Favorite Hardy Boys series starts...

[MacGyver]

I thought this might be an interesting topic since over the years, The Hardy Boys have had both the original mystery series of books, which later got revised and then had various spin-off series from there. So out of all of these (and we can throw in Nancy Drew and Tom Swift for fun too, since some of these series involve them as well)- are there any that stand out in your mind as being a really great start to the series? I mean, when you're dealing with a chapter book series for younger kids or an ongoing mystery series like The Hardy Boys or others (it really applies for most any series of books, no matter the age level) and the same for film and TV series too, for that matter- all of these need to have a definitive storytelling element and plot device somewhere that defines why that particular series stands out from everything else that has previously been done. It's something that sets the tone and lets you know what this thing is going to be like, for the most part, for the duration. It also is the place where you get the initial hook that draws you into reading the series or watching the series, as the case may be, and leaves you excited for more.
        So with those criteria in mind, which of the following series do you think accomplished it really well and how do they compare with each other? (Wow- this sounds like a long essay question on an English exam- lol. Though one I wouldn't mind tackling or even expanding into a research paper. )

The Hardy Boys #1 "The Tower Treasure" (original 1927 version)


The Hardy Boys #1 "The Tower Treasure" (1959 revised version)


(Clarification on this- Technically The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories is an ongoing series from #1 to #190, but there are also places where publishers changed and cover art styles changed along the way, as well as story lengths, all of which also helped signify a change in direction in some ways for the series. So I may also list a few of these books, even though they aren't really the first one in the series.)

The Hardy Boys #59 "Night of the Werewolf"

(Wanderer version)

(2nd. Minstrel version)

The Hardy Boys #83 "The Swamp Monster"
(last book to have 20 chapters and one-off cover design)



The Hardy Boys #84 "Revenge of the Desert Phantom"
(Most likely a prototype for "The Hardy Boys Casefiles" series- also first book to have less than 20 chapters since #72 The Voodoo Plot- which only has 19.)


The Hardy Boys #136 "The Cold Cash Caper"
(cover redesign)


The Hardy Boys #161 "Training for Trouble"
(cover redesign- first time neither Frank nor Joe appear on the cover. Also first book to have less than 15 chapters. Possibly a discarded and re-edited to fit into the Digests universe Casefiles plot)


The Hardy Boys Casefiles #1 "Dead on Target"


The Hardy Boys Casefiles #105 "Law of the Jungle"
(cover updated to showcase stars of and promote the 1995 The Hardy Boys series)


The Hardy Boys Casefiles #122 "River Rats"
(cover redesign)


A Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Supermystery #1 "Double Crossing"


A Hardy Boys and Tom Swift Ultra Thriller # 1 "Time Bomb"


Frank and Joe Hardy: The Clues Brothers #1 "The Gross Ghost Mystery"


The Hardy Boys: Secret Files #1 "Trouble at the Arcade"


The Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers #1 "Extreme Danger"

[tomswift2002]

I think Time Bomb is a really interesting book to start a series with, since up until then, there had been no way to have the Hardy's involved in a time-travel story, unless it was some fan fiction story that somehow managed to transport the boys on the Enterprise, etc.  But, in Time Bomb, the author had the Hardy's meet up with Tom Swift at Tom's family's scientific plant, not knowing what would be going on.

Not to mention that Simon & Schuster one good job promoting Time Bomb, with having the book come out on the "heels" of the best Hardy Boys Casefiles story every released (and S&S even had Time Bomb act as an epilogue to the whole trilogy) but then in the backs of No Mercy & The Phoenix Equation. S&S put a short-story version of Time Bomb together so well that it made me just want to read the whole story.  I will admit that after reading the book, I found the ending wasn't as good as the beginning (kind of like how Star Trek TNG's The Best Of Both Worlds has a fantastic Part 1, but then Part 2 is still great and is still one of the best episodes of Trek ever, but not as good as Part 1), but it was still a great book to start off the series, and to have possible started, had S&S gone this way, a number of Hardy Boys Casefiles where Tom Swift made cameos or guest-starred every once in a while. 

[MacGyver]

I still need to read this book- lol. I've got both of the "Hardy Boys and Tom Swift Ultra Thrillers" books and I do hope to read them soon. So many books and so little time and all that....
But yeah- I think it sounds like a very interesting start to a series and definitely something very different for Frank and Joe Hardy. They've had a few brushes with the supernatural and science fiction here and there throughout the series, but they usually stay pretty grounded in the natural world. Had this continued into a full fledged series, it would have been pretty cool to see Frank and Joe and Tom getting involved in more sci-fi and futuristic tech-type stories, still including mysteries for Frank and Joe to solve but with more a scientific bent where Tom could bring in his skills to help- and all wrapped up with plenty of action. It was new territory for The Hardys to investigate.

