Girl with the Dragon Tattoo- Vol1, Graphic Novel (Stieg Larsson)

I want to say I was “disappointed” but I wasn’t really, I do not know that I had any real reaction to this. The thing is that there was nothing here that really stood out as either above par or under par, it just existed.

With an international bestseller, the posthumous glory of the author has to top out someplace. This graphic novel was not that pinnacle, in fact, it might be a sign of the end. After world wide book translation, successful foreign films, unneeded US films, a lackluster graphic novel seems like the next step before lunchboxes and old-navy baby t-shirts.

It isn’t that the story became bad when this was created, it is just that there was nothing new. It doesn’t translate well to the format. The original plot-line of the novel is DRY DRY DRY. the only thing that drives the plot is Lisbeth’s tale. to be honest, most people could give a rats ass about the Millennium story-line in the beginning.

The actual written conversion to Graphic Novel was well done, but bland. This is not the fault of the adapter, it is a bland story until you reach a certain point. Volume 1 effectively details the first half of the original plot… which mainly sucked. This graphic novel starts to get interesting about three quarters in, which is to be expected based on said original novel plot. Unfortunately, I am not sure how this will help keep readers engaged. Many people gave up on the book before getting deeply into it.

Graphic novels are known for sometimes carrying slow plot-lines, it can be effective for bolstering tough stories by pairing them with stunning artwork to help ensure interactive readership. This failed in that regard. The beautiful cover work created by Lee Bermejo is not indicative of the artwork inside by Manco and Mutti. It is not that the art is bad, it just is not awesome. All pages not focused on Lisbeth were meh at best, or lacking pop and density at worst. The pages looked historic and dated. there was a real missed opportunity here to stand out.

Parents should keep in mind that this is NOT a children’s story.. The pages dealing with rape and mutilation should be enough to snatch this from your kids grasp should you see them reading it. If that is not enough for you, the undercurrent themes of parricide might do it.

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This review is based on a book kindly provided for free by the publisher or author. Please check my FTC Douche-claimer for details regarding this disclaimer’s existence.