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Reviewed by David Rasmussen It's been a little while since I last reviewed Nancy Drew (also Papercutz), so how about flipping to the opposite side of the classic retro mystery coin and reviewing the other old-school mystery title, The Hardy Boys? I'm not really one for titles with pretty boy leads, but at least in one respect (the art) The Hardy Boys does outshine Nancy Drew… but then gets dragged down by terrible dialogue, a pointless adventure, and an attempt to ride Harry Potter's Firebolt (metaphorically speaking) with the title appearance in the back of the book… why no, I really didn't notice the use of the Harry Potter font to say the words "The Hardy Boys and the Castle of Mystery" on the back cover! Puh-leeze!! Agents of the mysterious group A.T.A.C. (American Teens Against Crime), the brothers Hardy often find themselves in strange situations… like in the beginning when a stupid guy totally brings a poor innocent female hostage to them and they instinctively notice her distress and save her by barely breaking a sweat. Then they go on rattling off bad one-liners like "That's the coffee I ordered." and "May I get you some justice to go with that?" Sure. Short Round! Fetch me my barf bag! As the adventure REALLY opens (after the totally-pointless Hardy-Boys-to-the-rescue moment) we find the boys at their school Bayfront High, as they're watching the talent show. There young female student Dia (aka "Dia the Amazing" who is presently performing magic before the not-so-stunned audience) drops the brothers their next assignment as it seems she just pulled it out of her hat before the show… wow, it (that fake game cartridge jewel case that seems to be a trademark of A.T.A.C. missions) really fit in her hat! No, really, it did. The mission, should the Hardy Boys decide to accept it (which they always do) is to locate the missing canine companion of the older magician the Great Marconi (did he magically invent radio?), sent to investigate the mysterious Castle Magique in Hollywood (say, isn't that the house Bill Bixby, aka Dr. Banner from the Incredible Hulk TV Series, built?). There they find a cast of characters including a Middle Eastern psychic (who knows more than he can say in his brief appearance), a hippie-looking magic dude, and a hot chick in fishnet stockings and cute little blue magic-girl outfit… though she's dysfunctional as all heck. Oh, and a female writer is there as well, rounding out the cast of characters set before the boys. But who stole the canine partner of the magician? Could it have been the mysterious… ENOONE? ENOONE! Take away the first E and -- what? Too easy? So what. It's ENOONE… which means… yeah, that. What a disappointment! Not to spoil the ending (what passes for an ending) but the ending is a drag, the resolution blows, and you're wondering why you wasted the trip. On the bright side, as I hinted before, this title is what Nancy Drew should have been (instead of too-obviously CGI art, less real artwork, it's just pure drawing artwork from start to finish with no fancy CGI to clutter the artwork). Oh, and while it's okay artwork, it's not stunning artwork (which seems to be a calling card of Papercutz as the artwork is often passable but not stellar). So it's a title with okay artwork, fixing a problem present in Nancy Drew but having its own like terrible dialogue moments, terrible scenes with obvious outcomes, and a story that ends badly because it's an ending you should have seen coming without me even having to hint about it (and the mystery of the ENOONE… fine, for those who need it spelled out I just said "No One" over and over again [once you remove either the first or last E and read it forwards or backwards the word ENOONE spells No One]… there, now chew on that mystery for awhile). And yes, as a great comedian once pointed out "If I have to spell out the joke for you it's no longer funny"… which it never was. So with all said and done the title is average. Oh well, with the near yaoi-ness of manga-esque art combined with brotherly investigations, I really wasn't rooting too hard for this one. A C+ for the Hardy Brothers. [Editor's note: When asked, the reviewer clarified that the seemingly high grade of the C+ is in contrast to Papercutz' Nancy Drew publication: "Because Nancy Drew should pick up on this and stop shoving pointless CGI graphics down people's throats. Nancy Drew would look a lot better if the title was straight art only (like this) than with the often-sticks-out-like-a-sore-thumb CGI that looks so out of place in comparison to the drawn artwork alongside it.] Comment on this review of Hardy Boys v11: Abracadeath on the Manga Life Forums. |
6 October 2009
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