Transferring an epic fantasy novel into a different medium is no easy task. Just ask Peter Jackson or David Beniloff! Not only do you have to condense 1000s of pages of prose into a more compact form, but you also have to permanently visualize characters that only exist in the heads of a fervent fan base – with the inevitable critical consequences. Fortunately when it came to his epic fantasy series The Blade Itself, writer Joe Abercrombie and publishers  Blind Ferret has chose to call in the experts, in this case legendary writer Chuck Dixon to help convert the adventures of infamous barbarian Loren Ninefinger  to the world of digital comics. Unfortunately, even with such expert help, this first issue of The Blade Itself: The First Law, lacks the kind of punch you would expect from a first issue of a new series about a battle scarred barbarian. With only 24 pages to grab a new audience or enthral existing fans, The First Law needed a big opener to really make an impact and instead, we get a rather lacklustre introduction to main character Ninefinger followed by a lot of talking from main villain Inquisitor Glokta.

As is often the case, the source material can be part of the problem here, as the books themselves are slow starters, so it’s perhaps inevitable that it is more of a slow boiler, however even with the opening pages featuring Ninefinger in bone crunching, cliff tumbling action it gives us little information about his character and his past, and is over far too quickly. The book then gets caught up in giving us an excess of exposition via the inquisitorial skills of  Glokta but a lot of it is lost in the text rich pages as the reader attempts to learn more about this new world and it’s characters.

On the plus side, with so many potential characters to introduce, Dixon holds back on introducing too many at once at this point, focusing on Glokta and Ninefinger. However after the relative action of the opening pages, we quickly get bogged down in the political machinations of Glokta with page after page of dialogue, instead of revelling in the brutality of Ninefinger so by the time we get to the cliffhanger conclusion we have had to wade through a lot of exposition about characters and places we are not yet familiar with. Contrast this with the more succinct Denali from MonkeyBrain Comics, which we reviewed in February and managed to do a lot go this without getting bogged down in excess dialogue while also retaining a sense of action and adventure.

As well as the source material, another part of the problem with this adaptation is the look. In our recent interview, Joe Abercrombie insisted that he had full creative control over the visuals of the character however Andy Tong’s modern manga style does not suit the gritty feel needed for a book like this. His characters are too clean-cut (especially Glokta) and lack the kind of edge that artists like Becky Cloonan get in Conan or Michael Avon Oeming gets in The Mice Templar. Tong’s panel design is very fragmented with characters overlapping panels and bursting into each other making the book look slick, but not always aiding readability. This is further exacerbated by the colouring, which relies on strong digital colours instead of more muted tones and make the artwork blend together instead of leap out at you.

With another 11 chapters to help expand this world into a more enthralling one, The First Law may develop into a more engaging read in time (and one which benefits multi-issue reading). However anyone looking for the kind of high impact, sensationalism they see on TV each week in Game of Thrones will be sorely disappointed. While fans of the book will no doubt lament such an underwhelming first chapter for their favourite fantasy epic – but at least they will know what happens!

The First Law: The Blade Itself issue #1 is available now from ComiXology for 69p or 99¢ and for the latest episodes visit the website firstlawcomic.com