WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Legend of Korra, available now.
In the latest comic book addition to the world of Avatar, the airbending master Tenzin settles his squabbling children down to hear a lesson from his own childhood. Throughout The Legend of Korra, there was much ado about the parental skills of the original series' hero, Aang, and during Tenzin's tale readers get to see what the last Airbender was like as a father up close and personal.
Though hints in the television series made it clear Aang was not a perfect dad, "Clearing the Air" shows a valuable and warm side to his time as a father in "Clearing the air, by Kiku Hughes, Sam Beck, Killian Ng, Richard Starkings and Comicraft's Jimmy Beancourt.
Thematically, The Legend of Korra occupies a good chunk of its narrative with the legacy that Aang left behind him. In a world still in constant need of balance, Avatar Korra picks up the titanic task of her predecessor who ended the Hundred Year War. But dialogue about Aang's more domestic duties often portrayed him as far less than an idealized figure. His children Tenzin, Bumi, and Kya all remembered Aang fondly, but in teaching the importance of carrying on Airbender traditions he may have neglected his other children.
Even in Tenzin's view, it seemed that Aang was putting extraordinary pressure on his son. But in "Clearing the Air," we see Aang impart a valuable lesson to Tenzin about parenting. In the flashback, Tenzin recalls how he apprehended two hoodlums defacing Airbender property. When Aang discovered what happened, he collected both Tenzin and the hoodlum benders from Chief Toph Beifong's custody in order to teach them a lesson. In true Aang fashion, it was a lesson in forgiveness rather than retribution.
Aang told Tenzin to assist the hoodlums in repairing the damage they did, and everyone underwent a cleansing exercise said to be a vital part of restoring balance among airbenders. By the end of the lesson, Tenzin came to make friends out of the two fellow boys he apprehended, and Aang proved himself to have a softer side to his fatherhood fans never had the chance to see before. During one of the few flashbacks in Korra that showed Aang, the scene depicted his vast powers as the Avatar in punishing and pursuing Yakone, a far cry from the innocent child Aang has once been.
There are other more minor revelations made in the comic as well. Aang and Toph are shown to still have a friendly relationship, Appa is revealed to be alive and still serving faithfully as Aang's companion, and the cleansing exercise Tenzin undergoes represents a previously unseen part of Air Nomad culture. With little known about the civic structure of the Air Nomads, the ritual shows how the society of pacifists settled internal disputes without any kind of hierarchical or retributive mechanisms.
Of course, there are still plenty of mysteries from that era that remain unsolved. The fates of Suki and Azula remain a total mystery, as does the nature of Chief Sokka's death. Though we now know that Appa lived into Aang's adulthood, the beast's own ultimate fate is a question mark, as is that of Momo and plenty of other characters from the original series. The rarity of these types of glimpses makes them all that much more valuable, especially considering the relationship between Aang and Tenzin.