The sequel to the fan comic How I Became Yours based off of the show Avatar: The Last Airbender, How I Became Yours: Rise of the Agni Army is a fancomic created by Jackie Diaz and co-authored by a fellow named Patrick BP.
The comic starts off much as the first one did with a dream sequence flashback. In this, it shows an attack on the fire nation from the perspective of Lilith, Zuko and Katara's daughter. She wakes and after a short argument with her brother, Kuzon, they both leave to train. While training, they both experience flashbacks about the their time at the water tribe immediately following the attack. Once this ends, we move on to Poe, Aang and Toph's son, who is causing trouble. Ling, his twin sister, stops him and these two also have an argument before Ling buries him up to his neck in the ground and walks off. Then we get to see Miracle, Sokka and Azula's daughter, as she interacts with two children at the Northern Water Tribe's capital... which leads to another flashback sequence of the treatment Lilith and Kuzon received in the Water Tribes due to their unorthodox parentage.
The comic is located right here
. Unfortunately, only the first installment has been completed, and by now it appears to be a Dead Fic.
How I Became Yours: Rise of the Agni Army provides examples of:
- Added Alliterative Appeal: Agni Army.
- Aerith and Bob:
- The name Lilith comes from Hebrew mythology. What's it doing in a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of East Asia?
- The same could be said of Miracle as well, although there is precedent in the show, with the baby born in The Serpent's Pass being named Hope in light of birth circumstances. Perhaps one could also mention Toph's mother Poppy in this context.
- There's also Poe. Not "Po," as in Po from Kung Fu Panda or Chien-Po from Mulan, or the similarly-pronounced "Pau," but "Poe," as in "Edgar Allen."
- All of the Other Reindeer: Lilith and Kuzon are bullied by the Water Tribe children for being children of the Fire Nation.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Played with: Poe is framed this way to Ling, despite the pair being twins. He’s shown to act a lot younger than his sixteen-or-so years, presumably as a coping mechanism to get through the grief of the war and his father's illness. Unfortunately his pranks tend to require Ling to smooth over, which she hates.
- Artistic License – Biology: The awkward anatomy of some of the poses, poor genealogy of the kids mentioned below, and her very very strange hands, it seems that Ms. Diaz still only has a questionable grasp on the basic structure of the human body.
- Artistic License – Martial Arts: Apparently Lilith's firebending training consists of stretching, randomly breathing fire, and doing slow-motion somersaults.
- Artistic License – Physics: Lilith breathes fire while doing a handstand. The flames execute a perfect right angle - supposedly to show wind or something - so that it looks like she has a big, fiery tongue waggling over the cliff. First off, no wind would do that; it'd just dissipate the fire, making a huge smoky mess. Second, even if Lilith is a firebender, no bender in the show displayed that level of control over flames, so A Wizard Did It doesn't cut it. All in all, it just looks ridiculous.
- Bait-and-Switch: Miracle is walking in the palace grounds when some children playing ball accidentally kicked it over the palace wall, hitting her on the head. She approaches them with their ball and a cold expression, saying that by hitting her head with the ball, they’ve essentially attacked a royal and she could have them severely punished. But she’d be inclined to show mercy if… they let her play. Miracle then smiles, praising the children’s splendid kick, asking to be shown how it was done.
- Berserk Button:
- It turns out... insulting Zuko and Katara in front of Lilith is a really bad idea. When a group of bullies did, Lilith flew at them with flames spewing from her hands.
- Poe is really touchy about his hair, stealing a merchant’s goods and leading him on a chase through the city as retaliation.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Mai and Sho still appear to be the villains, going by the cover, though they have yet to make an appearance in the comic itself.
- Blood from the Mouth: Zuko. The massive chest wound probably has something to do with it.
- Brother–Sister Team:
- Lilith and Kuzon.
- Ling and Poe.
- Mai and Sho.
- Bullying a Dragon: The bullies quickly learn why one shouldn't pick on a daughter of the Fire Lord...
- Butt-Monkey: Poe seems to be stepping into this role, having been on the receiving end of two Amusing Injuries already.
- Cherry Blossoms: Photoshopped into the first panel.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: When in Water Tribe territory, Kuzon and Lilith wear red parkas. Never mind that those parkas would have to be especially made for them, in a place where red dye is presumably hard-to-find. And never mind that they are already set apart enough from the Water Tribe children with the differences in appearance they've acquired from their mixed ancestry.
- Cut and Paste Comic: Like its predecessor, painfully obvious at times. Lilith's rampage for instance is pretty clearly just the same image flipped three times.
