Hey guys! How's it going? I'm doing well. Today's comic book review is one I've been putting off since I reviewed the fourth issue of this series back in January. And sadly I think this issue is the worst of this six issue series. So let's get into it and take a look at Nancy Drew & The Hardy Boys: The Death of Nancy Drew #5.
As I said in the my review of issue 4, this series easily could've been three or four issues long and it wouldn't've made much of a difference. And reading this issue firmly cements my opinion about this because while this issue isn't a filler like the last issue was, it does heavily lean into the modern day, CW teen drama tropes that ruined Riverdale. Half the issue is Frank acting all petty about Nancy deciding to let her ex-boyfriend, Ned Nickerson (you remember him right?), know that she's actually alive, despite the fact that NOBODY IS SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT SHE'S ALIVE!!! This is the worst kept secret since half of the superheroes's secret identities in all of the Arrowverse shows. Like really?
Also, the mystery itself keeps going in circles with little bits and pieces being revealed, but nothing to clarify anything about who tried to kill Nancy and why. Mind you they would've solved the mystery by now if Frank and Joe wouldn't keep letting their personal feelings for Nancy get in the way and acting like children when it comes to the decisions that Nancy makes concerning the case. Like going off on her own to investigate Maryanne Bobbsey in the previous issue, and letting Ned know that she's alive. It's just not interesting. Say what you will about the novels, but at least there Frank and Joe, well Frank anyway, never allowed their personal feelings to get in the way of solving a mystery. Joe was always the hot headed one of the duo and often let his personal feelings get him into trouble. Usually with the criminals the boys are trying to capture.
Also, Frank and Joe let their feelings get in the way when dealing with Ned, which led Nancy to give up and reveal herself to him. Just leave the romance stuff out of this and it would be about a thousand times better. The only time there's ever been a hint of a romance between Nancy and one of the boys was in the Super Mystery series which ran from 1988 until 1998 and was a crossover series between The Hardy Boys Casefiles and Nancy Drew Files, which both started in the late 80s. In the books there was an attraction between Nancy and Frank, but besides a kiss between them in fifth book of the series, Last Resort, it was never brought up again and I don't think anything was ever done with it in the Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Super Mystery series that started in 2007 to coincide with the series that were being published at the time, The Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers and Nancy Drew: Girl Detective. I could be wrong on that though since I haven't read those books.
Joe Eisma's art is great as usual, but unlike with his work on Archie, the dark colour palette is getting to be pretty depressing. I know, it's a murder mystery comic, but even the best murder mysteries on TV have scenes that take place during the day to contrast the darker tone of the nighttime scenes where the mystery is being solved.
Overall this was a pretty stupid issue. The novelty of having Frank, Joe, and Nancy working together has worn off though and this series easily could've been, and should've been, two or three issues shorter and it would've worked so much better. I'm just hoping that the ending is worth all of this pointless drama, because my patience with it is wearing thin. Hopefully this isn't a warning that The Hardy Boys will turn out this way by the end of season 1. But I've only seen one episode so far and I can't judge it fairly based on a comic book series that started to overstay it's welcome halfway through the series.
Alright guys that's going to be it for me for today. I'll be back tomorrow with the start of my look at my childhood VHS collection, with the Walt Disney Classics tapes that I had. I might combine this part with part 2, which will be a look at the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection tapes I had as a kid, but, we'll see how things go as I write the post tomorrow morning. I'll also be back on Saturday with my review of the second episode of The Hardy Boys which is on tomorrow night. So until then have a great rest of your day and I will talk to you all later. Take care.
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