Hardy Boys Adventure 16 Details/Cover Art Plus More New Books – Including Nancy Drew

Details and Cover Art for 2 New Hardy Boys Books and 2 New Nancy Drew Books! 🙂 

Here are the links to the new posts about Hardy Boys Adventure #16, Hardy Boys Clue Book #7, Nancy Drew Diaries #16, and Nancy Drew Clue Book #9 on my 2nd Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew blog. 🙂 The Hardy Boys Adventure cover and synopsis looks great! 😀 

Hardy Boys Adventures #16 Stolen Identity

Hardy Boys Clue Book #7 The Pirate Ghost

Nancy Drew Clue Book #9 Springtime Crime

Nancy Drew Diaries #16 The Haunting on Heliotrope Lane

Hope everyone has a safe and superawesome weekend! 🙂

 

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Nancy Drew Books Game ~ Drew Connections

Here’s another fun Nancy Drew word game! 🙂 Callie and Ritu have suggested and requested word association games for The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew! 😀 Thank you both! 🙂

To play the game, click or tap on this link to go to the page – Drew Connections ~ Nancy Drew Books Game! 🙂 As always – have fun!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂

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The Hardy Boys Books Game ~ Hardy Connections

Here’s the next fun Hardy Boys word game! 😀 Callie and Ritu have suggested and requested word association games for The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew! 😀 Thank you both! 🙂

To play the game, click or tap on this link to go to the page – Hardy Connections ~ The Hardy Boys Books Game! 🙂 As always – have fun!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂

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New Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Story Coming Your Way! :)

Hi all! 🙂 Ready for summer? I’m ready and as far as I’m concerned, it’s summer and that’s a great time to read, write, and play games (so is the spring, autumn, and winter, too 😀 ). Those are also great times to pray, help people, solve mysteries, and do the right thing. Like the Hardy brothers, Nancy Drew, and their crews. 🙂

Here’s the title reveal for the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew fanfiction that I hope to be posting very soon ~

It’s the sequel to The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew in Cut to the Chase, and just might (it will 😉 ) have some familiar faces from that story show up. 🙂 

I apologize profusely that it has taken so long. It’s not completed, but I might go ahead and start posting it before then. 🙂 I started it several months ago, and had mentioned it on here, and was going to try to get it done then, but that didn’t work out. No excuses, but it’s true that life is never boring. 😛

Posting soon also will be new Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew games on here! 🙂 Callie and Ritu have both requested them previously and I give due credit to each of them. 🙂 Thank you! 🙂

I hope all of you are doing well and having fun. You’re in my prayers for many blessings. 🙂 ❤ I love you guys and love and enjoy talking cool stuff about the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew with you! 🙂 ❤

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The Hardy Boys #30 The Wailing Siren Mystery ~ My Review

Hardy Boys fans have a lot to enjoy in The Wailing Siren Mystery, the 30th volume of the main HB series! 😀 Great scenes, intense danger, and thrilling excitement in this. Great family, too. I love that. 🙂 You’ve got all kinds of things happening! An intense storm at the beginning while the Hardy brothers are in their boat, Sleuth. A mysterious siren, money falling from the sky, danger from a potential collision with a yacht, theft, kidnapping – and that’s just in the first half of the book!!!! And you’re there with them every step of the way! 😎 The exciting action is great. The heart-warming brotherly love is great. It’s an excellent read! 🙂

The mysteries in the book all flow well and while a lot goes on, it’s not too much. I love that many Hardy book characters show up in The Wailing Siren Mystery. The whole Hardy family ~ Fenton, Laura, Frank, Joe, and Aunt Gertrude. Joe’s love, Iola, and Frank’s love, Callie. Chet Morton, Biff Hooper, Tony Prito, Officer Con Riley, Fenton’s operative Sam Radley, Chief Ezra Collig, Jack Wayne gets introduced – and kidnapped by the bad guys! And we even have an appearance by Oscar Smuff, who’s a policeman in the mystery and does his job. 😮 I missed Phil Cohen in this one. He must have been on vacation elsewhere. Hope he had fun! 🙂

There are so many parts I could quote and talk about – how do I choose?!?!?! 😀 The clues, investigating, and crime-fighting are very well done. They use their brains and utilize resources including tech and fight when they have to. 😎

Frank is kidnapped and what an intense part of the book that is! Joe is a great brother (so is Frank!) and he knows something isn’t right. He goes to investigate and tries to find his brother. You can’t stop reading! 😮 Great brotherly love. 🙂 😎

As has been mentioned on The Bayport Library page here, the wolves are scary. They can be terrifying in the book because of the realistic writing. 

