Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy is an international best-seller.

Credit: Random House

If you're not a comic book fan, you nevertheless might still be aware of DC Comics' massive changing of the tide last month. The publisher revamped its line-up, instituted a re-numbering of 52 titles and made all issues available digitally on day of release, hoping to lure new readers. The move was accompanied by a giant media blitz and, indeed, sales were through the roof all month.

The company's latest announcement dovetails nicely with what we do here, seeing as David Fincher's adaptation of Stieg Larsson's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is primed for a December release and will very much figure into the conversation this awards season. DC has revealed its plans to convert Larsson's Millennium Trilogy, consisting of "Dragon Tattoo," "The Girl who Played with Fire" and "The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest," to the graphic novel format via its Vertigo imprint.

DC co-publisher Dan DiDio is quoted in the press release:

"The intricate characters and stories Larsson created in the Millennium Trilogy are a perfect match for the graphic novel format, where we can bring Lisbeth Salander to life in entirely new, visually compelling ways. It’s a distinct honor to work on a story that is already so popular with millions of readers around the world."

And Larsson's younger brother, Joakim:

"Stieg always liked comics and it will be exciting to see the unforgettable characters he created come to life on the comics page."

Marvel Comics has seen some success in translating Stephen King's "The Stand" to graphic novels and on-going series. And Salander makes for a compelling heroine for comics, so this sounds like a cool idea to me. And a smart one. The trilogy has sold more than 60 million books worldwide, 17 million in the US alone. And it isn't likely to leave the best-seller lists any time soon, certainly not with a hyped-up film on the way.

"Dragon Tattoo" is set for 2012 release from Vertigo, with "Played with Fire" landing in 2013 and "Hornet's Nest" hitting in 2014.

Kristopher Tapley
Editor-at-Large

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Kristopher Tapley has covered the film awards landscape for over a decade. He founded In Contention in 2005. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Times of London and Variety. He begs you not to take any of this too seriously.