I like a good mystery, but this was only okay. It's nice to see an attempt to modernize Nancy Drew, but I still felt like the characters were very two dimensional, and the attempt to create diverse characters is useless if they aren't real people. They didn't seem to have any stories of their own, just an unrealistic devotion to Nancy with no clear explanation why. What are their life stories, and why are they so willing to drop absolutely everything and risk their lives for someone they haven't kept in touch with for seven years and seems to boss them around and take them for granted? ( )

I love these characters so much! ( )

I received this graphic e-read when I signed up for Diamond Bookshelf's newsletter. It's been a while since I stepped into the realm of graphic novels since I was younger and what better way to re-wet my feet than with good 'ole Nancy Drew. I was pleasantly shocked when I learned she pairs with my all time favorites, The Hardy Boys, in this mystery. My love of reading started with those two and this just rekindled all my love of mystery and intrigue.

The graphics are very well done and I enjoyed the additional illustrations added at the end. Even though I am pretty sure I may have missed a few editions in this set, I did not feel lost and was able to glide right into the premise and get my Drew on.

The plot is perfectly Nancy Drew and I loved every page of it. I had no problems connecting with the characters and the illustrations and context made me feel part of the gang in a reader's sense.

Thank you to Diamond Bookshelf for the opportunity to dive back into my childhood past with this Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys team graphic novel. I look forward to finding more of these gems. ( )

Time to be honest: this was the very first Nancy Drew anything I've ever read. Same for the Hardy Boys. I even had some of their books on my shelf growing up. I just didn't really care enough or thought they would be boring since they weren't about fairies or sharks (I had eclectic interests, okay).

So forgive for being surprised, but this reimagined graphic novel was kinda amazing?? And it's making me want to read actual Nancy Drew? I shelve about a million of these things at the library every day and maybe I should check one out for myself.

The Art

First things first, the art in this was super good! A lot of comics have that weird state-of-being I have started calling "rushed by a deft hand" in which the artist(s) is/are clearly talented but also clearly didn't have time to be precise, so things end up looking...odd, to put it kindly. A lot of Western comics have this issue, so color me surprised when this turned out to be pretty, well, pretty!

The character designs are all distinct from each other and really did a good job at portraying at face value who these people are. The fashion, the posture, the facial expressions all told of what any given character was thinking behind their dialogue. A lot of comics lack this and end up with poorly done sarcasm and the like because the body language doesn't come across through the medium. Even little things, like how tense the shoulders are during the scene spoke volumes about what was happening. I loved it! I absolutely loved it!

And let it be said that Nancy's fashion sense is peak preppy grunge and I absolutely stan. I would wear literally anything she had on.

The only qualm I have with the art, though, is that there were a few inconsistencies, and they seemed to be grouped together in the climax, which did distract me from the narrative a bit. It wasn't major, just some weird hair color changes and a few panels that seemed to be out of order or something. I'm sure that last one made sense on paper but on my phone screen and the limitations it has, I had to go back a few times because I lost track of the order of events.

Also, and this could just be my phone being dumb or a weird glitch in the file, but the art was kinda pixelated the whole time, which was particularly odd because the text boxes were fine.

The Story

I LOVED the story!! It was so good!!! It was well paced and well executed. There were definitely some cliches in there but they were cliches I generally like so I didn't mind them. I loved how the characters were written and how they grew or didn't grow. Nancy was my favorite, Bess being a close second, with Frank in third place. Honestly, the only character I didn't really care for was Pete but I'm not mad about it. We just didn't really click.

The mystery was awesome. This totally knew how to do detective fiction the right way, where the reader can figure things out too instead of the plot just kind of happening all at once out of nowhere. Things felt consistent and I had a great grasp on the themes and arcs.

One thing that's kinda important to note is that there is a dead mom trope going on, so if that's a trigger for anyone, I'd stay away. It's central to two characters arcs, one of them being Nancy Drew herself, so it's impossible to avoid.

Conclusion

I loved it! I need more in this series! ( )