. I respect the writers’ restraint in telling simple and sweet stories without busting them out into narratives the collection couldn’t (and shouldn’t) handle.
In that spirit, I’ll keep this review short and sweet, too. Avatar fans should find something to enjoy in these simple and heartwarming stories.
Rating: Patterns In Time – 7.5/10
-Cole