'Legend Of Korra: Book 2' Bonus Feature Explores Family Dynamic

If you're a fan of Avatar: The Legend of Korra, then you're probably having a pretty good week. Not only did Book 3 start up this weekend with the promise of Korra re-founding the Air Nation and going up against a team of super-powered crooks bent on destruction -- including an Water Bender who uses tendrils of water and ice in place of her missing arms, which is awesome -- but today marks the release of Book 2 on home video, for anyone who needs to catch up.

As you might expect, the Blu-Ray/DVD has more to offer than just the episodes of the show. There's a whole list of special features, including one where show creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko discuss the family dynamic that influenced the second season.

The thing about Korra's family is that, when you look at her in the larger context of fiction about super-powered teens, the fact that she even has one is pretty notable. As you may have noticed just from reading, say, more than three comics in your lifetime, most heroes tend to be pretty unencumbered by relatives. More often than not, the loss of a family is used as the motivating tragedy to kick someone off onto their Heroic Journey.

Korra, on the other hand, not only has the legacy of hundreds of years of Avatars to contend with, but her family's still kicking around and attempting to raise a teenager who also happens to be the single most powerful individual on the face of the planet. Needless to say, this gets pretty complicated, especially when her father and her uncle have decidedly different ideas about what she should be doing with that power. And, spoiler warning, it ends up being pretty disastrous, setting off a civil war and a full-on invasion from the Spirit World that ends up changing things in a pretty major way. Which is how most family gatherings feel when you're a teenager anyway.

The Legend of Korra, Book 2: Spirits is available now.