Steig Larsson’s Millennium: The Graphic Novel Trilogy features adaptations written by Sylvain Runberg with art by José Homs and Manolo Carot, translated by Rachel Zerner. In The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Runberg fairly faithfully follows Stieg Larsson’s novel with relatively minor changes. For example, Runberg alters Mikael Blomkvist’s backstory, so that Harriet Vanger was his babysitter when he was young, though Blomkvist had forgotten that by the time The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo begins. He also includes a flashback to Mikael first meeting Erika Berger in which Blomkvist states that his journalistic interest “is the resurgence of neo-Nazi groups in Sweden,” thereby explicitly making the character an avatar for series creator Stieg Larsson, who researched right-wing extremism as a journalist. This departs from Larsson’s own description of Blomkvist as having “his professional life dedicated to revealing and reporting suspicious transactions, specifically in the field of banking and business.” Lastly, Runbery includes brief glimpses of Lisbeth Salander’s sister, Camilla, that differ from the way David Lagercrantz portrayed her in his novel continuations of the Millennium series. Homs’ art relies heavily on caricature, with distinct and animated facial expressions for the characters, though he often achieves this by portraying their heads and hands as proportionally larger than normal.

Where Runberg made minor changes in his first volume, his adaptation of The Girl Who Played with Fire follows the story faithfully, only condensing material in order to make it fit the original two issues in which it was published. Runberg features another appearance from Camilla, both in flashback to her and Lisebeth’s youth as well as in the present. This largely departs from Larsson’s novels, in which Camilla only appears in flashbacks. Runberg switches artists for this second volume and Manolo Carot’s art in The Girl Who Played with Fire closely resembles John Romita, Jr.’s art, particularly in the shape of his characters’ faces. His portrayal of Lisbeth, Mikael, Erika, and Plague follow Homs’ style from the first volume, but he departs in depicting other returning characters, like Miriam Wu and Christer Malm. While the style works well on its own, it can be strange to see the change when reading these all together.

Runberg’s adaptation of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest begins on a radically different note from the novel, with Lisbeth hiding out at the home of a surgeon Plague knows rather than under arrest and recuperating in hospital as in Larsson’s book. Further, Ronald Niedermann, Salander’s half-brother, attacks Camilla and her family at home since he does not know where to find Lisbeth. Zalachenko, her father, still pressures members of the Section, a secret group within Säpo, to continue covering up his crimes as they have since the Cold War while Dragan Armansky helps Mikael to reach out to Säpo Constitutional Protection Director Torsten Edklinth. Erika still takes over as editor-in-chief at Svenska Morgon-Posten, where an anonymous e-mailer sends her and her colleagues explicit messages. The trial further involves Camilla as a witness for the defense, while Monica Figuerola’s role is largely minimized. The Section also destroys the Millennium offices in an attempt to kill Blomkvist and Berger. Some other events of the dénouement are changed, but the conclusion follows the novel and ends on the same note. In this volume, Homs and Carot work together on the art, thereby creating a unified aesthetic for the finale.

This adaptation differs from Denise Mina, Leonardo Manco, and Andrea Mutti’s adaptation of the trilogy for DC’s Vertigo imprint that first appeared between 2012 – 2015, primarily in that these comics were produced for the Franco-Belgian comic book market and both the tone and style differ from their American counterparts. For one thing, they show less violence, relying more on implied violence than explicit portrayals. Also, Runberg’s adaptations stike more of a noir tone and his artists used more de-saturated colors to reflect that tone. Following the conclusion of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, Runberg continued the story in The Girl Who Danced with Death, featuring art by Bélen Ortego and not following David Lagercrantz’s novel continuations of the Millennium series. For all their differences, fans of Larsson’s novel will enjoy these adaptations, which are artfully done and have their strengths. ( )