Balance, part 4

Jake Richmond on Dec. 7, 2016

– The idea for this one came from some reading I did last year when I was working on the Workout story (the one about Korra’s abs). The Airbending we see in Legend of Korra is apparently inspired by a few real world martial arts, including Shen Wu. I spent an afternoon reading all about Shen Wu trying to find inspiration for a strip, but instead what I discovered is that it’s all pretty boring (to read about. I guess it’s more fun to practice). It was easy for me to imagine Tenzin boring Korra with lectures about maintaining proper balance and posture. While reading an article by Tim Cartmell a series of phrases struck me as kind of hilariously unintentionally suggestive in kind of the very vague way that stuff does when you’re super bored and zoning out. I could easily see Korra drifting off and thinking about her girlfriend while Tenzin droned on and on, and that became the basis for this story. Tenzin’s speech is mostly from one of Cartmell’s articles.
I said before that I think probably everyone in her life is a little in love with Korra. Her magnatism and charisma are powerful (much like her father, and of course previous Avatars). I think Korra is kind of oblivious to the effect she has on people. On the other hand, Asami knows that she is a very beautiful person. From her very first appearance Asami is always perfectly poised, always sharply dressed, make up and hair always on point. It would have been easy to write Asami as the arrogant rich girl that we love to hate, but thankfully the series writers took a different, more complex approach. But I have no doubt that Asami knows exactly how attractive she is, and what effect she has on Korra. More than once in the series we see Korra blush and stammer when Asami turns her full attention toward her. I like to think Asami enjoys both pushing Korra out of her comfort zone and teasing her into embarrassment. And of course Korra is always up for a challenge!
Tenzin is one of my favorite characters from the series and I always wish I had more ideas for stories based around him. I can’t imagine that Tenzin and Korra don’t continue to have a strong relationship, even as Korra grows older and becomes his peer instead of his student. I like to think that Korra spends most of her time living with Asami, but still keeps her room at Air Temple Island. Tenzin’s family is very much her second family, after all! It’s easy to imagine Korra and Naga bursting in early in the morning for breakfast, goofing around with the younger kids then joining Tenzin for some serious morning Airbending exercises or suffering through a boring lecture. I think eventually Korra and Asami will have a family of their own, but until then this is Korra’s home away from home.