Review: The Death Of Nancy Drew #1

Bearing in mind the title of this new mini series from Dynamite Entertainment, all I can think of is what an odd way to celebrate your 90th anniversary!Â Nancy Drew, the detective who has been around longer than Batman, has finally come a cropper.Â Still where there is a mystery and Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys are not too far behind.

Following on from previous runs, Nancy and the boys of course, were successful in taking down the Syndicate.Â Now, not long after their success, and with Nancy even more obsessed, Joe is called to the site of a crash and Nancy’s untimely demise.Â Not one to believe in coincidences, Joe gets it into his head that the object of his possibly unrequited love was murdered!Â He sets off to track down her killer, despite the no help he gets from her friends, her father and his brother Frank.Â When it comes to looking under unturned stones, Joe needs to be mindful of what my come crawling out.

The book is written by Ringo-nominated writer Anthony Del Col (Kill Shakespeare, Luke Cage).Â The tone of the book is pure noir, with some gumshoe thrown in for good measure.Â There isn’t a great deal of dialogue; what we get is a meandering style of inner monologue which serves to demonstrate the reasoning and thinking behind Joe’s actions.Â This is a great example of how not to let exposition dominate a book.Â Del Col goes about the business of setting up the alleged crime, before introducing the reader to the swathe of possible culprits, that is if you agree with Joe.Â The pacing is also perfect, with Del Col never spending too much time on one aspect of the story.Â With Joe feeling the loss of Nancy as well as his loss of not being able to tell her how he feels, the tension he carries is almost palpable and evident on every page.

The art is supplied by Eisner-award winner Joe Eisma (Morning Glories, Riverdale).Â Not having read those books, this is a new artist to me.Â Reading the book, there is a lot to like.Â Sure the face may seems a little cartoon-esque in places, and there is a plethora of pointing fingers.Â Regardless there is a sense of emotion to the art.Â In many ways it reminds me of Jorge Santiago Jr. form Spencer and Locke fame.Â I especially liked the first act flashbacks.Â Eisma does great with confrontation and conversation pieces of the story, though non-emotion scenes can look a little flat.Â Eisma’s artÂ isn’t helped out consistently by colorist Salvatore Aiala.Â Whilst the aforementioned flashback works well, at times the digital colors lack texture which helps to bleed the emotion out of the art.Â Finally, letters are provided by Crank! who uses a font that doesn’t take up word balloon space and a more comics sans approach to the inner monologue.Â Both work well, contrasting each other, but the former does take a little bit to get used to.

So an emotive start to a book and series that is playing its cards close to its chest.Â The mystery of what happened to Nancy Drew will only deepen as follow Joe in his search for the truth that his heart desires.

Writing – 5 Stars

Art – 4 Stars

Colors – 3.5 Stare

Overall 4 Stars

Written by; Anthony Del Col
Art by Joe Eisma
Colors by; Salvatore Aisla
Letters by; Crank!
Published by Dynamite Entertainment

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network