You’re releasing it digitally via ComiXology and also in thrice weekly instalments on your website firstlawcomic.com, what made you decide to go down this approach and do you think making it available for free will affect people paying for it?

JA: The free aspect was what really excited me about the original proposal, because it seemed to me to give us the opportunity to really create some goodwill and get as many people as possible through the door – folks that are fans of the books, folks that are comic book readers in general but maybe aren’t familiar with the books, and then hopefully some people who just stumble across it and decide to take a look.  Anyone can dip in, then I think if you’ve got a product you’re proud of and believe in, a good number of those people will go further, choose to pay either for issues in advance from ComiXology, or for hardcopy collections down the line.

The growth of digital comics has really helped small scale publishers and self publishers, what was the appeal of digital comics for you? Are you a reader of digital comics on a tablet or PC yourself? And if so which ones do you rate or inspire you?

JA: I’ve got to admit I’ve never been a huge comics reader, but I’ve been very impressed by the guided viewing experience you can get from ComiXology.  The ability to check previews, download things in an instant, resize them and zoom into them, really does open things up.

RY: We wanted to make this available to the widest audience possible.  So taking a three pronged approach here we felt like we were hitting all the possible business models, and giving people a choice on how they could experience. Some may wait until the book is in print to read it, and that’s perfectly fine with us

What’s the next step for Logen and the rest of the characters in The Blade Itself? How many instalments will the comic stretch to and any plans to do the other books?

JA: As I was saying earlier it’s a pretty comprehensive adaptation.  We’re currently looking at 16 issues for The Blade Itself.  I guess if all goes well we’ll continue with the other two books in the trilogy.  But that’s a big old undertaking and will take a good few years to get through.

The market for comics involving barbarians and fantasy swords and sorcery epics is pretty packed right now, what do you think your books bring to the table that the other Conan/Game of Thrones wannabes don’t offer?

RY: While there may be other fantasy comics out there, Joe’s storytelling voice is unique, and I think that still comes through in our comics.  I wanted to make sure that the dialogue and feel of the novels was captured, and in that regard, I think we’ve been successful.  If you’ve read Joe’s novels, you already know they aren’t your typical sword and sorcery type of fantasy…but definitely more Game of Thrones than Conan.

The First Law: The Blade Itself issue #1 is available now from ComiXology for 69p or 99¢ and for more up to date pages check out the website firstlawcomic.com