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Avatar: The Last Airbender Comics Reading Order

Let’s bend the elements with Aang and his friends! Created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, Avatar: The Last Airbender is an animated television series that aired between 2005 and 2008 on Nickelodeon.

It is set in an Asian-inspired fantasy world divided into nations based around the elements of water, earth, fire, and air. Some people from each nation, called “benders”, have the ability to control the element on which their nation is based by using telekinesis. But only the ‘Avatar’ can bend all four elements and is responsible for maintaining balance in the world.

At the start of the series, twelve-year-old Aang is the current Avatar and the sole survivor of the Air Nomads, and his friends Katara, Sokka and Toph as they strive to end the war that the Fire Nation is waging against the other nations, and to defeat Fire Lord Ozai before he conquers the world.

Though the animated series naturally ended after three seasons, this wasn’t the end of the Avatar Universe, or for Aang and his friends. Since then, it has become a media franchise spanning several adaptations, sequels, video games, books and, of course, comic books!

More specifically, the Avatar: The Last Airbender comics, published by Dark Horse, are an official continuation of the original Nickelodeon animated TV series. They explore events that took place during and after the series. Today, we take a closer look at all of these comics to help you read and collect them!

Avatar: The Last Airbender, Recent Updates and Info

Don’t miss any changes and releases! Here’s the recent information about the Avatar comics:

Avatar: The Last Airbender Comics Collection

Note: Avatar: The Last Airbender is part of the Avatar Legends franchise. This name was given to the franchise only in 2021, but is used retroactively. You’ll find it written in almost everything now! Click here to go to our Very Simple Avatar: The Last Airbender Comics Chronological Order.

Avatar: The Last Airbender Short Stories

The first Avatar short stories were published in Nickelodeon Magazine and the Avatar: The Last Airbender DVD collections between 2001 and 2005. Since 2011, new short stories have been released for Free Comic Book Day. Dark Horse has reprinted these stories in anthology volumes also containing all-new short comics.

  • Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Lost Adventures
    An anthology of comics collecting out-of-print comics previously published in Nickelodeon Magazine and with the Airbender DVDs, plus over seventy brand-new comics pages. That’s twenty-six stories set in Airbender continuity:

    • Stories set during Book One (Water): Bee Calm, Water War, Don’t Blow It!, Relics, Fruit-Stand Freestyle
    • Stories set during Book Two (Earth): Sleepbending, Lessons, Sokka the Avatar, Dirty Is Only Skin Deep, Divided We Fall, Reach for the Toph, It’s Only Natural, Going Home Again, The Bridge.
    • Stories set during Book Three (Fire): Private Fire, Night Animals, Boys’ Day Out, Ember Island Arcade, Monster Slayer, Combustion Man on a Train, Swordbending, No Benders Allowed, Love Is a Battlefield, Dragon Days, Game Time, Bumi vs. Toph, Round One
    • Bonus Stories (Non-canon): New Recruits, Gym Time
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender – Team Avatar Tales
    One-shot anthology comics collecting stories depicting unseen events during and after the series, including The Substitute, Sokka’s Poem, Toph and The Boulder, Origami, The Scarecrow. Rebound, Shells, and Sisters were previously released for Free Comic Book Day.
  • Avatar Legends: Masters of the Elements Volume 1 [2026]
    Collects short stories from beyond the confines of a single Avatar Cycle, including the previously published during FCBD Beach Wars, Team Toph: Lost and Found and Ramen Rumble. And more stories!

For the moment, the “Matcha Makers” story released in 2021 as part of Free Comic Book Day is still uncollected.

Library and Omnibus Edition!

The short stories have been reprinted in an oversized hardcover library edition

Avatar: The Last Airbender Graphic Novel Trilogies

What happened to Aang and his friends after the Hundred Year War? Dark Horse explores the years after the conclusion of the television series with trilogies (and stand-alone – see below!) graphic novels!

The Promise — Set mainly one year after the conclusion of the original series, the Promise trilogy recounts the adventures of Avatar Aang and his friends in the aftermath of the Hundred Year War.

The Search — What happened to Fire Lord Zuko’s mother? Finding a clue at last, Zuko enlists the aid of Team Avatar—and the most unlikely ally of all—to help uncover the biggest secret of his life.

