"Best Served Cold" and "The Heroes" are two modern giants that declare Joe Abercrombie to be on one of the greatest modern writers of fantasy fiction.
This leaves my memory of his "First Law" trilogy feeling like a long introduction, somewhat over-shadowed by his powerful standalone books.
The comic adaption of "First Law", starting with "The Blade Itself", reminds that memory can be a fickle thing, as it demonstrates that Abercomrbie's writing and characters have always been engaging and memorable from the start.
The sheer brilliance of Abercrombie is the way he defies expectations: every time you are presented with a situation in fantasy, a trope inevitably follows. Not with Abercrombie's characters.
This has always been best underlined by Glotka, a torturer of the inquisition - a man once a rising gentlemen soldier, reduced to being a crippled shell.
When the Arch Lector demands to know, if after his catpure, Glotka talked, the standard fare would be for the hero to deny any such weakness: he was too tough to crack, his loyalty was always unwavering, the man could not be broken.
Glotka laughs at the question.
"Did I talk? I talked until my throat was raw. I told them every secret I ever heard. When I ran out I made things up. I pissed myself and cried like a girl. Everyone does."
For all his cynicism, Glotka tells us brutal truth. And so does Abercrombie.
Some people categorise Abercrombie as grim, but there's an honest realism here that we have seen far too little of: the reality of the human condition.
Glotka's greatest adversary is not his superior, or the inquisition, or people from his past: he's a cripple who walks only in great pain. His greatest adversary is stairs.
If you've ever suffered chronic pain, that sentence won't be anywhere near as funny as some people think it.
But enough of the writing - we're familiar with that - what of the comic? What of the artwork? What of the adaptation?
Well, so far as artwork goes, this is pretty damn good. The inking is smart and clear, the colours strong and striking. And the direction is very effective, showing off memorable characters in memorable actions in memorable scenes.
Logen vaulting away from a cliff edge to escape a shanka is glorious, framed diagonally across the page; Glotka saying the words "Write you fat pig!" is frightening for the intensity of the expression, the sense of menace emphasised simply by Practical Frost standing behind.
The first issue is simply a strong visual reminder of why Joe Abercomrbie is such a major force in fantasy today, and it captures the feels perfectly.
The worst part of this first issue is that - at 35 pages - it feels too short. It leaves the reader hungry for more.
But then, all good comic serialisations did that.
The Blade Itself will be made available free online at http://www.firstlawcomic.com/ and can be bought for download va the Comixology app for tablet and mobile, prices at a mere 69p.
This leaves my memory of his "First Law" trilogy feeling like a long introduction, somewhat over-shadowed by his powerful standalone books.
The comic adaption of "First Law", starting with "The Blade Itself", reminds that memory can be a fickle thing, as it demonstrates that Abercomrbie's writing and characters have always been engaging and memorable from the start.
The sheer brilliance of Abercrombie is the way he defies expectations: every time you are presented with a situation in fantasy, a trope inevitably follows. Not with Abercrombie's characters.
This has always been best underlined by Glotka, a torturer of the inquisition - a man once a rising gentlemen soldier, reduced to being a crippled shell.
When the Arch Lector demands to know, if after his catpure, Glotka talked, the standard fare would be for the hero to deny any such weakness: he was too tough to crack, his loyalty was always unwavering, the man could not be broken.
Glotka laughs at the question.
"Did I talk? I talked until my throat was raw. I told them every secret I ever heard. When I ran out I made things up. I pissed myself and cried like a girl. Everyone does."
For all his cynicism, Glotka tells us brutal truth. And so does Abercrombie.
Some people categorise Abercrombie as grim, but there's an honest realism here that we have seen far too little of: the reality of the human condition.
Glotka's greatest adversary is not his superior, or the inquisition, or people from his past: he's a cripple who walks only in great pain. His greatest adversary is stairs.
If you've ever suffered chronic pain, that sentence won't be anywhere near as funny as some people think it.
But enough of the writing - we're familiar with that - what of the comic? What of the artwork? What of the adaptation?
Well, so far as artwork goes, this is pretty damn good. The inking is smart and clear, the colours strong and striking. And the direction is very effective, showing off memorable characters in memorable actions in memorable scenes.
Logen vaulting away from a cliff edge to escape a shanka is glorious, framed diagonally across the page; Glotka saying the words "Write you fat pig!" is frightening for the intensity of the expression, the sense of menace emphasised simply by Practical Frost standing behind.
The first issue is simply a strong visual reminder of why Joe Abercomrbie is such a major force in fantasy today, and it captures the feels perfectly.
The worst part of this first issue is that - at 35 pages - it feels too short. It leaves the reader hungry for more.
But then, all good comic serialisations did that.
The Blade Itself will be made available free online at http://www.firstlawcomic.com/ and can be bought for download va the Comixology app for tablet and mobile, prices at a mere 69p.