- Dead Fic: It has not been updated since 2010-ish, and may now be presumed dead, leaving fans with only the first chapter. Perhaps the online vituperation against the first series discouraged the creators.
- Dead Guy Junior: Kuzon is named after Aang's old friend, from before the war. He's also named for his stillborn elder brother, making him a twofer.
- Death by Woman Scorned: Mai is done being Ms. Nice Guy, murdering Zuko offscreen.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best:
- The comic starts off with Zuko and Katara both dying.
- Judging from Ling's comments, Aang, at least, is about to go the same way.
- Delinquent Hair: Just remember, Poe's hair does not look like a "porky pine's ass." Even if it does.
- Delusions of Eloquence: Like the prequel, it is peppered with this trope. The most Egregious example is on the poster. Evocation is not used that way, unless of course the commenter is saying this story is a demon brought out of the pits of hell. Considering the fact that he's the co-author of the sequel, it's reasonable to assume that is not what he meant at all.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Ling thinks Poe is acting childish, so she sinks him up to his neck in earth. This leaves him open to being run over by unsuspecting carts, stepped on, and/or possible suffocation if it is hard enough for him to breathe. This, after his joy ride through the city hadn't permanently harmed anyone, and just as he was apologizing for the argument he had with his sister afterwards. And yet Ling is supposed to be the sympathetic one.
- Downer Beginning: Zuko and Katara both die, leaving their orphaned children to be raised in the Southern Water Tribe and the Fire Nation’s fate uncertain.
- Dramatic Wind: Right on the poster, too.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: According to the cover picture, Mai suffers a little from this. Sho pulls it off and makes it sexy as per the usual.
- Evil Weapon: One is implied to be involved in Katara's death.
- Fantastic Racism: Katara's children suffer this from at least some of the natives in the Water Tribes, where they live as exiles after the revolt against their parents in the Fire Nation.
- Flashback:
- Miracle has one of these about the poor treatment her cousins received from Water Tribe children after their parents died and they had to live with their aunt Azula.
- Lilith and Kuzon also have flashbacks to the time they first arrived in the Water Tribe during their Training Montage.
- Flashback Nightmare: Lilith's nightmare of the attack on the Fire Nation in the beginning.
- Floating Head Syndrome: The cover/poster for this comic.
- Friend to All Children: Miracle is introduced teasing some children and asking to play with them.
- Funny Background Event: Aang is still silently begging the universe to end his pain. Wish granted.
- Half-Breed Discrimination: Lilith and Kuzon, being among the most visibly biracial, get the brunt of the drama that is the result of this trope. Miracle doesn't for some reason... either the Water Tribe is more accepting of her because the Moon Spirit healed her, or they just got used to her.
- Hand of Death: When Lily meets Zuko's murderer, there's a close-up of the person's hand holding a knife dripping with blood.
- Happy Ending Override: The previous comic ended on a relatively high note, with the couples married with adorable children and living in peace and happiness… this comic opens with Zuko being murdered, the palace being set ablaze, Katara being forced to flee to the Southern Water Tribe with her children before succumbing to a cursed wound herself, then in the present the now-teens are all clearly traumatized and Aang is dying of an undisclosed illness.
- He's Dead, Jim: Two scenes so far use some form of this.
- Zuko is non-responsive and has a case of Blood from the Mouth, with Lilith providing the typical Please Wake Up reaction.
- Katara has the arm falling shot, with Lilith taking the I'm Cold...So Cold...
- Idiot Ball: Oh yes, making fun of two outsiders is probably something random Water Tribe children would do, if they were bitter enough. Making fun of two ROYAL kids, both of whom have dangerous elemental magic that reacts when they become emotional? That’s asking for punishment from their society’s leaders, when Lilith is done with them. Making fun of those two kids within earshot of their insanely overprotective Parental Substitute who has even more powerfully destructive elemental magic than they do? Suicidal, but for the grace of Azula’s Adaptational Heroism. It really makes you wonder why the schoolyard bullies didn’t go for someone just a little less famous...
- If I Can't Have You…: In the first comic, Mai was very careful to exclude Zuko from her revenge scheme. It seems that that has changed, because she is obviously Zuko's "mysterious" killer.
- I'm Cold... So Cold...: Inverted. Lilith says it rather than Katara.
- Inadequate Inheritor: Poe is scolded for being too irresponsible to live up to his parents' fame. Subverted in that a random old man is scolding him for this reason, not his parents. Averted in that he's exactly like Aang was in his younger days, only more destructive.
- Incest Subtext: Let's see...the seemingly-adult Lilith and Kuzon both sleep in the same room, in separate beds that are not five feet away from each other, and their first dialogue together...well.
