page_title: The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars / Publication history / Production
caption_attribution_description: English: Michael Dante DiMartino at the 2012 Comic-Con in San Diego.
context_page_description: The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars is a three-part graphic novel series written by Michael Dante DiMartino, with art by Irene Koh. It serves as a canonical continuation of the animated television series The Legend of Korra, created by DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. The graphic novel trilogy is set after the show's final season, with Avatar Korra dealing with the aftermath of Kuvira's attack on Republic City, while also exploring her new relationship with Asami Sato.
  Following the conclusion of The Legend of Korra, DiMartino was touched by positive reactions to Korra and Asami's relationship and felt that there were more stories to tell with the show's characters. Although the shift to the comic book medium was a challenge for DiMartino, it gave the creative team more freedom to explore LGBT narratives. The series was announced in July 2015 and The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars – Part One was published by Dark Horse Comics on July 26, 2017. Part Two was published on January 17, 2018, followed by Part Three on August 22, 2018. Part One and Two were the publisher's best-selling graphic novels of 2017 and 2018 respectively.
context_section_description: The Legend of Korra is an American animated television series that was created by Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino as a sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender. It aired over four seasons on the Nickelodeon television network from 2012 to 2014. The series notably ended with its two female leads, Korra and Asami Sato, starting a romantic relationship. Following the conclusion of The Legend of Korra, DiMartino was touched by the positive feedback from LGBT audiences about the impact Korra and Asami's relationship had in their lives. He also felt that there were still a lot more stories to tell with the characters given the events of the final season. At the San Diego Comic-Con in July 2015, Konietzko and DiMartino announced a graphic novel trilogy that would follow the aftermath of the animated series. It was revealed that the graphic novels would be written by DiMartino and published by Dark Horse Comics, with Konietzko consulting on the art.
  DiMartino began outlining the trilogy in July 2015. Transitioning from television to the comic book medium posed a challenge for him, especially as this was the first comic he had ever written. The biggest change for DiMartino was being the sole writer as he was used to collaborating with others for his television scripts. The writer found that his background as a storyboard artist and director eased the transition as he was already used to visualizing images. DiMartino also had difficulty trying to incorporate the many characters and story arcs from the show into the graphic novels. On writing Korra and Asami's relationship, he noted that it was a balancing act as "[he] didn't want their romance to be too perfect, but [he] also didn't want to saddle it with too much conflict, either."
  Brittney Williams was originally announced as the artist in October 2015. Williams later dropped out of the project and a new artist, Irene Koh, was announced in October 2016. After Williams' departure, a friend of Koh's was offered the job but recommended Koh instead. A self-described "bisexual Asian martial artist," Koh was already a fan of the franchise before being brought on and found that her background in martial arts helped her better illustrate the fighting sequences. She was asked to draw the art in her own style instead of the style of the animated series, and her style has been described as "more relaxed and loose." In addition to the largely Chinese, Japanese and Inuit-based characters featured in the animated series, Koh wanted to design more diverse Asian characters in the graphic novels. As a result, new characters introduced include a Bangladeshi, a Korean, as well as several South and Southeast Asians. Koh described working on The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars as "a deeply collaborative process," noting that she received a lot of feedback along the way from DiMartino, Konietzko and Nickelodeon.
caption: Michael Dante DiMartino, writer of The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars
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