Okay, so there are number of really intense scenes! Another one is when Joe goes missing and Frank’s really worried. Joe and Chet risk their lives and well-being at a threat to Iola’s life. I don’t think I can tell you more without spoilers! If you’ve read it you know what I’m talking about, and if you haven’t, you will when you read it! 🙂

So many great quotes in The Wailing Siren Mystery. Such as from feisty Aunt Gertrude ~

…Aunt Gertrude said excitedly: “Take your two-way radio and keep in touch. If anybody bothers you, I’ll give him a piece of my mind!”

And she means it, too! 😀 😎

There are a lot of great scenes in this book (I think I’ve already alluded to that 😉 Oh, wait, I think I flat-out said that 😀 ), but I’ll share this one with everyone where a bad guy is trying to scare the Hardy brothers. Yeah, I love that they don’t let the bad guys win or intimidate them. Frank and Joe outwit him. 😀 To set the scene, they are on the Sleuth and the one bad guy pirate has just gotten on the boat and is asking the brothers if they’re going to leave or not like they’d been warned and threatened to ~

He was several inches over six feet and as burly as a bear. menacingly he approached Joe.

   “Are you going to scram?”
 
   “No.”

   The man lunged at Joe, who tried to grapple with him. Frank sprang to his brother’s defense, but before he could clamp a hold on the stranger, the assailant had pitched Joe far over the side of the boat. After a brief struggle Frank followed. The Hardys bobbed to the surface several feet from the boats.

   Frank hissed into Joe’s ear, “Pretend we can’t swim.”

   The boys thrashed about madly, crying for help.

I just love the way they tricked the bad guys! There’s more to the scene and I could keep going. There are a number of cool action scenes throughout the book. It’s really difficult not putting on more, but I can’t put practically the whole book on here. 😛 Believe me, you want to read this one. Most libraries should have it and certainly booksellers should also. 🙂

Brave Aunt Gertrude does a great job with helping Joe against a thug by using a shillelagh (shillelagh just sounds so cool) saving Joe from a vicious kick. 🙂 

Another great quote that is the difficult, but necessary stance ~

“We don’t go for deals,” Joe said.

Even when things looked bad they didn’t give up hope and are defiant against the bad guys. A lot of bravery in this mystery! Look at all they have to fight – greedy, violent, murderous thieves. Multiple kidnappings, grand larceny, and a lot more. That takes more than a little courage and skill – and of course, a lot of prayer!

The Hardy Boys #30 The Wailing Siren Mystery is available in hardback and digital formats at booksellers and libraries. I definitely recommend it! 🙂 😎

For everyone who has been reading it recently, too, or has read it before, or is looking forward to reading it, please let me know what you think! 🙂 There’s definitely a lot to like about this exciting mystery! 🙂 😎

 

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Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Super Mystery #2 Danger Overseas ~ My Review

This second volume of the Nancy Drew Girl Detective and the Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers Super Mystery, Danger Overseas, starts off with some action from the Hardy brothers fighting bad guys – always a good place to start. 🙂 There’s some humor, too. 😎 It’s cool when a book starts off with the action of the current case and then goes to the next one. It’s like a bonus with two stories. 🙂 There have been some Undercover Brothers books where that was the best part.

The brothers’ next American Teens Against Crime (ATAC) mission, a crime-fighting organization started by their dad Fenton Hardy, is at an archaeological dig in Italy. I like the way the ATAC mission assignments are given like games or music CDs and then they reformat, effectively erased, clearly inspired by Mission Impossible. 😎 And btw, Aunt Trudy would totally know about ATAC in reality. The Hardy brothers’ assignment was to investigate an American’s arrest for trying to sell stolen artifacts.

