Graphic Novels Done?

[tomswift2002]

Unfortunately, while the Graphic Novels had the best stories of the UB universe, the majority of brick-and-mortar bookstores only carried the regular UB's, which are in no way had the best stories of any Hardy Boys series, but because of that, there was very little promotion for the graphic novels in those books or the in the stores for kids and parents to even know that there were graphic novels out, much less a change in the series name.  I think that Simon & Schuster simply didn't support the series, since we saw a ton of ads for the regular UB's and the trilogies in the Graphic Novels, but I think there were only one or two adverts at the back of the UB books about the Graphic novels. 

So, with that word, I wouldn't be surprised if at some point over the next 18 months Papercutz issues a statement saying that the Graphic Novels have been cancelled.

Of course the long wait could be due to other things.  Maybe Papercutz's licensing agreement is up with Simon & Schuster, and Papercutz is trying to renew, but the negotiations aren't going too far right now, so Papercutz has had to put both series on hold.

[MacGyver]

Just saw this on Amazon.com - it's a boxed set of the three issues of Nancy Drew: Girl Detective- The New Case Files graphic novel series. It's being touted as "Nancy Drew Vampire Slayer" -The Complete Saga. So I guess this is the culmination of that story arc with the third issue. It just seems to add to the finality for the graphic novel series at least at the moment with this release.

[SkyWarp]

The Spring Catalog came out for Papercutz (if you can call it that, it doesn't look like their normal catalogs) and there is no mention of ND or HB, not even back orders. 

Of course, with the UB ending and a new series starting, perhaps the Graphic Novels are also being rebooted?  Hard to tell.

[SDLagent]

That's what I wonder too. It seems odd that S&S would tell Papercutz this after they just relaunched the series though.

[MacGyver]

Yeah- I'm pretty sure Simon & Schuster's revamping of The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew has put the kibosh on the graphic novels for the moment. Maybe after the new series get going, and assuming Papercutz still holds the licence, they'll resume at that point... who knows?

[MacGyver]

Oh yeah- and this is totally unrelated, but I love Papercutz's hosting site name- Edelweiss- one of my favorite songs from The Sound of Music, not to mention a beautiful flower found in Switzerland and Austria throughout the Alps.

[MacGyver]

I was just thinking that it would have been awesome if the graphic novels had done a crossover with The Hardy Boys and Tom Swift. We finally got a Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew crossover (and in her own series, Nancy Drew had a crossover with the Dana Girls too, which was a lot of fun.) It would have been nice to see The Hardy Boys meet up with Tom Swift. If and when the graphic novels ever pick back up, I'd love to see that one done. And then I'd love to see The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and Tom Swift all in one big adventure together. And yeah- we can throw in the Dana Girls too while we're at it.

[Hardy Boys UB Fan]

I was just thinking that it would have been awesome if the graphic novels had done a crossover with The Hardy Boys and Tom Swift. We finally got a Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew crossover (and in her own series, Nancy Drew had a crossover with the Dana Girls too, which was a lot of fun.) It would have been nice to see The Hardy Boys meet up with Tom Swift. If and when the graphic novels ever pick back up, I'd love to see that one done. And then I'd love to see The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and Tom Swift all in one big adventure together. And yeah- we can throw in the Dana Girls too while we're at it.

Hey, you forgot Alex Rider. That'd be cool.

[SDLagent]

I think MacGyver was thinking of Stratemeyer Syndicate characters. But, yeah, a Alex Rider/Hardy Boys crossover would be pretty cool.

[MacGyver]

yeah, given the similarities of Alex Rider's secret missions and Frank and Joe Hardy's involvement with ATAC, that could work. But as SDLAgent said, I was mainly thinking of Stratemeyer Syndicate characters. I'd prefer to see a self-contained crossover for them in the graphic novels first. But I'd certainly be cool with an Alex Rider/Hardy Boys crossover too on its own- sounds cool. It might even get me interested to get around to reading the books....

[SDLagent]

Yeah, you should read Alex Rider. If you like The Hardy Boys you'll like that series too. It's pretty similar especially to the Casefiles.

[MacGyver]

Okay- thanks for the recommendation...I'll keep it in mind

[MacGyver]

Well, in doing some sleuthing around on the Internet for other things, I have stumbled across some interesting information on Papercutz and perhaps an indication towards the future of The Hardy Boys graphic novel series.
While I have not seen any word on The Hardy Boys just yet, apparently there will definitely be a new Nancy Drew graphic novel in October of this year!
However- it's not exactly the Nancy Drew you may have been thinking of at first....

Papercutz will be doing a graphic novel version of Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew- #1 Small Volcanoes

So presumably we will see a new series of graphic novels based on this series in the fall. I don't know if this will be in addition to the standard teenaged Nancy Drew graphic novels or in place of- but at least it's something.
Also worth noting is that while the authors are still the same (Sarah Kinney & Stefan Pretrucha)- the artist is different. Rather than the manga style that Papercutz has done in the past, it will now feature an American comic book style as drawn by Stan Goldberg, famous for his work on Archie Comics! (One of my all time favorite comic series, so I'm excited for that. Plus, I don't care that much for manga to begin with, so I'd welcome a change in style anyway.)
      So this will be full color with 64 pages.

Now then- I wonder if this means we should expect to see a graphic novel version of The Hardy Boys: Secret Files series? Technically, the Secret Files and Clue Crew book series are the only current book series for both The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, respectively. (now that the Undercover Brothers and Girl Detective series are getting cancelled- save for this last gasp Supermystery ['07] coming out this summer- I doubt that series would run without its parent series still going though.)
     I wonder if Papercutz would do these series alongside comics based on the teenage versions of The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew- or if they will be doing these younger series in place of those? Of course, this could be something to tide us over until The Hardy Boys Adventure Series gets running and The Nancy Drew Diary series gets going. Then perhaps they may adapt those into graphic novels too- but I suppose they will have to wait for those to get published before moving forward with anything else- as they definitely don't want to do any UB/GD-universe stories with those series being cancelled. And I don't guess they're going to just do a teenaged series for either The Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew without some kind of book series running to base it on (and cross promote with).
     Hit the link above for more pictures- but here's the cover art for this Nancy Drew title coming.

[SDLagent]

I've noticed that Papercutz seem to be aiming their books at a younger audience lately. Compared to their early titles. So this makes sense.

[MacGyver]

Hmm- that does seem to be true. This may be the direction they're going to go for The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew then... which is cool in some ways but a bit of a bummer in other ways. But I suppose they have to go where they're reaching the biggest audience and making the most sales- and I'm guessing the younger kids is where it's at right now.