Nancy Drew & The Hardy Boys: The Death of Nancy Drew (2020-) #1
Dynamite Comics
Writer: Anthony Del Col
Artist Joe Eisma
Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys literally need no introduction. Since 1927 and 1930 (the debut of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, respectively) they’ve been in countless books and TV shows. They’ve had their own crossovers with each other so many times. Even if you’ve never been a consumer of any of their media, you know who they are. In their 90-ish years of existence, if you haven’t heard of them, it would legitimately be shocking.
You may gather from the title of this comics, but Nancy Drew & The Hardy Boys: The Death of Nancy Drew presents the story of Nancy Drew’s death. Taking down the leaders of a criminal group known as “The Syndicate”, Nancy Drew is convinced there are more of them than that. While investigating further, she dies in a car crash, going over a bridge into water. Not convinced it was an accident, Joe Hardy comes to River Heights to find out who killed Nancy Drew.
I’m not really a Nancy Drew Or Hardy Boys fan. Nothing against them, it’s just something that didn’t catch my interest. The most I think I’ve read of them is the Nancy Drew series that came out in mid-2018-ish. I’m also not too familiar with the writing of Anthony Del Col, either, besides his Luke Cage run from around the same time. But I do like this comic. It’s strong on the noir aspect of it all, following Joe Hardy as he tries to solve the whodunnit of it all. There’s nothing too shocking or surprising, at least so far. It plays it as you’d expect a detective story to go. Following leads, interviewing people of interest, and all that jazz.
Joe Eisma on the art really adds to the noir/detective feel of the story. There’s not so much detail in the backgrounds or characters, though the characters themself are clearly distinct. But it adds to the isolation of Joe Hardy being the only person trying to find out what really happened to Nancy Drew. On top of that, the colors are a bit muted and faded, capturing the vibes of the quiet little town setting. It works well for when colors do show up since they stand out a bit more. Nothing too flashy, but it’s a noticeable difference. The lettering, by Crank!, shows Joe’s internal monologue on a scrap of paper. Again, it helps add to the detective/mystery feeling of the book.
I’m not a fan of mystery/detective kind of stories, at least I don’t think I am. I don’t go out of my way to read/watch them. But I like this first issue. It’s not Anthony Del Col’s first time writing these characters since he also did Nancy Drew & The Hardy Boys: The Big Lie a couple of years ago. I haven’t read that, but it’s definitely on my list now. And if you like the genre, I think this would be something you’d enjoy. The art is good, the story is good, it’s an all-around enjoyable read.
Nancy Drew & The Hardy Boys: The Death of Nancy Drew #1
Anthony Del Col takes us back into his rebooted, grittier world with Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. The story keeps the big mystery under wraps but leaves enough for us to come back for the second issue. The art is good and adds to the detective/mystery thriller the story is going for.
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