Nancy, cousins George, and Bess are in Rome, Italy with the cousins’ Aunt Estelle. She treated them to a trip there, which was nice and generous of her. There are other things there than the mythology stuff, but there was focus on that. To me, mythology with false gods is very, very boring, so whenever that was mentioned it was…well, very, very boring. Thankfully there wasn’t a whole lot of it in the book. I did have to forgive Aunt Estelle for the rudeness about Nancy, George, and Bess’ (and my) adjective use.

They help an amnesia pickpocket and she was really difficult to put up with, since she was extremely obnoxious to those going out of their way to help her – very whiny. 🙄 I admire Nancy very much because she did the right thing and helped her regardless of how annoying Thief Girl got. Nancy’s a very good example of being kind and gracious even when faced with a real brat. Admirable. SPOILER WARNING *Amnesia Thief Girl is Caitlin, a missing person of interest in the arrested American’s case* END SPOILER WARNING

While reading this mystery, I got curious about Corsica, an island located off the coast of Italy, and looked it up. Learned about their history, their flag, etc.. So this book did inspire me to find out more and that’s cool. 🙂

As far as original characters go in this one, the two best were Sam Lewis, the American who was arrested by the Italian authorities for attempting to sell stolen archaeological items, and the English archaeology lady, each one with a backstory that will make you feel sorry for them. They were both helped by our friends and I liked that. As I already mentioned, the whiny amnesia victim caused a lot of problems mostly brought on by brattiness and selfishness, a very narcissistic person.

I can usually find some good parts in a Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew book, and this one was no exception. 🙂 I have three favorite scenes. I like that Frank sent up a silent prayer (and not to any false god, but to the Creator). 😎 Another favorite part was when Joe was worried about his big brother. Then when Joe disappeared and Frank, also a good brother being very concerned. 😎

There were a couple of times the detectives would have been smarter.

I’m reading this for the second time and I feel the same way about it. It starts off good and ends good. 🙂

 

 

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Nancy Drew Papercutz Graphic Novels #20 and #21 High School Musical Mystery Parts I and 2 ~ My Review

I was excited to get Nancy Drew graphic novels #20 and #21 High School Musical Mystery from Papercutz! 😀 I’d been wanting to read them for a while! I like Nancy, George, and Bess, and the Dana Girls, Jean and Louise, and the sisters’ two friends, Teri and Gale. Before reading these graphic novels, I knew about the Dana Girls books. I was so happy to find several out-of-print-but-great-condition Dana Girls mysteries. 😀 I love the sisters working together. Good mysteries, similar to Nancy Drew. The two-part Papercutz graphic novels are the first books published for us to read about Nancy and the Dana Girls working together. 

I love Nancy’s look starting in the chapter of Part I and in Part II. The artist, Sho Murase, drew her face, hair and clothes really cool. I would love an outfit like Nancy’s in these graphic novels! 😎 Jean and Louise are also very pretty and have beautiful long hair, too. 🙂 Another cool thing about the graphics, the 3D effect, courtesy of Carlos Jose Guzman, made some of the panels look particularly real. 😎

High School Musical Mystery Part I takes place at a private academy that Jean and Louise Dana, Teri, and Gale attend. The fancy stairs, paneling, and decor are really cool. 😎

I don’t like it when a book, like happened in this one, makes mention of an unrelated book or movie, because that instantly dates it and mars the timelessness of it. It doesn’t make it more relatable – mostly it actually detracts.

It’s funny when the two sets of friends were competing on whether Nancy or the Dana Girls are the best detective(s) – except for when it was misleading in what they were saying, none of them actually dealt with “demons” or “witches” – it was proven that wasn’t the case, so that’s inaccurate. 🙄 That there is always a real reason behind the mysteries, rather than made-up fake stuff like ghosts, etc.., is another thing about the Nancy Drew books (and Hardy Boys books) that I love. Back to the funny – while the friends are arguing, in a different part of the school, Nancy and the Dana Girls are sure their friends will hit it off. They come and find otherwise. 😉

I love the idea with Nancy’s friends and the Dana sisters’ friends creating/making a mystery challenge – cool. It was fun seeing the clues as they are presented to Nancy, Jean, and Louise and solving them, too. 😎 As I read, I try to guess what’s going to happen next, and do my best to solve the mystery, too.

Another humorous part was when Nancy, Jean, and Louise all said “say what?” when they found out from their friends it was going to be a musical. 😆 I also enjoyed when Jean and Louise would finish each other’s sentence and also Nancy’s. That’s entertaining for a good part of the time.

