Dynamite Entertainment; $3.99

The cover of this issue says it all. Slivers of light amid the shadows, spy-level camera equipment, darkness and rain all in a moody gray color palette. This Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys story is drenched in film noir.

Frank and Joe Hardy thought their father committed suicide, but their friend Nancy Drew suspects that he was murdered. They have gone undercover with Bayport’s small time crooks, the Rover Boys. Once the Rovers realize Nancy and the boys were cheating at cards they are none too happy. That’s when Frank, Joe, and Nancy suggest working with the Rover Boys, who in turn give our trio a difficult task to prove themselves by stealing a box of hard drives from the police precinct.

The murder mystery takes a detour in issue 3. Writer Anthony Del Col puts them in a tough situation when they must decide how far they are willing to go to earn the trust of the Rover Boys. But this version of Nancy, Joe, and Frank are somewhat disenfranchised and disappointed by authority figures in their lives. It’s a darker than usual Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys stories, but it’s been very interesting.

-Amanda Sheriff