For some, being “canon” in terms of the lore means that it is attached to key pieces of media that have come out that truly “supports the story” overall. At one time, that would only mean things like the original movies or TV shows that has arrived in that franchise’s universe. But as many franchises have done over the years, they’ve branched out to do things like comics and official novels that build up the universe further. Avatar The Last Airbender was one such series.
Because after the end of the main cartoon (which ended with some mysteries unresolved like with Zuko’s mother), they went to the comics to tell some “official stories’, and many of them were good. However, with the arrival of Avatar Studios and the promise of more content coming over the next few years possibly, are those comics still canon? Avatar The Last Airbender creator Michael Dante DiMartino had this to say on that:
“We’ve been involved in all those main ancillary stories, so in our minds it’s mostly canon,” DiMartino said. “There’s probably some stuff if we may go back, like: ‘that doesn’t totally line up with this’, so there may be some little tweaks here and there, but as of right now we’re proceeding as if all this stuff is part of the proper universe and hopefully building on it.”
He also specified that they will not be adapting any of the comic books or novels into film or television at this time. “I think the thing we’re not doing now– not saying this couldn’t happen some day– is, like, we’re not adapting the graphic novels into a [movie or] TV show, we’re not adapting the YA novels into a movie or TV show,” he said. “Again, that could happen in the future.”
This news will be intriguing to fans and will no doubt amp up excitement for all that’s coming.
Source: Avatar News
