What do you want to know?

SkyWarp · July 06, 2012, 11:09:40 AM

What is the top one or two things that you don't know or can't remember about the casefile stories that you wish you knew?

SDLagent · July 06, 2012, 05:19:51 PM

hm. Good question. I'll have to think about this.

MacGyver · August 02, 2012, 04:10:08 PM

Is Iola Morton still alive?

Hardy Sleuth · August 02, 2012, 06:12:59 PM

Quote from: MacGyver on August 02, 2012, 04:10:08 PM
Is Iola Morton still alive?

I know the answer to this one!

Thankfully, yes. Iola is alive.

They didn't see her get in the car, no body was found - and there is the ever present proof with the Hardy Boys Mystery Stories that Iola is alive, which ran longer than the Casefiles, into the 21st century.

If I thought she had actually been killed in the Casefiles I wouldn't be interested in reading another Casefile, so I'm really glad I know Iola is alive.

And there is always the fact Joe knows she's alive.

MacGyver · August 03, 2012, 08:56:45 AM

Well, yes- true. But The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories is the original canon (from 1-190) so, yeah- Iola's always been alive there.
Iola Morton was definitely a recurring theme throughout the Casefiles universe books though- it would be interesting in there had ever been a definitive book written to address her "death" in Dead on Target- but of course, that's been addressed via fanfiction.

Judah-Ben-Hur · May 04, 2013, 07:04:37 AM

Which were the best volumes?
Which to avoid?
Were there ever any references to Nancy Drew (her series mentioned HB, so maybe they returned the favor)?
Was their any continuity as the series progressed?

MacGyver · May 04, 2013, 06:51:25 PM

If you haven't read The Hardy Boys Casefiles before, I'd say for the first two questions- read them all and decide for yourself.

I love them all.

I don't recall any Nancy Drew references in the books. Where did The Nancy Drew Files refer to The Hardy Boys?
And yes, there is definitely a good continuity with this series, though for the most part the books can all stand on their own. (Outside of the two official trilogies, of course.)

Judah-Ben-Hur · May 04, 2013, 07:16:48 PM

I've read them here and there, but I've not exactly keep up with them as I have with the Original & Digest series.
I forget which volume but one ND file has a character tell Nancy he loved to read the Hardy Boys books, and she replies that she's at least read one (an odd reference I thought since the series shares the same continuity with the Super Mysteries) I believe it's been mentioned before on this forum but where I can't remember...

Bigfootman · May 04, 2013, 08:44:55 PM

Quote from: Judah-Ben-Hur on May 04, 2013, 07:16:48 PM
I've read them here and there, but I've not exactly keep up with them as I have with the Original & Digest series.
I forget which volume but one ND file has a character tell Nancy he loved to read the Hardy Boys books, and she replies that she's at least read one (an odd reference I thought since the series shares the same continuity with the Super Mysteries) I believe it's been mentioned before on this forum but where I can't remember...

The book is called "Smile and Say Murder".

Judah-Ben-Hur · May 04, 2013, 09:34:33 PM

thanks!

MacGyver · May 05, 2013, 06:14:34 AM

Perhaps Oliver Richards wrote that book series about The Hardy Boys after all!

Judah-Ben-Hur · May 06, 2013, 07:35:12 PM

Do Frank and Joe ever own/use a gun? Have they ever been shown in an illustration or cover with one?
Desert Phantom (#84 Digest) has Joe with a Machine Gun, but that's my only memory of them using one (which surely can't be the only one).

MacGyver · May 06, 2013, 09:44:42 PM

I don't think the Hardy Boys are ever said to own a gun- at least not that I recall. But they've certainly used them a number of times in the Casefiles, though more to knock people out with (brandishing a rifle like a club, etc.) or perhaps just to train a gun on a criminal to keep them at bay. I don't recall them ever shooting anyone. I do guns and rifles show up on the Casefiles covers a couple of times- Frank has one held to his head on the cover of Thick as Thieves. An older dude aims a rifle at Frank and Joe on Deadfall's cover. A criminal holds a machine gun on the cover of Wrong Side of the Law. Bikers hold machine guns on Virtual Villiany's cover- but it's a virtual reality program. An apparent ghost of an Assassin holds a machine gun on Dead of Night's cover. Tom Swift fires a gun of some sort on the cover of Time Bomb- #1 in A Hardy Boys and Tom Swift Ultra Thriller series. A guy holds a gun on Frank and Joe on the cover of Uncivil War. Two guys are firing guns at Frank and Joe on the cover of Foul Play. Two guys have machine guns on Frank and Joe on the cover of Highway Robbery. Frank and Joe are surrounded by soldiers with guns on the cover of Danger Zone. An apparent ghost trains a gun on Frank, Joe and Callie on the cover of The Dead Season. A guy is shooting a rifle at Frank and Joe on the cover of Blood Money. A guy is firing a gun at The Hardy Boys on the cover of Double Exposure. Guys have guns aimedat The Hardys on the cover of Witness to Murder. A guy is firing a gun at Frank and Joe on the cover of The Number File. A gun is trained at Frank and Joe and they're in the Line of Fire on the cover of the book by the same name. Two guys have machine guns at the ready on the cover of Hostages of Hate.

MacGyver · May 06, 2013, 10:12:18 PM

It's hard to tell, but it looks like a shadowy figure on the cover of See No Evil may have a gun. A guy on the cover of Deathgame has a machine gun. A guy is firing a gun at Frank and Joe on the cover of Cult of Crime. And guys are firing machine guns at Frank and Joe and Gina on the cover of Survival Run. I think that's it for the Casefiles.
For the Digests, a guy looks like he's pulling a gun out of his suit jacket on the cover of Eye on Crime. A guy on a snowmobile is firing a gun at Frank and Joe on the cover of Danger in the Extreme. The alien Frank and Joe are fighting on the cover of Danger in the Fourth Dimension has a gun of some sort in the holster on his side. An alien-looking dude is firing a gun of some sort at another dude on the cover of The Secret of Sigma Seven. A guy looks like he could be pulling out a gun from his jacket on the cover of Attack of the Video Villians, but I think he's actually stealing a video game. By the way, the later cover for Revenge of the Desert Phantom does not show Joe manning the machine gun on the jeep- in fact, it doesn't show a gun at all. A guy holds a gun that Frank is trying to kick out of his hands on the original Minstrel cover of The Vanishing Thieves.
I think that may be it for the Digests.

MacGyver · May 06, 2013, 10:49:44 PM

There do not seem to be any depictions of guns on the covers of the Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys Supermystery series- either the 1988 series or the 2007 series. For the graphic novels, Joe and Frank appear to be in the scope sights of a rifle on the cover of Board to Death. A guy is holding a rifle on Joe on the cover of the first issue of the comic book based on The Hardy Boys cartoon that ran from 1969-1971. The comic book is called The Hardy Boys on the Beat!. On the cover of issue 3, a shadowy rider on a horse points a gun into the sky. Also, on the Armada printing of The Ghost at Skeleton Rock (the 1984. One), a guy is firing a machine gun at Frank and Joe. On the back cover of #2 in the graphic novels, Identity Theft, a girl is holding a gun on Frank and Joe and another girl. On the back cover of The Opposite Numbers, a guy holds a gun on Frank and Joe. On the back cover of A Hardy Day's Night, Joe holds a gun. The Noir sisters hold rifles of some sort on the back cover of Live Free, Die Hardy!. As near as I can tell, there are no depictions of guns on any of the Undercover Brothers books. And there are no depictions of any of the Adventures covers thus far. And I'm pretty sure there are no guns depicted on any of The Clues Brothers books or the Secret Files books.