Joe Abercrombie, author of The First Law fantasy series, among others set in the same world, has been working on a graphic novel based on his books for some time, and now, you can check out the first 12 pages of the first book, The Blade Itself, over at firstlawcomic.com.

New pages will be added at the site every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. If you’d like to own the actual issues, allowing yourself to browse through the pages whenever you want, you can purchase the issues at Comixology.com. The first issue is up now for $.99 and all subsequent issues will be sold for $2.99 each.

Abercrombie has brought in some amazing talent for this project as well. The series is being published by Rich Young at Blind Ferret Entertainment, written by Chuck Dixon (G.I. Joe, The Simpsons, Punisher) and illustrated by Andie Tong (Spectacular Spider-Man, Tron: Betrayal).

Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow #21
Written by Chuck Dixon
Layouts by Robert Atkins
Art by Atilio Rojo
Colors by Simon Gough & Joana LaFuente
Letterer: Neil Uyetake
Editors: John Barber & Carlos Guzman
Cover by Robert Atkins
IDW Publishing
Release Date: February 6, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow #21 is a bittersweet ending to not only the series, but to the “Dixon/Atkins” era of G.I. Joe comics. They’ve certainly done the franchise proud by the stories they’ve told, the art they’ve created and the hours of entertainment that they’ve provided for us. But, how does this last chapter measure up?

Chuck Dixon knows what he’s doing. This is a G.I. Joe book. It STARS Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow. And, it’s #21. So, it HAS to be a silent issue. Larry Hama set the bar for silent issues back in Marvel’s G.I. Joe #21, and ever since then, there have been many imitators. My problem with a lot of silent issues is that they don’t really NEED to be silent. They just go out of their way to be. This is not the case here. There’s really no need for dialogue in this issue. I’m not going to say much about the story, but, it’s pretty great.

The Deal of the Day over at Things From Another World today is DC’s Batman: The Chalice trade paperback by Chuck Dixon and John Van Fleet for only $10 (that’s 33% off of the regular price of $14.95).

Note – The sale at TFAW is valid only for today, Monday, September 10, 2012, til 11:59PM PST while supplies last (and there’s a limited supply, so it will sell out, so hurry!).

Batman: The Chalice is also available from third-party sellers at Amazon in paperback and hardcover.

G.I. Joe: Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow #16
Written by Chuck Dixon
Artists: Robert Atkins & Atilio Rojo
Inks by Juan Castro & Atilio Rojo
Colors by Simon Gough & Joana LaFuente
Letters by Neil Uyetake
Editors: John Barber & Carlos Guzman
Covers by Alex Cal & Robert Atkins
IDW Publishing
Release Date: August 29, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

In Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow #16 a TON of mysteries are revealed. The unfortunate part… they’re not solved. Yet. But, it’s a really fun ride trying to figure them out with the clues given in this issue.

Of the two G.I. Joe books that Chuck Dixon writes, I feel that this is his best. By far. In G.I. Joe, he has to juggle a TON of characters, both heroes and villains; here, he only has to write a handful of characters, and I think that’s why he excels on this title. This issue continues the battle between the Araskicage and Cobra. Cobra has declared war on the Arashikage clan, and it’s everyone for himself. During the issue we get some FANTASTIC flashbacks telling the origin of the Snake Eyes/Storm Shadow rivalry. I was very surprised at just how MEAN that Snake Eyes was a child, you almost get the feeling that you should be sympathizing with Storm Shadow, as he’s portrayed as the victim in their childhood feud. Now, I have a feeling that will change in upcoming issues, but for now, it’s really quite surprising.

G.I. Joe #16
Written by Chuck Dixon
Artist Will Rosado
Colors by Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letters by Neil Uyetake
Editors John Barber & Carlos Guzman
Cover by Tommy Lee Edwards
IDW Publishing
Release Date: August 15, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

After a somewhat mediocre last issue, G.I. Joe #16 fires back with a vengeance. This issue moves the story forward quite a bit, advancing MANY storylines and overall, manages to entertain the reader.

Chuck Dixon turns in a great story this issue. It’s a classic G.I. Joe tale, with all the trademarks of what makes G.I. Joe so much fun to read. You’ve got several split up groups of Joes each fighting their own battles, and some of them aren’t actually fighting Cobra; in fact, only half of them are. Between the main story pieces are one to two page little stories that remind you about what some characters are up to and others that set things up for future issues, which is always a nice touch, especially when the payoff is going to be big. There’s some great dialouge between the characters, and I really feel that Dixon is finally making these characters his own instead of writing them how he thinks they need to be written. There’s a couple of different endings, all great, but there’s one involving the immediate future of the G.I. Joe team that will have you impatiently waiting for this book to come out next month.