Dark Horse announces ATLA – ASHES OF THE ACADEMY

As was announced at this weekend’s New York Comic Con “Avatar Legacy Publishing” panel, Dark Horse Comics will publish a new Avatar: The Last Airbender graphic novel, Avatar: The Last Airbender — Ashes of the Academy. The book, which will reunite writer Faith Erin Hicks, artist Peter Wartman, colorist Adele Matera, and letterers Comicraft with series creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, will follow Zuko’s half-sister Kiyi as she enrolls at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls.

An all-new stand-alone Avatar: The Last Airbender graphic novel! Kiyi, half-sister to Fire Lord Zuko, enrolls at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls! Known for its strict curriculum and even stricter instructors, Zuko worries for Kiyi.

When things take a turn for the worse and a seed of doubt about the new headmistress is planted, Zuko takes action by installing one of the people he trusts most, Mai, as an academy teacher. Can Mai keep a watchful eye over Kiyi and keep her on the right path, or will the academy’s cruel culture shape her footsteps into those of her other half-sibling, Azula?

Created in collaboration with writer Gene Luen Yang and artists Gurihiru, Kiyi first appeared in 2013’s continuation graphic novel The Search Part Two. She is the daughter of Ursa — the exiled mother of the firebending Prince Zuko and Princess Azula — and her childhood sweetheart Noren, and was born roughly five years before the events of the animated series. She subsequently appeared in the third installment, and Yang & Gurihiru’s 2015-16 trilogy Smoke and Shadow, as well as a young adult in the tie-in reference book Avatar: The Last Airbender: Legacy of the Fire Nation. She will be the first character to originate in the comics to take center-stage in one of the books.

Ashes of the Academy is available to pre-order now for a release on March 25, 2025, and retail at 80 pages for $12.99. It will mark the sixth entry in the standalone Last Airbender graphic novel series, which kicked off with Hicks et al.’s Katara and the Pirate’s Silver in 2020. In the meantime, the latest Legend of Korra graphic novel, The Mystery of Penquan Island (by Kiku Hughes, Alex Monik, Diana Sousa, and Comicraft), will be released in stores and online on February 25.