Back in April, IDW Publishing announced the release of a new six-issue miniseries comic book adaptation of Anne Rice‘s 1996 novel Servant of the Bones.

Now, just before the series launch on August 24, 2011, the publisher has given io9 an exclusive preview of the first issue.

In Servant of the Bones, Azriel is an immortal spirit who is bound to the gold-encased bones of his mortal body. Throughout the story, he struggles to understand whether he is a ghost, genie, demon or angel. He shares his story with the reader as he travels from an ancient Babylon of royal plots and religious upheavals to Europe during the Black Death and on to the modern world in New York City. Amidst the towers of Manhattan, he finds himself in confrontation with his own human memories and the dark forces that have sought to condemn him to a life of evil and destruction.