Writer: Anthony Del Col
Artist: Joe Eisma
Colorist: Salvatore Aiala
Letterer: Crank!
Cover: Joe Eisma
Editor: Matt Eidelson
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Available: July 8, 2020
Price: $3.99
Out next Wednesday from Dynamite Entertainment is issue two of The Death of Nancy Drew, latest in Dynamite’s Teen+, noir-esque revamping of long-beloved adolescent sleuths Nancy Drew and Frank & Joe Hardy (as well as a darker turn for the Bobbsey Twins).
If you’ve not read issue one yet (why the Maltese Falcon not?!?), you may want to stop here, and get thee to thine comic store for said glorious first installment (you can also read my review of same here). Those of you who have, read on…
So as it turns out, Nancy Drew isn’t actually dead, but only just barely. The Drewster serves up her sordid tale in issue two, filling in the (very wide) gaps left by Joe’s issue one narrative. Seems as though the Syndicate isn’t quite as defunct as we thought…and they’re out for some blood. Nancy had, having survived an attack on her life and kept said survival secret with the aid of a coroner friend and helpful Frank Hardy, hoped to turn the tables on her pursuers. As their investigations evolve, however, they find themselves embroiled in more than any of them had ever anticipated…
In Death of Nancy Drew, Part Two, the team of Anthony Del Col, Joe Eisma, Slavatore Aiala and Crank! continue their translation of the historically mid-teen, sanitized and cheeky world of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys into a dark, Dashielle Hammet-esque noir crime mystery with as great aplomb as they did Part One, and The Big Lie. Del Col’s writing remains crisp and tense, Eisma’s lines slick and shady, Aiala’s colors dark and brooding, and Crank!’s lettering well-placed and even more well-formed. All in all, a continued achievement, and very well worth your time and coin.
I’ll be honest: if you’d have told me five years ago that I’d be sitting here, at 48, championing the virtue of a Nancy Drew comic book—for adult (and late teen) readers—I’d have likely diagnosed you with something. But here we are. It’s an excellent read, folks—perfect in tone and execution, and without ever losing the original flavor and familiarity of the source characters and material, which is perhaps the team’s greatest accomplishment, in my book.
Death of Nancy Drew, Part Two will be available July 8 from your local comic store, Amazon, comiXology or the Dynamite Entertainment website (dynamite.com).
Score: 13 (of 13)
Review by Andy Patch
Contributing Editor, thePullbox.com
