Don't Start Fire and Ash Without Reading These Avatar Comics
You waited 13 years for Avatar to return to theaters—but the story never stopped. Dark Horse has been expanding Pandora in a long-running comic series that most fans missed.
If you think nothing happened in the 13-year gap between Avatar and its sequel, think again. Pandora has been busy on the page. Since 2017, Dark Horse Comics has been quietly publishing a run of canon Avatar stories that fill in the world before, during, and after the 2009 film. With Avatar: Fire and Ash hitting US theaters on December 19, 2025, here is the essential reading road map. Yes, these count. They were part of James Cameron's larger plan for the franchise.
Quick basics before we dive in: these are official, in-canon Dark Horse releases that launched in 2017, with creators across the line including James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Faith Erin Hicks, Peter Wartman, and more.
The comics that actually matter (and what they add)
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Avatar: Brothers (2017) — The very first piece of new Avatar storytelling Cameron teed up back in 2015 landed as a special one-shot. It focuses on Jake Sully forging that wild, sky-ripping bond with the Great Leonopteryx as he gears up for the final battle in the first film. The hook is personal: Jake frames that connection through memories of his late brother. Small package, big emotional swing.
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Avatar: Tsu'tey's Path (2019) — A six-issue mini that finally gives Tsu'tey the spotlight. It fills in the gaps you probably wondered about after the film: his role as a leader-in-training, why his mistrust of humans ran so deep, and how Jake's arrival complicates everything, including Tsu'tey's feelings about Neytiri, his betrothed. If you wanted the Omatikaya view of events, this is it.
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Avatar: The Next Shadow (2021) — Set right after the 2009 film, this four-parter finds Jake trying to lead while carrying real trauma from the war. Power is messy: members of Tsu'tey's family challenge Jake's right to rule, and an assassination plot surfaces. It is less a victory lap and more a political and personal reckoning for the new Toruk Makto.
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Avatar: Adapt or Die (2022) — Prequel time. This six-issue series centers on Dr. Grace Augustine, one of the original 20 from the Avatar program, charting her early contact with the Omatikaya and the RDA's first attempts to play nice. Then a mysterious, deadly illness hits the Na'vi, and suddenly Grace and the RDA are the prime suspects. It is early-days Pandora with real stakes.
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Avatar: The High Ground (2022) — Three graphic novel volumes based on Cameron's earlier Way of Water screenplay before it evolved. Expect a bigger, harsher RDA, Jake and Neytiri protecting their family, and, yes, Na'vi vs. RDA battles that reach into space. If you wanted a peek at an alternate route Way of Water could have taken, this is the fascinating fork in the road.
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Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora — So'lek's Journey (2024) — A direct tie-in to Ubisoft's game. After losing his entire clan in the Pandoran War, So'lek spirals, then claws his way back, trying to find purpose in a changing Na'vi world. It is a grief-and-identity story set against the fallout of the first war, and it adds texture to the Western Frontier the game explores.
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Avatar: The Gap Year — Tipping Point (2025) — The newest six-issue mini bridges into the Second Pandoran War. The focus is Jake and Neytiri's family navigating the RDA's return and the shifting politics of Pandora. It also tracks the kids, including Neteyam, building out the emotional groundwork that Way of Water pays off. If you care about the Sully family dynamics, start here.
Why this list, and why now
These books are not side quests; they are connective tissue. Brothers humanizes Jake right before the first film's climax. Tsu'tey's Path reframes what you thought you knew about Omatikaya leadership. The Next Shadow explains how hard-won Jake's authority really was. Adapt or Die shows exactly how early RDA and Na'vi relations curdled. The High Ground reveals the version of Way of Water that flirted with orbit. So'lek's Journey expands the map. The Gap Year — Tipping Point sets the emotional table for the next wave.
If you are heading into Fire and Ash and want the full picture, this is the reading lane. Which one are you grabbing first?