Posted in: Comics | Tagged: death of nancy drew. nancy drew

The Death of Nancy Drew #1 – Anthony Del Col's Writer's Commentary

Anthony Del Col has a writer's commentary talking about his latest pulp-inspired The Death Of Nancy Drew #1, from Dynamite Entertainment, which hits stores last week and saw The Hardy Boys investigating Nancy's death. He writes;

PAGE 1

I view this page as a "set-up page". It fills the reader in on who the Nancy Drew character traditionally has been perceived before the rug is pulled out from underneath them on the next page. But I'm getting ahead of myself here…

When most people think of Nancy Drew, it's of a goodie-goodie teen detective. So this page is leaning into that, showing a resourceful Nancy from the age of 7 through to 19. Though she looks different at each age, we can see her resourcefulness and determination in every moment.

(And yes, for those who look, there are Easter eggs here, notably in the grandfather clocks in the third panel.)

PAGE 2

Remember how I said the first page was a set-up? Well, this is the moment when the rug is pulled out from underneath us.

Yeah, Nancy's dead.

When I first conceived of the idea for this series, this was the image that came to mind. At first it was going to be both Frank and Joe Hardy standing at the grave, in despair, at the loss of their friend. But as I sat down to write it, I realized it would be more effective to just have Joe standing there. Not only has he lost his very good friend Nancy, but his brother's not there either.

I really want to point out the artwork by Joe Eisma here. He did a fantastic job highlighting the sadness of this moment. Man, this might be the best panel in the entire issue, which means we've peaked on the second page…?

PAGE 3

Ah yeah, the good ol' flashback page. We set the table with Nancy through the years, and then threw down the first course with the cemetery scene. But how the hell did Nancy get here?

Since this is technically a continuation of my 2017 series Nancy Drew & The Hardy Boys: The Big Lie, I wanted to bring readers that weren't familiar with that series up to speed. As well, I wanted to show what had happened in the six months between that series and this. I think it hits all the key beats along the way.

I want to point out how great Crank! is at the lettering in this entire issue. He was recommended by editor Matt Idelson (also great!) and he really hit a home run with this issue. He did some really cool things with the captions as well as all the text messages and titles throughout the entire issue.

PAGE 4

Ah, the actual death of Nancy Drew. I had originally conceived of this first large panel being from the ground looking up but when Joe sent me the layouts I realized this angle would be so much better.

The real emotion on this page is Panel 2 – Joe and Nancy's father, Carson Drew, commiserating over her death. Man, Joe Eisma did an incredible job on Carson here. Almost makes me cry.

I love the coloring work here – perhaps the best page of the issue – especially in Panel 2. The red of the police sirens is so poignant here.

PAGE 5

The story behind The Death of Nancy Drew is a long, winding and soap opera-ish tale. I won't bother you with details, but I had written these first five pages as almost a selling feature for what it could be (even though I had a deal in place already for it). As such, I timed out what would happen through these first five pages and wanted to end with the determined Joe ready to do battle with whoever or whatever led to Nancy's death.

In the first series (The Big Lie), the issues were either narrated by Nancy or Frank/Joe. As I sat down to write this first issue I realized that it (the issue) would be more effective to come from only one person – Joe. I wanted him to have the classic Sam Spade/Phillip Marlowe noir approach – the detective that will do whatever it takes to solve the crime, even if it means alienating family members (you'll have to read the issue to find out what I mean!). When there are three main characters it's always tough to balance the perspective but I think as it goes on we do a good job of it (again, kudos to editor Matt Idelson for making sure everything was on track!).

THE COVER

I LOVE this cover image. Joe Eisma's doing the covers for all six issues and though I like them all, I think this might be the best. Without any words it captures everything we want to know about the series – the tone, the characters, the sadness, the drive. And the colors he selected were right-on.

My only critique of the cover is the placement of the actual "Death of Nancy Drew". I fear the actual title gets lost by being in the shadow. Let's face it – it's a very provocative title (see controversy when the series was announced in late-January) and I'm sad it's not front-and-center. I hope that the collected trade will have a new placement. But other than that, I love it!!!

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