So there’s mystery, action, humor, good sleuthing, fun detecting, curious things, and it’s entertaining, along with a few odd-not-sure-why-that’s-in-there-oh-it’s-just-for-the-sake-of-the-mystery parts. To keep this spoiler-free, I will just note that one part about the “clues” in the musical was unbelievable – literally.  

Most of the time I thought Nancy did a good job, but I didn’t care for it when she hurt the Dana Girls feelings by losing her patience. 😥 Part of Nancy’s character is how calm, patient and serene she can be. She’s more patient than me, I admit it. I think she would have kept from snapping out in impatience at the Dana sisters – hopefully I would be able to and like I said, Nancy’s more patient than me.

I would say I enjoyed High School Musical Mystery Part I (Book #20) overall better than High School Musical Mystery Part II “The Lost Verse” (#21), although I liked seeing that my suspicions about a culprit from the first book and the basic reason behind it was correct. I like to figure out the mystery as I read and all. There were definitely some creepy elements in Part II. As always, I appreciate the main character’s bravery and perserverance. Again, trying to keep from mentioning any spoilers…..well, one part would have been really cool if it had been done differently when Jean and Louise were “arguing”. If it had been a distraction tactic, not for real arguing at that time then that would have been really cool. Still being careful to avoid spoilers, I’ll just say here that I really liked the character development of one individual at the wrap-up of the mystery who became a nicer person. 😎

My favorite quote of the two-part mystery comes from Nancy Drew Papercutz graphic novel #20 High School Musical Mystery Part I: 

The only time you really lose is if you give up! ~ Nancy

For everyone who likes to read books in order, in this case it’s highly recommended. #20 High School Musical Mystery Part 1 and #21 High School Musical Mystery Part II “The Lost Verse” aren’t stand-alones – definitely a two-part story. 🙂

Thank you, Sven and Rachel @ Papercutz! 😀

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Nancy Drew Diaries #14 Riverboat Roulette ~ My Review

The fourteenth volume of the Nancy Drew Diaries, Riverboat Roulette, is a cool, fun mystery! 😀 Nancy, George, Bess, and Bess’s mom get to ride on a riverboat plus help an animal rescue charity at the same time – and solve a mystery during the trip! Riverboats look really cool and would be a great place to sleuth around and solve a mystery! With cool cover art and setting, this book had the potential to be an entertaining mystery and it didn’t fail to live up to that. 😎

This book has such a pretty and cool cover – it’s one of my fave of the Nancy Drew Diaries. 🙂

There were suspects to investigate, clues to find, possible motives to consider, and the time limit of finding the culprit(s) and money before they docked added to the excitement. I loved the exploring and the sleuthing around the riverboat – totally wouldn’t have minded more! 😎

Not a fan of gambling, since much heartache can come from that when people are addicted to it, so I would have preferred just prize money and sponsering as is done in a race for charity rather than actual betting. I was taught when I was little to think of the effect you have in your actions. Other than that, it is a very enjoyable book. 🙂

The scene with Nancy’s escapade on the riverboat when she was trying to get to the other side of it is well-written pulse-pounding real! Precarious predicament and definitely dangerous! Intense! Whew! That was great! 😎 I wanted to re-read it right then, yet I also wanted to keep reading to see what happened next. Such dilemmas – but that means the book is good, so I love those kind of dilemmas! 😀

Not only did the river flow along well, so did the book. 😎

My ND/HB book reading sib and I both think this would make a great game! The intriguing riverboat, the fun sleuthing for the clues to find the guilty party (or parties), the time limit to solve the mystery, and the lights along the shore would all be really cool! 🙂 You can definitely see what a cool game that would be by reading the book and envisioning that in your head. 😎

I wish Ned had gotten to be there – I did miss him. Happy for the good mentions of him, though. 🙂

I always love solving the mysteries along with the detectives of the book I’m reading. This was written well so that you felt like you were there, searching for clues while trying not to focus on how much time until they docked, but keeping that in mind. It’s an enjoyable ride on a riverboat with Nancy, George, Bess and her mom and an entertaining mystery. 😎

