Nancy Drew: Girl Detective #1

[Craig Reade]

Nancy Drew: Girl Detective #1 The Demon of River Heights

Papercutz - $7.95 Writer: Stephan Petrucha Art: Sho Murase 3D Elements: Rachel Ito

Review:
Written by Craig Reade

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Not too long ago I write a pretty long and involved review of the first title out of NBM’s Papercutz division, the brand new Hardy Boys. While I, at first, had a visceral reaction to the issue, having to give it some very serious thought to decide whether or not I liked it, and whether or not it lived up to being a “Hardy Boys book." While in the end I did decide that it wasn’t as bad as I initially thought, there were still a few things that didn’t sit quite right with me, and in the end I chalked those things up to the evolution of a concept, and me just being a grumpy old man.

I didn’t find I had that problem after reading the very first Nancy Drew graphic novel from Papercutz. The Demon of River Heights, the first in a series of complete digest-sized graphic novels, follows Nancy Drew and her two best friends Bess and George as they try and unravel the strange events surrounding a film project in the woods. After setting a date with the two young filmmakers, Bess is disappointed when the pair don’t show up to meet her at the coffee shop. The three girls return to the woods, and discover the film equipment still set up, but the boys are nowhere to be seen.

I am actually going to start with the art here – a shift from my normal review style since I am generally so story oriented, but when I am this happy with the art of a book done in a Manga-eque style, that is worthy of some serious mention. I did find the art to be a little inconsistent at a few points – almost as if someone else drew the random panel here and there. It was strange, but not overly distracting. The characters have distinct looks, and Murase does a darned good job telling this story. The action is easy to follow, the presentation is good and nothing ever really looks too cluttered. It almost had a darker sort of Archie feel to it at times, which really fit the tone of the story very well. The look is solid, and I think it will go over very well with the target audience. Now unlike the Hardy Boys, which had a traditional background, Nancy Drew #1 did something a little different – Computer Graphics. Rachel Ito handles mostly backgrounds in her CG chores. And while these aren’t as spectacular as something we might see in something like The Symbiotes, they get the job done, and give the book a very deep feel.

Now there was one other aspect of the character presentation I really feel I must comment on – the clothing. In short – Nancy is not dressed like a slut. I know revealing clothing is all the rage with the kids these days, but one of the reasons for that is that they don’t have anyone to look up to that doesn’t dress half-naked on a regular basis. Nancy has no exposed mid-drift – she is wearing a skirt, but it is a long skirt, without her butt hanging out of the bottom. It is refreshing! Mostly when you see things that are geared towards a younger audience, the girls are dressed in the fashion of the day. Nancy Drew always had too much self-respect to dress the way some teenagers dress these days, and I am glad to see that Murase remembered that. Her friends are dressed equally respectfully- even Nancy’s arch nemesis Deirdre Shannon is dressed modestly throughout the book, and she is even on a date! I tell you, I really don’t think I could have taken it if Nancy Drew was dressed like a hoochie.

Yes, as a young reader, I read my fair share of Nancy Drew books. Yes, they were kind of meant for girls, but at that age, I read anything I could get my hands on, and since I loved the Hardy Boys so much, raiding my sister’s Nancy Drew collection was a logical extension of that. Upon reading the Hardy Boys comic for the first time, I was a bit shocked at how different it seemed from what I remembered the books to be like. This Nancy Drew graphic novel felt exactly as I remembered the novels to be, a perfect fit. Nancy wasn’t too preachy – she is the very definition of a “good girl,” but unlike the way the Hardy Boys comic seemed to sling morals to you left and right, Nancy Drew just was as she should be, and if you were going to walk away with a positive message, all you had to do was watch how Nancy acted, not listen to what she told you. The modern tech references were still there, but they weren’t nearly as pervasive as they were in that first issue of the Hardy Boys – and for the most part, all of the tech references involved George, who was the tech-geek of the trio anyway, so they made perfect sense. The characters were even the right age – an aspect of the Hardy Boys book that I didn’t think Lobdell quite got right. Stephan Petrucha nailed these characters, all of them, and perfectly recreated Nancy Drew’s world.

The story itself is a pretty simplistic mystery, but then, none of Nancy Drew’s adventures were ever really that complicated. As these stories are really designed for the younger reader, it makes sense that the story not be overly complex. While the mystery itself isn’t really that difficult to figure out, the journey to the big reveal is indeed a good one, and there is even a nice little twist at the end. Petrucha writes the perfect Nancy Drew story – something a younger reader can be entertained by, while most certainly not talking down to anyone in a more mature age group.

Papercutz has hit an absolute homerun with this book. A manga-style comic digest, something that does appeal to today’s kids, with the proven formula of Nancy Drew, and a stellar job by the book’s creative team. If this book can reach the hands of the right audience easily enough, I think they could have a huge hit on their hands. Check it out for yourself if you ever enjoyed Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys, and if you have kids old enough to read, or know anyone who does, BUY THIS FOR THEM. It has to be one of the very best “All Ages” comics I have read in a long, long time.

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Rating(out of 5):

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