Spanish artist to draw controversial Millennium spin off comic books

The comics will be drawn by Spanish artist Belén Ortega, and penned by Franco-Swedish writer Sylvain Runberg, according to reports by Swedish publish broadcaster Sveriges Radio and comic site Bleeding Cool.

The artist confirmed on her Facebook page that she would be illustrating the books, sharing preliminary sketches of the project.

Runberg previously adapted the Millennium series into comic form, with her efforts to depict Swedish heroes Lisbeth Salander and Michael Blomqvist faring better than separate much-hyped versions by comic giant DC Comics Vertigo, Bleeding Cool reports.

Ortega suggested on Facebook that the first part of the project will be released in autumn 2016.

The 29-year-old Granada native graduated from the University of Granada with a bachelor's of fine arts and describes herself as being "passionate about Japanese culture," which has inspired much of the style of her work.

The original Millennium series, which chronicles the adventures of tattooed computer hacker Lisbeth Salander and journalist Mikael Blomkvist, made Larsson one of the world's best-loved crime writers.

His work has also been adapted into film versions of the series, in both Swedish and English.

But Larsson's fame came posthumously, after his death of a heart attack in 2004, a year before the release of the first book in the series, 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo'.

News of the planned comic books comes two months after Swedish writer David Lagercrantz penned his own controversial sequel to the trilogy.

The Swede said last week that he was already planning another two sequels to his book.

While many Nordic Noir fans have celebrated the continuation of the series, some – including his longtime partner, Eva Gabrielsson – vehemently opposed Lagercrantz taking up the torch.