The Rift — Avatar Aang and friends honor an Air Nomad holiday that hasn’t been celebrated in over one hundred years. But when cryptic visits from the spirit of Avatar Yangchen lead Aang to a refinery operating on land sacred to the Airbenders, they soon find themselves in peril as a dangerously powerful ancient spirit awakens with vengeance and destruction on its mind!

Smoke and Shadow — The Fire Nation is threatened by a prophecy told by the Kemurikage, mysterious figures thought only to exist in legend: remove Zuko from the throne, or the country will perish!

North and South — When Katara and Sokka return home to the Southern Water Tribe, they are shocked to find that it has gone from a small village to a bustling city! Malina, a Northerner, is behind the change and plans to unify the Water Tribes, but Gilak, a Southerner, leads a fierce rebellion to stop her. In the face of these two opposing tribes, Katara will have to make peace with her nostalgia and mistrust to save the home she loves from being permanently torn apart.

Imbalance — When Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph return to Earthen Fire Industries – the factory owned by Toph’s father – Aang is surprised when their arrival is met with a cold shoulder. As soon as the team is asked for help at a business council meeting, the reason for the slight becomes clear: a massive bender-versus-non-bender conflict has gripped the town and is threatening to turn violent.

Library and Omnibus Edition!

All of those stories have been reprinted in the Library Edition, a comic book series from Dark Horse Comics that brings together three parts of a story in one book. The books are hardbacks with page-by-page sidebar commentary by Gene Yang and the Gurihiru team, which is exclusive to this edition as far as I know.

For a lower price, the Omnibus edition also collects the three parts of a story in one book, but with a softcover (a cover that can bend).

A box set of omnibuses consisting of the complete stories written by Gene Luen Yang and with art by Gurihiru, created in collaboration with series creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, was released in 2025:

Avatar: The Last Airbender Standalone graphic novels

Avatar: The Last Airbender continues to expand, but with those standalone graphic novels that explore unseen events during and after the series.

  • Katara and the Pirate’s Silver
    The story follows Katara as she gets separated from the rest of Team Avatar during the events of Book Two: Earth.
  • Suki, Alone
    The story Suki as a prisoner in the Boiling Rock prison during the events of Book Three: Fire.
  • Toph Beifong’s Metalbending Academy
    Toph discovers something that just might put the sparkle back in her eye. Set after the events of The Rift
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender—Azula in the Spirit Temple
    Azula continues her destabilizing campaign against the Fire Nation and her brother, Fire Lord Zuko. Set after Smoke and Shadow.
  • The Bounty Hunter and the Tea Brewer
    Standalone graphic novel centered on June and Iroh, set after the short story “Matcha Makers.”
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender – Ashes of the Academy
    Kiyi, half-sister to Fire Lord Zuko, enrolls at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls! Set before Imbalance.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Kyoshi Warriors [2026]
    A brand-new tale of the Kyoshi Warriors told across three monthly single-issue comics. The size of the story seems to be close to a standalone graphic novel, with the difference of being release in three issues and not directly into a trade paperback.

Library Edition!

Dark Horse Comics brought together those stand alone story in two oversized hardcover books, as part of the Library Edition.

More Avatar: The Last Airbender Comics

Chibi — Avatar adventures for little fans! The following comics are chibi, or stories specifically for very young readers.

Zuko’s Story — Graphic novel prequel focuses on Zuko, detailing the years between his banishment and the reappearance of the Avatar.It has been released as a tie-in for the 2010 movie, but it still fits pretty well inside the canon (thanks to Somebody in the comments!)

Screen Comix — Comics retelling the original series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, with full-color images and dialogue from the series, published by Random House.

Avatar: The Last Airbender Novels

Chronicles of the Avatars – a series of novels chronicling the lives of previous Avatars.

Bending Academy – a new series of children’s books set in the world of Avatar Legends

Avatar Legends series – A new series launched this year. No details beyond the first book.

Avatar: The Last Airbender, a Simple Comics Chronological Order

This is not an exhaustive chronological order, but a simplified one that offers a beginner-friendly comics reading order with minimal interruption. Rather than providing a detailed timeline for the placement of each short story, it provides information on where the trilogies, stand-alones, and anthologies fit. This part of the guide does not include the books, as most of them are prequels that new readers can read at any time once they are a little bit familiar with the universe.

The Avatar: Last Airbender. A few stand-alone stories and short stories are set during the television series (a season is referred as a book). Here’s a simple order with those stories as a companion to the animated series.