- In the Hood: The character who kills Zuko wears a hood that hides everything except for one burning yellow eye. One guess as to who that is.
- Amon?
- That would be awesome. Unfortunately, it's probably Mai.
- Ironic Name: Lilith, in Hebrew mythology, is the name of Adam's wife before Eve, who disobeyed him and was cast out, becoming a demon. This has serious similarities Mai's story in How I Became Yours, so it's rather ironic that it's used for Katara's (who's more of a counterpart to Eve) daughter.
- Kids Are Cruel: Whatever you may think of Lilith and Kuzon... those Water Tribe kids were hitting way below the belt. And they ended up regretting it.
- Lady of War: Grown-up Azula is a little more elegant and ladylike than the Dark Action Girl she used to be, but no less threatening.
- Malevolent Masked Men: The Agni Army, of course.
- Mama Bear: Ironically, Azula is exactly like her mother in this way. The bullies who torment Kuzon and Lilith run away pretty darn fast when she's through with them...and probably require a change of clothes as well.
- Meaningless Meaningful Words: The supposed "review" on the cover is just a bunch of melodramatic words that don't make a lick of sense when put together. Plus, "heroes" is misspelled.
- Only Six Faces:
- Orphan's Ordeal: Two confirmed cases of this among the children, with at least another two on the way.
- Parental Substitute: Sokka and Azula for Kuzon and Lilith.
- Please Wake Up: Lilith to Zuko.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Poe has the least angst of all the teenagers, so he becomes this by default.
- Polar Opposite Twins: Ling and Poe.
- Pretty in Mink: Azula and Miracle both have fur trim on their dresses.
- Raging Stiffie: Kuzon seems disturbingly aroused by his bending practice.
- Recycled Soundtrack: During her death scene, Katara manages to copy lyrics, nearly word for word, from Tarzan's "You'll Be In My Heart." That's saying nothing of the Mufasa and Obi-Wan Kenobi quotes that follow in the same text bubble.
- Rouge Angles of Satin: On the cover page picture, "heroes," is spelled "heros".
- "Your going to have too talk about it sooner or later Lily."
- "Porky pine"
- Scenery Porn: The photographic backgrounds return!
- Shoulders of Doom: Standard equipment for the Agni Army. Which only emphasizes Sho's naturally big shoulders even more.
- Siblings in Crime: Mai and Sho.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Poe is a hyperactive bad boy in training. Ling is a responsible young woman who acts like Poe's mother when the parents aren't around.
- Spin-Offspring: The original How I Became Yours was meant to conclude the story of the first-generation Avatar party. This sequel instead makes their children the main characters in a new adventure.
- Stripperiffic: The girls train and go into combat wearing outfits that are basically bikinis...except in the case of Lilith, who wears a few strips of cloth wound perilously around her nether regions. Could also be a really bad case of Exposed to the Elements. *ducks rotten fruit*
- Strong Family Resemblance: Lilith, Ling, and Miracle all look almost exactly like their mothers; Kuzon and Poe take after their fathers, only Poe has hair and a distinct lack of Aang's trademark airbender tattoos. The only difference is that their eye colors are all changed to reflect the opposite parent.
- Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Katara and Zuko. Also Aang,
eventually. - Take Care of the Kids: Katara does this toward her brother.
- Theme Twin Naming: Ling and Poe both have names that sound suspiciously familiar.
- Trailers Always Spoil: The artist tries to downplay Mai's involvement with the raid on the Fire Nation by making the character look ominously anonymous. Unfortunately, Mai is prominently displayed on the first poster, and given that Zuko's murderer is a knife-wielder with a grudge against the royal family, it's pretty easy to figure out who she is.
- Training Montage: Kuzon and Lilith do one of these bits toward the beginning of the comic. Kuzon seems to be learning how to surf on a big wave of water that has no source which the reader can see. Lilith is practicing breath control - while doing fairly pointless handstands and backflips. The whole thing seems like nothing more than an excuse to show off the childrens' bodies and equipment.
- Unexplained Recovery: Yay! Judging from the cover art, Mai's back! Wait...
- Unto Us a Son and Daughter Are Born: Ling and Poe.
- Vapor Wear: Lilith when practicing her firebending. Made even more awkward by the fact that she seems to be turned on...
- What Happened to the Mouse?: If Zuko is dead and his childen are living in the south pole, who's ruling the Fire Nation?
- Winter Royal Lady: Azula and Miracle both wear dark blue, fur-lined dresses and capes, with their white hair completing the look.
- Wound That Will Not Heal: How Katara bites it.
- World of Buxom: Any girl old enough to have breasts has BIG breasts. Unless she's Mai.