Nancy Drew Diaries #14, Riverboat Roulette, is available in paperback, hardcover, and ebook at many bookstores and libraries. There are more Hardy Boys Adventures that I like than Nancy Drew Diaries. That said, this is one that gets a definite recommend from me! It’s a good, real Nancy Drew mystery. 😎 Looks nice on my bookshelf, too! 🙂

 

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Hardy Boys Adventures #14 Attack of the Bayport Beast ~ My Review

An entertaining read for this new Hardy Boys book, the 14th volume of the ongoing Hardy Boys Adventures series! 🙂 As Joe says in the book “Sounds like a mystery.” 😎 Yep! 🙂 Plenty of cool things to enjoy about this one! : the Hardy brothers – of course!, mysterious real and faux clues to discern, humor, bravery, along with a range of fun to intense sleuthing. The first chapter sets a good tone for the rest of the book by starting things off in a humorous and fun way. Already there are some great quotes as Frank, Joe, and their friend Hector are checking out the sci-fi convention in Bayport ~

I felt like I was babysitting two toddlers who were distracted by every toy they came across. ~ Frank Hardy

 😆 Haha! 😆 And then Frank talking about reality shows ~

Just because it’s called reality doesn’t mean it’s real

So very, very true, Mr. Hardy!!!! 😎

The cover art is really cool showing an excellent action scene. 😎

The brother team of Frank and Joe are ready for this challenge – an unusual mystery that needs to be investigated. It starts to become more dangerous and ominous as the book goes on. They have to be ready and observant as well as brave while they sleuth for clues. I really enjoyed catching the clues as they were woven into the mystery. 😎

Camping was cool with the descriptions of the national forest being really good – you could feel like you were there. There’re definitely some scary intense scenes. Of course camping is usually in tents, but also intense in this adventure!! 😉 Truly. Like Joe said about dealing with each serious thing “One catastrophe at a time.”

I love that the writer notes that Frank and Joe can see clues as if they were written out. An accurate description of the well-honed detective skills. I like it and really appreciate it when the writing reflects their great ability as detectives. Like it was in this book and others; that can be done without them knowing everything or knowing nothing. I always appreciate when the writer remembers, as this one did, that they are observant detectives, as opposed to some books where the characters are written like they don’t even have the basic concepts of Basic Detective Skills 101 down.

I’m glad the writer has them intrigued about the mystery of why there were claims of sightings while not believing it.

I have to say that “cool” and “zombie movie” are contrary, disconnected concepts and words. And millions of years is an archaic theory that remains unproven.

Some intriguing twists to the mystery. As I mentioned already, I enjoyed figuring out clues and potential reasons for what was going on. I was pretty sure that some things that had happened were important factors to what was going on. Good pace to the book, too.

Absolutely thought the poetic justice was very appropriate during the finale scene of the book.

The brother team, the sleuthing, the humor were great and I really enjoyed the book. 🙂 This I will want to read again – I’m glad I have this Hardys Boys Adventures in paperback. 😎

You can check out the paperback, hardcover, or ebook at bookstores, physical and online, and at your local library. 😎

 

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The Hardy Boys #5-#8 Collector Cover Art Plus Lots More Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew News!

New collector covers coming 17th Oct, 2017 –
The Hardy Boys #5 Hunting for Hidden Gold
The Hardy Boys #6 The Shore Road Mystery
The Hardy Boys #7 The Secret of the Caves
The Hardy Boys #8 The Mystery of Cabin Island

Of the current covers, my favorite is #5 Hunting for Hidden Gold, and one of my all-time faves among all Hardy Boys books. The outdoor scenes on all four are cool-looking (not just literally like the snow on #8 The Mystery of Cabin Island. 😉 ) I like the cliffs and caves on #5 Hunting for Hidden Gold, #6 The Shore Road Mystery and #7 The Secret of the Caves – they look like fun to see and explore in the book. You can almost hear the water rolling onto the shore on The Secret of the Caves. Naturally, since I love The Hardy Boys books, it’s hard waiting – while simultaneously dreading – the collector cover art reveal. 😛 I try to always be optimistic and hope for the best. Keep it tuned here to see ’em! 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 Quite a few of the Hardy Boys ebooks are on sale @Amazon 4.99 (USD) reg. 7.99/8.99, including one of my favorites as mentioned earlier 😉 , #5 Hunting for Hidden Gold. 😎 Some of the Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers, including another one of my favorites, #19 Foul Play, are also on sale 4.99 (USD) reg. 5.99. 😎 Great time to get some great mysteries! Cool detective brothers, exciting action, and intriguing mysteries. 🙂

Also, the 1st chapter for Hardy Boys Adventures #14, Attack of the Bayport Beast, is available there, too! 🙂 The book will be available next week! 🙂

Tap/click for the details about ~
Update with cover art and synopsis for Hardy Boys Clue Book #6 A Skateboard Cat-Astrophe.