  • The Avatar: The Last Airbender Book One.
  • The Avatar: The Last Airbender Book Two.
  • Katara and the Pirate’s Silver — Stand-alone graphic novel set between “Bitter Work” (2.09) and “The Library” (2.10).
  • The Avatar: The Last Airbender Book Three.
  • Suki, Alone — Stand-alone graphic novel set from “Appa’s Lost Days” (2.16) to “The Boiling Rock” (3.14).
  • The Lost Adventures — Anthology comics of stories set during the television series.

After the television series…

The story continues with… The Legend of Korra.

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23 thoughts on “Avatar: The Last Airbender Comics Reading Order”

    4. Amber Redstone
      Reply

      I suggest after because most of the books are a continuation of the story but what ever you prefer just you might be confused and there is a lot of spoilers

  7. Michelle Rose Glady
    Reply

    Isn’t the ending of Smoke and Shadows a bit abrupt? I mean they didn’t give any answer for the last question about what Zuko would do now that Azula’s back and also about what happened to the dilemma of Cranefish town..so is a new sequel bound to get released following the both of them?

  9. Sabrina
    Reply

    What is the difference between the hardcover and softcover? I know that the all the parts of each series is combined in one for each, but are the pictures the same throughout the book?

    1. .
      Reply

      omnibus means all the parts in 1 book. For example: The Search has 3 parts, you can buy part 1, 2 and 3 separately but you can also buy the 3 parts in one book. (the omnibus is smaller but it’s better in my opinion and also cheaper)

  12. Amy
    Reply

    Hi, where do the Earth Kingdom Chronicles, the Lost Scrolls Collection, and The tale of Azula fit into this list? My daughter checked out a bunch of Avatar books from the library including these, and we found this list after she tried to read one and it referred to things that must have been in previous books.

    1. Carole
      Reply

      Hi Amy, thanks for checking the website!

      This list offers a reading order for the Avatar comic books/graphic novels.

      Earth Kingdom Chronicles, the Lost Scrolls Collection, and The tale of Azula are all books, so not listed here (I will look more closely into it to offer information for the reading order on that subject).

      But right now, The Earth Kingdom Chronicles are a 6-book series based on the second season. Each book takes the form of the diary of a different character and relate the event of the second season (or book two) from that perspective. The Tale of Azula is part of the Earth Kingdom Chronicles.

      The Lost Scrolls Collection recaps a lot of stories from the character’s point of view about the events of the first season, and give new information regarding each of the 4 nations. It’s sort of a novelization of certain episodes of the first season of the show, with more background information.

      Hope it helps!

  14. Carole
    Reply

    A recent update:
    – I deleted Zuko’s story from this reading order (as Cody pointed out, it’s a prequel to the movie).
    – I also added the two volumes from Random House in the “before” part, as it is a retelling of the animated series (so not an original story and not from Dark Horse).
    – At the end of the list, I added Avatar: The Last Airbender—Chibi Vol. 1: Aang’s Unfreezing Day, coming in february 2022 from Dark Horse for younger readers. I placed it at the end, as I have no idea for the moment where the story takes place.

    1. Somebody
      Reply

      I’d say Zuko’s story should still be included on the list, just with a note that it’s technically connected to the movie. While it may be questionably canon, it’s still worth reading and the only actual connections it even has to the movie specifically are that a small number of character designs like Iroh’s are different and they make sure to show torches in the background anytime someone firebends. Those things aside, it easily *could* be a canon backstory for Zuko without contradicting anything that is canon, and it is genuinely good.

      1. Carole
        Reply

        Thanks for your comment! Thinking about it, I decided to put back “Zuko’s story” in the article (in the What to read before? section). If you think I forget something, don’t hesitate to tell me.

  16. Aang
    Reply

    I don’t feel like putting my real name but anyway how many Avatar: Comics are there in total? And is there a place where you can buy all of them that are out so far for a kinda cheap price? or just buy all of them in a bundle at all?

    1. Carole
      Reply

      Zuko’s story is a graphic novel and a prequel to the 2010 The Last Airbender film centered on Zuko.

      As having an omnibus version of Imbalanced, sure! There’s no reason for not doing it. The North and South Omnibus will be released in February 2022, so we can imagine that Imbalanced could be released later that year. For the moment, they just didn’t announce that far away, that’s all.

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