Turning my Childhood Heroes into Murderers

 Guest Post by Anthony Del Col (Writer of NANCY DREW & THE HARDY BOYS: THE BIG LIE)

Two teenage thugs are brusquely interviewed in separate interrogation rooms. Accused of murdering their father, a disgraced police detective, they exchange smart-ass remarks with the police pushing them around. Are these cold-hearted killers? Not at all..

These are the Hardy Boys.

Yes, those Hardy Boys. 

Two years ago I decided to do a different spin on some of my favorite childhood characters, Frank and Joe Hardy, along with Nancy Drew. I threw them into a hardboiled noir tale and NANCY DREW & THE HARDY BOYS: THE BIG LIE (released by Dynamite Comics this month) is the end result. In it Frank and Joe are accused of murder and must turn to a femme fatale-esque Nancy Drew to clear their names.

I guess I like to torture existing characters. I earlier killed Shakespeare (in IDW’s Kill Shakespeare) and now these three. Is it therapy to expunge memories of my past? Maybe? Or perhaps I just like to put characters into a “worst case” scenario and see what they’ll do – and how audiences will react.

And so I torture them. And hopefully you’re a sadist enough to enjoy reading it.