Hardy Boys Papercutz Graphic Novels 4 in 1 Volume 2  

Nancy Drew Clue Book #8 World Record Mystery

Have a great weekend! 🙂

UPDATE: Here are the four collector covers ~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I want to get the collector cover edition of #7 The Secret of the Caves. 😎

Disclaimer: Please feel free to ignore the random ads that pop up on the blog. I don’t choose them or have any say about what ones they are since this is a free blog. Most of the ads are pointless and irrelevant junk in my opinion.

The Hardy Boys Papercutz Graphic Novel #7 The Opposite Numbers ~ My Review

A roller coaster ride for The Hardy Boys graphic novel, The Opposite Numbers, volume 7 from Papercutz! 😀 Great cover, as you can see in this post! 😎 I love the beginning of the book with the case they’ve been working on. The brothers are doing their part to rescue Aunt Trudy’s parrot, Playback, and other animals. Good action and humor in the opening scenes – really enjoyable. 🙂 Very re-readable, too. 😀 I’ve read it quite a few times! 😎 I really like way the Undercover Brothers finish a case at the beginning of the books and then go to the next one. 😎 Opening with exciting action is always cool. 😎

After that excitement is wrapped up, it’s time for a break from school for a while. 😎 Nice seeing Chet and Callie. 😎 I like that Callie was going to use her free time to help kids. 😎 Some of the rest of that scene didn’t make sense with whoever the one student was supposed to be seemed like she was snobby and narcissistic. 🙄 Didn’t care for that. 

Great cover – another favorite Hardy Boys Graphic Novel cover art! 😎 

One of my absolute fave scenes in the book is the part at the train, right after Frank and Joe arrive there to board, and the Hardy brothers bravely do what they can to prevent a literal train wreck. Cool when they immediately ran to help – talk about exciting! 😎 I loved that!  😎 Another favorite scene is when the conductor needs help getting back in the train after getting pushed by a culprit. Courage and excitement! Great action in all of those 5 star scenes! I love the excitement, the danger, and the excellent teamwork, as in any Hardy Boys books that I enjoy. 🙂 😎

The book could be a little bit distracting at times because it went back and forth between artists. First was Daniel Rendon, then Paulo Henrique, then back to Daniel Rendon, and then the rest of the book was Paulo Henrique and Sidney Lima.That shouldn’t stop anyone from reading it, though!

There were various characters on the train Frank and Joe had to help and contend with, providing several suspects. You had to figure out if the characters were just sorta odd or wackos. The Noir sisters are…annoiring. 😉 The gung-ho guard dude was also seriously annoying. There are annoying people out there, though! I knew there were two trustworthy people on the train – Frank and Joe. 😎

The parts I loved I really loved and want to read again! 🙂 Always, I love the brothers teamwork and not giving up even when things look bad! 😎

Hardy Boys graphic novel #7 The Opposite Numbers from Papercutz is available digitally at ebooksellers and at libraries as well as used booksellers in paperback and hardcover. 🙂 It’s definitely worth a read or two or more! 🙂

 

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Dynamite Entertainment Presents The Big Lie #1

Details about the upcoming comic series ~
Title: The Big Lie #1
Release Date: March 8, 2017
Number of pages: 32
Cover A: Faye Dalton
Cover B: Emma Vieceli
Cover C Subscription: Robert Hack
Writer: Anthony Del Col
Art: Werther Dell’Edera
Rating: Teen +
Available Formats: Comic Book, Digital
Cost: 3.99 USD
Cover Art:

 

 

 

 

Synopsis From Publisher – Warning from me for anyone, who is a fan of the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew, who hasn’t seen the plotline yet and doesn’t know the premise of the series – you won’t like what it is, so you might not want to continue reading the post:

THE BIG LIE is a Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mystery unlike any other you’ve ever read…
 
When the teenage brothers Frank and Joe Hardy are accused of the murder of their father – a detective in the small resort town of Bayport – they must team up with the femme fatale Nancy Drew to prove their innocence (and find the real guilty party in the process) in a twisting, hard-boiled tale, complete with double-crosses, deceit and dames.