[Olivia]

I remember what got me into it: the '88 Supermysteries. At that point the series was about to end (late 90's?). After that I read a handful of Original Nancy Drew (like in the 160's) and might've read one or two Original Hardy Boys (blue spines). Stopped for a long time until Undercover Brothers came out.

Then I read the UBs (not the first one, but in the first five). Not good, let's just say. But I did continue with it and even have a very short list of what I like (judging based on this series, not next to other HBs).

At about the same time I read a couple of Casefiles. My reaction was that it was pure awesome. I liked the heavy action and how they worked on elaborate cases.

[SDLagent]

The Tower Treasure is a favourite of mine but nothing about it really makes me think it was a great way to start the series. Anyone of the first few books would have worked well as book number one. Actually, I think The House on the Cliff would have been a better number one. To me it's just got everything that makes a good Hardy Boys story and Fenton going missing would have been a good motive to get Frank and Joe into detective work.

I would say, Dead on Target, the first title of The Hardy Boys Casefiles was a great start for the series and possibly the all-time best Hardy Boys "series starts". It established the new status quo and set the tone for the entire series and the new continuity.  Not to mention it was a really good story. Pretty much everything a number one should be.

Time Bomb is one of my favourite Hardy Boys books ever but for some reason it felt more like a one-shot to me. A long-running The Hardy Boys /Tom Swift crossover series would have been great though.

Even though I don't like the series, I think Extreme Danger was a good book and a good way to start The Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers. It does a good job of introducing the world of the UB and showed the series had potential.

[tomswift2002]

You also have to remember that for other parts of the world, mostly with the Original continuity books, The Tower Treasure was not always the boys first case, or first published case.

In Britain, depending on the decade, the boys first published case in the 1950's by Harold Hill was The Secret Of The Lost Tunnel, with mention of The Tower Treasure being the boys actual first case (although The Tower Treasure was the 4th book issued by Harold Hill).

Between 1959 and 1969, when Sampson Low and then MacDonald (starting in 1967) were printing the books, the boys first published, and in many stories the first named case the boys had, was the Original text version of The Sinister Signpost.

But then, from 1971 to the late 1990's, when Collins and later their imprint Armada, took over the Hardy Boys series, the boys first case was The Mystery of the Aztec Warrior (with Dead On Target being the first case for the Casefiles series when Armada started printing that series in 1989).

[MacGyver]

The British publishing of The Hardy Boys was pretty confusing... it seems Armada particularly just arbitrarily switched around the numbering of the books for no apparent reason. The funny thing is that I grew up with the British Armada numbering system first and then later learned that the original American numbering system is totally different. (And I remember reading The Mystery of the Aztec Warrior and looking for indications of it being their first case- and there is a line where Frank tells a visitor to the house at the start of the book- "We're fine and ready to tackle a mystery" [or something akin to that] and so it kinda sounded like it could be their first mystery...) So yeah- it's a different experience for different parts of the world. And obviously not everyone necessarily read the #1 book in any of the series first- so everyone's introduction to The Hardy Boys is most likely different.

[SDLagent]

Yeah, come to think of it, The House on the Cliff was the first book I read. Maybe that's why I think it would make a good number one but I'd forgotten that when I made that post. I never read The Tower Treasure until after I read books two through nine.

[Olivia]

I would say, Dead on Target, the first title of The Hardy Boys Casefiles was a great start for the series and possibly the all-time best Hardy Boys "series starts". It established the new status quo and set the tone for the entire series and the new continuity.  Not to mention it was a really good story. Pretty much everything a number one should be.

It always stands out to me that way.

Yeah, come to think of it, The House on the Cliff was the first book I read.

For the Originals, I think it was also the first book I read, funny enough.

[MacGyver]

For whatever reason- I guess because it was the first I remember finding and grabbing at the local library- but the first Hardy Boys book I remember reading is The Mystery of the Chinese Junk

[tomswift2002]

For whatever reason- I guess because it was the first I remember finding and grabbing at the local library- but the first Hardy Boys book I remember reading is The Mystery of the Chinese Junk

That's just like one of the first Hardy Boys books I remember checking out of the library was the Wanderer version of Sky Sabotage.

[Hardy Boys UB Fan]

I started with the UB's.

[MacGyver]

I know you've read a lot of the Undercover Brothers books obviously. Have you read many or any of the other Hardy Boys books? I know you've mentioned some of the Casefiles and Digests before, I think. For comparison's purpose, and for the point of view of someone who started with the most recent series, how does Extreme Danger compare with Dead on Target, for instance? Do you think both do an equally good job for getting someone interested in that series?