Airbenders Hit Comic-Con
Nothing goes together like Comic-Con and anime. Last week, I had the chance to chat with Bryan Konietzko and Mike DiMartino--the creative team behind Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender--in San Diego. For the those not yet familiar with the show, it tells the story of 12-year old Aang, the reincarnated avatar, who must learn to "bend" the elements of air, earth, fire, and water to his will in order to save the world from the unnecessarily aggressive Fire Nation.
I had to ask: why end Avatar after only three seasons?
"We wanted to do an epic series," Bryan said. "Part of the pitch was that it had to have an ending. We didn’t want to lose the tension."
Mike and Bryan also
discussed their inspirations including Bryan's interest in landscape
painting, a shared enthusiasm for photography, yoga, and kung fu. (Bryan
trains with the show's martial arts consultant.) Though both spent time in
their earlier careers at the Film Roman animation studio working on series such
as Family Guy and King of the Hill, they said their biggest takeaway was that
they wanted to run Avatar differently--particularly by giving the Korean
studios who help create the show more input.
Mike said they "got to do exactly what [they]
set out to do" with Avatar the TV show, and fortunately for fans there's
still a live action Airbender to come in 2010. According to Mike, M. Night Shyamalan signed on to
direct after his daughter introduced him the show. Do they guys have any idea who will play Aang?
Mike has thrown his hat into the ring, but hasn't yet heard back. --Leah
See TV listings for Avatar at tvguide.com and stay tuned to Armchair Commentary for more from Comic-Con 2008.
harsha on September 12, 2008 at 11:50 AM
Hey do you know how to contact 'em? an e-mail or an address or something..