That plot isn’t entertaining sounding at all to me. I was optimistically (as well as cautiously) excited back in the summer (before I knew about the plot) when I first heard about the 2017 comics from Dynamite Entertainment that was supposed to be Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. I love the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, and I love a lot of comics, too. I don’t tend to read T (Teen) rated comics. They’re usually overdone, unrealistic, and don’t grab me. I prefer All Ages comics that my HB/ND reading sib of mine will read, too. I’d put off posting since I prefer to talk only about books I’m enthusiastic about, but I did need to say something for everyone asking me about it. I started writing this as soon as I saw about it, and got most of it done then.

The press release on 12/20/16 from Dynamite Entertainment included the book synopsis that effectively killed my excitement for their comic book series. There are some pretty obvious Hardy and Nancy errors in the short write-up. According to the press release, they want to quote “bring the iconic teen detectives into the modern age” unquote. You cannot “bring” someone into the modern age who is already here!!!! 🙄 The Hardy Boys and Nancy have been here! The press release wasn’t very long and oddly over-emphasized modern, which makes me think they don’t know that the Hardys and Nancy are still solving crimes in more modern times than say, 1927 and 1930 when the Hardys and Nancy Drew book series first began, respectively. Okay, so obviously not everyone realizes there have been many new Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books, including comic books/graphic novels during more modern times than the 1920s and 1930s. When publishers say “modern” – that is an advertising tactic, gimmick/ploy, and, I think, assumes that we are gullible. New Hardy Boys books and Nancy Drew books since the ’20s and ’30s, in the 21st century includes ones from:

• The Hardy Boys (Mystery Stories) 1927-2005 #1-#190, the whole series of The Undercover Brothers, the currently running series Hardy Boys Adventures, with the next volume, #14, Attack of the Bayport Beast, available Feb. 21, 2017. 😎
• Nancy Drew (Mystery Stories) 1930-2003 #1-#175, Girl Detective (whole series), Nancy Drew Diaries, the current series, has a new one, #14 Riverboat Roulette released this week (on the 3rd to be exact). 😎
  

Case solved. 😎

Here’s another quote from the press release:

“Writer Del Col, a big fan of the characters, conceived this unique take years ago and worked to find and secure the license with Dynamite to bring this tale to life.

“I often come up with a lot of bizarre ideas, and two years ago I had this vision of a modern-day noir story with femme fatale Nancy Drew aiding accusing criminals the Hardy Boys,” says writer Anthony Del Col. “It was an idea that, upon further thought, actually wasn’t that bizarre. And now Werther, Dynamite, and I are using it as a launching pad to examine who these characters really are, and why they’re still so beloved.”

If you change their personalities, their character, you can’t examine who they really are, and if you change their personalities, doesn’t that mean you don’t like who they really are? Otherwise, you wouldn’t change them and instead you would write an exciting story with the actual Hardy Boys and Nancy solving a crime. I believe “aiding accusing” was supposed to read “accused”. And Nancy as a femme fatale is inaccurate and definitely is “that bizarre”.

“…and why they’re still so beloved.”

I can tell you why they are still so beloved – it’s why I love them. ❤ The brothers, Frank and Joe Hardy, and Nancy Drew ~ they are good, ethical, moral, fighting on the side of good, inspiring, never give up attitude, helping others, cool, exciting, thrilling mysteries, fight for righting wrong, fighting evil, their code of ethics, sense of honor, their moral code, their survival of the numerous attempts on their lives for doing the right thing and stopping bad people. One of the reasons Nancy is still loved and so successful is that she isn’t a femme fatale! You can’t calculate the variable to solve the equation if you change any of the terms of the formula; you’re not going to be able to get an accurate answer.

