Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys get a reinvention in 2017’s “Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys: The Big Lie.” This week, we look back at this miniseries, that was probably marketed the wrong way in a post Riverdale world.
Written by Anthony Del Col
Illustrated by Werther Dell’Edera
Colored by Stefano Simeone
Lettered by Simon Bowland
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 Nancy Drew to prove their innocence (and find the real guilty party in the process) in a twisting noir tale, complete with double-crosses, deceit, and dames. Writer Anthony Del Col (Assassin’s Creed, Kill Shakespeare) and artist Werther Dell’Edera (Batman: Detective Comics, House of Mystery) bring the iconic teen detectives into the modern age, and redefine noir for a new generation of readers!
Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys were created between the 1920’s and 1930’s by Edward Stratemeyer and the characters became pop culture staples for decades until falling into semi obscurity after the 1960’s ended. The books sold millions and for people a certain age, they carry fond memories of reading these stories that were often times ghostwritten by different writers. Both properties have been turned into live action movies and series but haven’t really captured the magic they once had. Now that Dynamite hast he license to create new comic stories with these characters, new life could be brought to them and in “Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys: The Big Lie,” that’s done very well. Gone is the “aww jeez, who stole the pie from the window” and here is murder, drugs and betrayal. It sounds shocking and really the opposite of why these properties work but this story works and will hopefully get picked up for more.
“Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys: The Big Lie” takes Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys and puts them in modern times. Frank and Joe Hardy’s father turned out to be a corrupt cop. This completely shook this town and the Hardy family to the core. This was worsened when their father is murdered and the Hardys are thought to have done it. They didn’t and while they’re being interrogated, we find out that Frank and Joe met with someone from their past the night that their father was killed. That person? Their old childhood friend Nancy Drew. Nancy Drew is back in town because her father, a prosecutor for the state, was called in for Mr. Hardy’s case to prove that he’s guilty of corruption. Nancy though, suspects that something else is going on and she helps the Hardys not only find out who killed their father but she shines a light on the dark side of this once idyllic town.
One of the things that struck me about this story is how this basically does what Riverdale does but doesn’t quite commit to it all the way. Like Riverdale, “Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys: The Big Lie” takes very old school, wholesome Americana characters and reimagines them for a modern and slightly older audience. Nancy Drew is not what she’s marketed as, she’s not a femme fatale but is instead a little more willing to bend the rules and get her hands dirty. Her presence is used to help give the Hardy Boys some added drama but she’s a driving force in the story and is more level headed and intelligent than these brothers. The cover of the first issue and the way the book was marketed was misleading, and it leads you to believe that she’s some kind of dangerous and sexy complication in this story and she’s not. Del Col as a writer deserved more credit than that.
Like Riverdale, this story is darker than one you’d expect these characters to exist in but in this case, it doesn’t feel sensational. That show sometimes does things for the shock value but that doesn’t happen here. These three don’t feel quite like modern teens but taking the archetype of each kid and placing it in a 2017 mentality gives me a reason to care about them. They don’t feel like relics of another time and there isn’t any forced cuteness through the dialogue or actions. It’s still a little silly to think about kids solving this crimes at this level but the personal approach of the story helps to make that work. The story flows through this entire six issue miniseries very nicely and each issue ends with a cliffhanger that works so well in trade format. It’s page turner all held together by the Nancy Drew character and Del Col’s knack for telling a mystery.
Continued belowWerther Dell’Edera’s art is just the right fit for this story but isn’t anything that feels completely new. Dell’Edera’s work is moody and feels very modern from how the characters are styled to how they move. The angles chosen and the highlights of each panel bring a real pulpy feel to the story which is something this story needs to succeed. I do however, think things could have been taken further. Some of the transitions are a little jarring but what really works for this story is how Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys are always framed. They are our leads and they are our detectives so they always have the focus and with that comes the kind of framing that you’d see in old noir movies. Dell’Edera gives us very still moments with expressions that tell us things that the characters don’t say. You feel the simmering resentment between these two brothers and how all this drama with their father has broken them in very distinct ways. Nancy on the other hand, you can visibly see her becoming hardened. She enters the story already fairly world weary at such a young age but in Dell’Edera’s art, you can see her trust for the world she’s known break down but within that, there is a confidence that doesn’t exist with the Hardy Boys. She knows who she is and she knows that she’s intelligent. She’s also brave but also allows herself to feel more than Frank and Joe and in Dell’Edera’s art, all that comes through without always telling us that with words.
Simon Simeone’s colors are the right kind of dark. He does a great job with shadowing and playing with light. There’s nothing too out of the box here but it does the job. The town feels bright in the earlier parts of this book but takes on a darker, seedier feel later on. Even the scenes taking place at night don’t feel like they take place in a beautiful vacation town; they feel like they take place in a city with secrets. He really sells the setting to us in a great way and adds a little flair to the action sequences that works very well with pops of brighter colors in just the right places. Simon Bowland’s lettering takes a great journal approach and the all white, balloon-less, letters on the black background in later pages really works for dramatics.
A book like this is either going to be your thing or you’ll hate it. I never had a connection to these characters so to take them and do a story like this with them doesn’t bother me on that level. I also do believe that you can take characters this old and do new things with them without losing who they are and I don’t think this story loses who they are. “Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys: The Big Lie” is a risky thing but it works and I sincerely hope that this gets another chance in the years to come.
