D.A.N.G.E.R. Spells the Hangman (spoilers)

[SDLagent]

Frank and Joe go undercover at a national spelling bee where a mysterious madman known as the Hangman is determined to erase the competition! Teens from across the globe have been invited to attend, and A.T.A.C. and the Hardy Boys have to do everything they can to keep the Hangman from spelling disaster!

Anyone else looking forward to this one? It sounds pretty good and the cover looks good, too.

[003Robin457]

Should be good. For the first time in a while a villan has a "Villan Name" other than their own.

[HB@1718]

I think it sounds pretty good. But why would a "dangerous hangman" want to target a little kids' spelling bee?

[SDLagent]

He's a sicko.

[HB@1718]

Wonder who the villain is. Probably a contestant wanting to knock off the competition so he can win (the usual).

[SDLagent]

That's not what it sounds like, but we'll see...

[SDLagent]

WHY IS FRANK HARDY MISSING IN ACTION?

CAN JOE HARDY SURVIVE ALONE?

AND WHY IS THIS DOG SO SAD?

There's a preview of D.A.N.G.E.R. Spells the Hangman at the Papercutz's blog.

[tomswift2002]

Interesting premise.  I don't think we've seen a case where it is one of the brothers alone since Brother Against Brother was published in January 1988.  I know that they have had Frank and Joe split up on cases to go in a couple of different directions in a case, but not a single case since January 1988 where the story is just about Frank or Joe.

[003Robin457]

Things just got alot more intresting.

[SDLagent]

The Hardy Boys Graphic Novel #18 D.A.N.G.E.R. Spells the Hangman



Scott Lobdell ? Writer
Paulo Henrigue Marcondes ? Artist
Mark Lerer ? Letterer
Laurie E. Smith ? Colorist
Chris Nelson and Shelly Dutchak ? Production
Michael Petranek - Editorial Assistant
Jim Salicrurp ? Editor-in-Chief

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

Plot: After wrapping-up their last case, Frank and Joe are back at school in Bayport. Mrs. Bartlett is announcing that Miss Cassie London will represent Bayport at the State spelling-bee. Joe who was competing against Cassie isn't too pleased.

The next morning, Mrs. Bartlett pays the Hardys a visit to let them know that Cassie has had to drop out of the bee, and asked Joe to take her place. He is happy to accept. Before she leaves, Mrs. Bartlett makes a phone call, which Playback overhears.

Joe isn't at the spelling bee long before he receives a mission briefing from ATAC, telling him that a mystery man known as the Hangman has sent a threat to the spelling bee, and ATAC has reason to believe he's serous. Joe phones Frank, who has taken Playback for Aunt Trudy.

Frank decides to finish-up with the veterinarian appointment before he heads over to the spelling bee, so Joe's on his own for awhile. Joe has a few near-run-ins with the Hangman but isn't having any success in stopping him, let alone figure out who he is and what his motives are.

Meanwhile, Frank has run-in to some trouble of his own. Playback's check-up went smoothly but before he can leave to help Joe, he hears a woman screaming, and rushes to the rescue. The woman's attackers are stealing a dog from the vet, and despite putting-up a good fight, Frank can't stop them from getting away.

With the help of a vet and a GPS, Frank manages to track the dognappers to their hideout. Without much trouble he manages to save yet another woman, and the dog.

At the spelling bee, Joe's been doing his fair share of saving women, but is glad when Frank shows-up.

While Joe's on stage, Frank does some detective work back-stage, but isn't having any more luck at stopping the Hangman than his brother. Then he gets a call on his cell. It's the vet, phoning to say Playback's doing fine, and that he keeps saying "Abeyance".

At that same time, up on stage, one of the contestants is spelling out "Abeyance". Something clicks in Frank's mind. He yells at Joe to get her (yes, she's a woman) off the stage, just as a trap door opens up in the stage, and she falls through toward some nasty bed of nails that the Hangman has put their. Needles to say, the brothers save the girl.

