I (finally) got around to reading Imbalance and I gotta say, I really like what I have seen so far.
The most immediate difference I noticed was that, I've been re-watching A:tLA and it seems as though the gAang is finally back in character. That was refreshing after Smoke and Shadows (because while I loved the concepts/story of SandS, I realize some of the criticims of the characters being OOC was valid. Also we didn't see much of the gAang itself but whatever).
I also like the art style. I don't see how it's "childish." It does feel closer to a manga style and less like the style that was copied from the actual show like Gene Yang's was, but I like this style nonetheless because I think it works better for the comic book medium. The facial expressions really convey the emotions at part. In short it supports the characters actually being in character. To me that is an improvement.
Thoughts: I like how they are making the connection between Cranefish Town and Republic City. It feels very natural however here are some of my complaints:
1. Where is all the cultural mixing coming from? We've got a 100 years of history, sure, but you put one factory in and all of a sudden bam you have a city of Firebenders and Earthbenders? Seems just a tad bit unrealistic. I would have been happy with a time skip tbh. To see the team maybe in the early 20s (which they're almost there anything) before the stuff with Republic City starts happening. But mainly, I'm not sure about the actual cultural mixing on a family level. We've got firebenders with blue eyes (which suggests Water Tribe ethnicity/mixture there) and an Lingling (?) who seems to have both an earthbending and waterbending daughter (?). I understand that familial mixing in Korra's era is common place, but for these families to exist right after the end of the 100 year's war—and in fact to have existed for some time, seems a bit of a stretch to me.
2. I don't appreciate the fact that all tension seems to have disappeared between Toph and her parents. Although tbf I don't remember the events of the comic where she reconciles really, but it does seem to be a bit, eh, idk. Like she's too "okay" with him. But whatever. They didn't get the chance to interact much and that's not the important part of the story anyway. It's also weird for me to think that when you boil it down Toph's dad founded Republic City but meh...
3. The antagonist was very obvious. Like can we get a little less Tarrlok there? But she does seem to be an improvement over, say, Tokuga due to her motivations being tied to something you'd see from a real-world person: mainly her family. But ultimately we'll have to see more from what she offers.
I loved the scene with Aang and Katara on the island. It had some really heartfelt dialogue there and I feel it captures the new struggle of both A:tLA, and also the struggle that is hinted at at the end of Korra, both with the world changing and developing. Kind of a bit of nostaligic pain there, I felt. Anyway, I'm mainly excited to see the birth of the police force in the next issue. Another plus for Imbalance was I felt they had a very economic use of page space. It felt like they covered a lot of ground/plot, which is usually a limiting factor in comics. Overall a solid 9/10, especially for the first book in a trilogy. Wow.