Another part of the press release, this quote from Dynamite Entertainment’s CEO/Publisher, Nick Barrucci “We wanted to do a take on the iconic characters the world grew up on…” Why ignore everyone not grown up yet? I mean, hello, there are still many in the world still growing up and still reading the real Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew stories. 🙄

There are many, many Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew fans around the world that this will not appeal to. There are probably some non-Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew fans who will be pleased to read about the implied tragedy and the mischaracterization. Of course some HB and ND fans will read this series because they have to read just about everything with those characters’ names in them.

Some people might scoff at me for my youthful ideologies and hopefulness – so be it. 😎

The Plot ~
The premise of “the murder of their father” is horrific and terribly upsetting. Why does anyone think they have to make it look like a regular character gets killed? Most Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew readers care about the characters – and don’t want them killed. Then for the brothers to be falsely accused like that is bizarre. Regardless of what this particular series does, Fenton is alive. 😎

The Hardys have had to deal with many different crimes in The Hardy Boys Mysteries (1927-2005 #1-#190) as has Nancy with her series. They’ve solved some extremely dangerous cases that of course had danger and violence – after all, when someone is trying to kill you, that’s not a friend request, that’s very intense danger. They’re risk their lives to stop these violent wrongdoers. The Hardy Boys Mysteries (1927-2005) are definitely mysterious and dangerous with a lot of excitement and intense cases to solve. Check out what they’ve fought: Drug smuggling? Check. Murders? Check. Arson? Check. Kidnapping? Check. Hazing? Check. Theft? Check. Extortion? Check. Blackmail? Check. Greed? Check. And not just once on these things. Plus, there’re more crimes besides those that they’ve solved.

One of the many things I love about the Hardy brothers and Nancy is that so often, they prevent murders. Isn’t that the goal? Isn’t it preferable to stop a murder before it happens? Yes, it is.

The Incorrect Details/Mischaracterization (just from what I’ve seen so far) ~
Um, femme fatale Nancy Drew? Who can’t picture Nancy rolling her eyes at that? Seriously. She would laugh! If you want to write something totally different, please don’t take the names of well-known, well-loved established characters, with character, and try to tell us you’re writing the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew! Nancy is not the only one rolling her eyes! The definition of femme fatale is NOT Nancy Drew. All anyone has to do to find that fact out very easily is to look up the definition in a dictionary and read some real Nancy Drew books. In fact, I’ll post the definition so no one has to look it up. The French literal translation is fatal/disastrous woman. A femme fatale is a seductress who leads men to destruction – a Delilah.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary Definition of Femme Fatale: a seductive woman who lures men into dangerous or compromising situations.

Yeah, Nancy Drew, not a femme fatale. She’s a brave, courageous, intelligent, nice, kind, compassionate, decent, and inspiring female.

Bonus error in synopsis that isn’t as important as the others and that would have been ignored by me, but once a reader gets irritated then it’s harder to ignore stuff: Bayport is not a resort town. Now the whole town of Bayport is laughing at that one.

I have more promo pics of the comic, but one of them has morbid, crime scene photos laying on the table of the interrogation room, that is entirely inappropriate and I’m not posting it.

The title, The Big Lie, is fitting.

The Bottom Line ~
No matter what, whatever this series says, Frank and Joe’s dad, Fenton, is alive.

I love reading the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, that’s pretty obvious from just a quick glance at my blog here. They are great characters. I respect them and appreciate others who actually love and respect them, too. You guys, I recommend you skip this one, unless it turns into a better mystery. There is absolutely no reason to be dragged through this. It’s depressing and I really don’t appreciate having to not only be not enthusiastic about this particular series that I had been looking forward to, but also having to even give it any amount of time during fun holidays. 🙄 There were other Dynamite Entertainment comics that I saw online that I was going to try, like The Green Hornet looked cool, but now when I see the publisher’s company name, I think of this depressing, horrific comic. However, I do want to be fair, so if I find out that this is a better mystery than how it is currently appearing, then I will adjust my words to reflect this.

If you want to read the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, there are so many good ones to read. 😎 If it’s a comic/graphic novel you want to read or re-read, check out Papercutz’s Hardy Boys #5 Sea You, Sea Me, #12 Dude Ranch, #3 Mad House to name a few and Nancy Drew #20 and #21 High School Musical Mystery, Parts 1 and 2. They will be much more enjoyable. 😎

 

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