Figuring the Hangman will, now, be making a quick get away, the Hardys head for the parking lot, just in time to see the Hangman racing towards a waiting car. The brothers catch-up with him, and take him down, Frank ripping his mask off. The Hangman is just a kid in a body suit.

His accomplice gets out of the car. Just as Frank guessed, it's Mrs. Bartlett, the Hangman's grandmother. She says he's making up for all the spelling bees he failed at.

Later that night, at their house, Frank and Joe thank Playback for helping them solve the case.

Review: This book was great...until the end. The end sort of just came out of nowhere and was rather anti-climatic. The person was revealed to be the Hangman when Frank pulled his mask off, didn't even appear before this, and his (and especially his partner's) motive was very weak.

This is too bad, because I enjoyed just about everything about the story up to this point. In fact, if the ending was different, I'd give it five stars, and it'd probably be close to the top of my favorites list. I've read that a good ending can save a bad story, but a bad ending will ruin a good story. This is how I feel about D.A.N.G.E.R. Spells Hangman.

Like I said, though, I enjoyed everything before the end, so here's some of the positives:

Frank and Joe are working separately for most of the case, which is a nice change of pace. Also, the scenes with Frank at the vet were funny, and I found it ironic that after Joe made Frank take Playback to the vet, he wanted his brother's help more than every. They're was a few other nice/funny parts, too, including the "Fenton-made" dinner, and the school scene with Chet, Brian, and Belinda (yes, she's still alive).

The fights Frank has with the dognappers were pretty cool, and I like his dialogue in these parts:

Hitting defenseless women and dognapping aren't things that most civilized people consider funny. Since your would-be victim can't hit back, you'll allow me?

This all while beating-up two goons.

However, while I really enjoyed Frank's plot, it was a let-down in the end, too, since, as far as I can tell, the dognapping is totally unrelated to the main plot. I thought that this gang was in some way connected to the Hangman, but, alas, this is not the case. Having said this, this plotline isn't pointless - it serves the purpose of making the odds against the Hardys bigger, by keeping them apart. It adds conflict to the story.

As for the art, I having nothing bad to say about the art. There's one overly cartoony panel but that's just the style. PH (as Paulo Henrique Marcondes tells us he prefers to be called, in his "Papercutz Profile" in the Backpages of this book) has said he loves cartoony Manga.

Notes: As for the graphic design change, it looks pretty good, and, thankfully, the spine has not been changed. Strangely, Lobdell and Henrique aren't credited on the cover, like they have been on all past titles. Franklin W. Dixon still gets his name on the cover, though...I guess he'd be mad if they didn't credit him.

The Papercutz Backpages are good again. There's a preview of Chaos at 40,000 Feet!, a preview of Tales of the Crypt #8 Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid, and "A Papercutz Profile" about Paulo Henrique. This, as Jim Salicrurp says in his usually column, is basically the same as the mini bio that PH posted on the Papercutz blog a little while back.

In the Editor-in-Cheif's segment, like always, he mentions all the current Papercutz titles you should also try, but he also mentions an all-new series coming soon. He says they'll keep that a secret a little while longer.

Rating: 3/5

[tomswift2002]

I just received my copy today.  It looks like after the books went to the publisher's, the Canadian price jumped from $8.95 to $10.25.

[SDLagent]

Yeah, I was little up-set about that, too. At least it's not quite as much as they were when the series first started.

[tomswift2002]

I also noticed that in the back of the book Simon & Schuster had Papercutz publish an ad for the old Murder House Trilogy.  Come on...it wasn't even a good trilogy, plus it has been over a year since the last book was released, and there have been two more trilogies printed since then.  You would think S&S would advertise one of those trilogies!

[SDLagent]

You'd think so, but they had an ad for UB #13 The Mummy's Cruse, until just last year. That book came out almost four years ago!

[tomswift2002]

I just read the book this morning.  It was better than Shhh!, but for a criminal that was setup as a real troublemaker...the guys capture was pretty weak.  Plus the guy didn't do that much in the plot.  I was more interested in why the dognappers were kidnapping the dog rather than the Hangman wrecking a spelling bee---and I felt that the dognappers might've been part of a bigger story.