Book Reviews: The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons: Karin Smirnoff photo 2 of 2

The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons: Karin Smirnoff

In the original Millennium Series books by Steig Larsson, Lisbeth Salander teetered toward becoming a superhero.

Salander is the “Girl” in titles such as “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” “The Girl Who Played with Fire” and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest,” all part of Larsson’s excellent, fun, brutal and original trilogy.

By the third book, Salander was like James Bond in the 1970s movies. She could do anything. She could break any computer code, become a millionaire as a master of disguise, take a bullet, ride a motorcycle like Evel Knievel and keep going, going, going.

There was nothing, it seemed, Salander could not do, survive or overcome.

Larsson couched Salander’s superheroics in thick, detailed stories with slow-reveal characterizations, such as her relationship with journalist Mikael Blomkvist.

After Larsson’s death, David Lagercrantz shaped a new trilogy of Millennium titles, such as the opening “The Girl in the Spider’s Web.” Lagercrantz subdued Salander’s abilities, making her less of a superwoman while placing her in plots that were more like comic books. Books that were heavier on action than Larsson’s detailed thrillers.

Karin Smirnoff starts the new trilogy with “The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons.” Salander is barely recognizable here. One can barely imagine her in a barroom brawl or hooking up a modem, let alone the superhero genius of Larsson’s original trilogy. If anything, Salander has not only been tamed, she has become boring.

“Eagle’s Talons” kind of reunites Salander with Blomvkist after a long period of time. Readers looking for long passages of them working together again will be disappointed. Blomkvist is dealing with his daughter marrying a questionable man and also the kidnapping of his grandson. Salander learns she is considered the sole relative of an orphaned girl who is placed in her care – so in some ways, Salander gets a sidekick like Batman has Robin.

Salander and Blomkvist find themselves in the same town (yes, set in Sweden like the other books) dealing with a cabal of human traffickers. Smirnoff does pen a riveting suspense novel – and warning to readers, some scenes are graphic – but it never fully feels like a Lisbeth Salander book. Plus, being book one of a planned trilogy, some elements are resolved but the story is not completed in “Eagle’s Talons.”

Still, Salander fans should check it out. Perhaps Smirnoff’s second volume will reveal something of the Lisbeth Salander of old.

Conan the Barbarian: Bound in Black Stone

Titan Comics’ first trade paperback collection of its new monthly “Conan the Barbarian” title feels like finding a lost story from the character’s Marvel heyday in the 1970s.

Jim Zub, who penned some of the barbarian’s recent Marvel Comics adventures, is the writer for Titan Comics’ opening “Conan the Barbarian” storyline. Artist Roberto De La Torre channels the look of John Buscema’s pencils for the book. Colorists Dean White and Jose Villarrubia find the right mood for Conan’s Hyborian world of 12,000 years ago.

Conan is paired with Brissa, a Pict warrior woman, while returning for a visit to his native Cimmeria. Conan has been away from home for nearly a decade and has had many adventures in the civilized world.

Conan and Brissa face a horde of zombies that have slaughtered then reanimated his and her people.

The story is good stuff but it is De La Torre’s art that really makes the Titan Conan special. Imagine if Buscema had been given unlimited access to more than just the opening splash page – and an occasional interior page – in the Conan comics of the 1970s and ‘80s.

Also, a lot has been made of just how closely De La Torre’s style resembles the late Buscema. It’s true, it does and the similarities should be welcomed by Conan fans. Still, De La Torre has touches that differentiate from Buscema. De La Torre, like Buscema, has a classic storytelling style reminiscent of Hal Foster and many of the adventure comic strip artists of yore. De La Torre inks his own pencils here, unlike Buscema whose “Conan” pencils were usually inked by other artists such as Ernie Chan, Alfredo Alcala, Tony DeZuniga, etc.

Titan’s entry into Conan comics is strong. The monthly “Conan the Barbarian” title continues attracting readers. The publisher has also revived “The Savage Sword of Conan” and Titan plans to publish a new prose Conan novel this year as follow-up to “Conan: Blood of the Serpent” last year.

“Conan the Barbarian: Bound in Black Stone” includes the first four issues and the Free Comic Book Day 2023.