Not to be confused with Avatar: The Last Airbender, the ‘Avatar’ we are concerned with today was created by James Cameron for the big screen. This epic environmental tale transports us to the alien world of Pandora, a moon inhabited by tall, blue, cat-faced humanoids called the Na’vi, as well as myriad fauna and flora. The Na’vi come into conflict with the RDA (Resources Development Administration), a human organisation that has established a colony and employs both scientific and military means to extract resources.
Avatar was released in 2009 and became the highest-grossing film of all time. It was the beginning of a franchise that expanded over the next 15 years with sequels, video games, a theme park attraction, art books and several comic books!
In October 2015, publisher Dark Horse signed a 10-year partnership to publish Avatar comics, releasing their first one-shot comic set in the Avatar universe for Free Comic Book Day in 2017. This has been followed by several miniseries and a graphic novel series.
Today, we are taking a closer look at the Avatar comics published by Dark Horse that transport us to the world of Pandora through prequels, sequels and spin-offs.
James Cameron’s Avatar Reading Guide
Avatar Omnibus and Library Edition
The easiest way to collect Avatar comics is to buy the two omnibuses released by Dark Horse, softcover collected edition that reprints all the stories set in the Avatar universe released over the years up to 2025.
- Avatar: The High Ground Omnibus
Collects the three volumes of Avatar: The High Ground graphic novel series, the prequel to Avatar: The Way of Water — adapted from an original screenplay by James Cameron, along with a sketchbook and introduction. - Avatar: Tales from Pandora Omnibus
Collects Avatar: Tsu’tey’s Path, Avatar: Brothers, Avatar: The Next Shadow, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora — So’lek’s Journey and Avatar: Adapt or Die.
The publisher has also reprinted The High Ground story in their deluxe collection:
- Avatar: The High Ground Library Edition (HC)
Collects volumes 1-3 of the graphic novel series.
James Cameron’s Avatar Comics in publication order
- Avatar: Tsu’tey’s Path
Collects Avatar: Tsu’tey’s Path #1-6, plus the short story “Brothers” from Free Comic Book Day 2017. By Sherri L. Smith, Doug Wheatley, Jan Duursema, Dan Parson. - Avatar: The Next Shadow
Collects Avatar: The Next Shadow #1-4. By Jeremy Barlow and Josh Hood. - Avatar: Adapt or Die
Collects Avatar: Adapt or Die #1-6. By Corinna Bechko and Beni Lobel.
Avatar: The High Ground is a three-part series written by Sherri L. Smith and Augustine Padilla, featuring illustrations by various artists. The story is based on an original idea by James Cameron for the sequels that was not used in the film. It was adapted into a graphic novel that was published in three hardcover books and serves as a prequel to the second film.
- Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora-So’lek’s Journey
Collects Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora–So’lek’s Journey #1-6. By Ray Fawkes and Gabriel Guzman. - Avatar: The Gap Year–Tipping Point [2026]
Collect Avatar: The Gap Year-Tipping Point #1–6. By Ethan Sacks and Salvatore Porcaro.
James Cameron’s Avatar Chronological Order
The Avatar franchise continues to expand, with the latest comics released this year and future films in the works. The following list presents a simple chronology to help you (re)discover the story of the world of Pandora in the order that events mostly unfold.
- Adapt or Die – Comics prequel to the first film, following Grace Augustine’s attempts to bridge a peace with the Omatikaya clan. Set circa 2142.
- Avatar – First movie set in 2154.
- James Cameron’s Avatar: The Na’vi Quest – A novelization of the film Avatar for children that includes several scenes that were later cut from the theatrical version of the film.
- Tsu’tey’s Path – Comics Set in 2154, during the first Avatar film
- Brothers – short story comic set in 2154, focused on Jake Sully’s bond with the Great Leonopteryx.
- The Next Shadow – Comic set two weeks after the events of the first film.
- Avatar: The Way of Water – the second movie starts in 2168!
- The High Ground – Comic set in 2168-2169, 14 years after the first film and centers on the Na’vi struggling with the return of the RDA.
- Avatar: The Gap Year — Tipping Point – A sequel to The High Ground, set mostly before The Way of the Water. It focused on the Sully family during the beginning of the Second Pandoran War.
- Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora — So’lek’s Journey – A comic mini-series prequel to the video game focused on So’lek, a Na’vi character present in the game.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora – An open-world Avatar video game for PC set during the Second Pandoran War, during the one year unseen time skip in Avatar: The Way of Water (Around 2169)- The Sky Breaker — first DLC story pack set after the main story
- Secrets of the Spires — Second DLC story pack.
- Avatar: The Way of Water – After the prologue, most of the film’s events are set in 2170, 15 years after the events of the first film.
- Avatar: Fire and Ash — the third movie set around 2170.
- From the Ashes — third DLC story pack for the video game Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora set a few weeks after Avatar: Fire and Ash.