Comic-Con News: One the eve of the San Diego Comic-Con Dynamite Entertainment announced an agreement with Simon & Schuster to bring the classic teen detectives Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys to comics in an all-new series of illustrated adventures that will encompass original graphic novels, manga, and periodical comic books.  The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew comics will launch in 2017.  News of creative teams and precise formats will be announced over the coming months.

One thing that Dynamite CEO and President Nick Barrucci did emphasize in his announcement was Dynamite’s intention to create comics based on Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys for a variety of demographics including “pre-teens, teens, and grown-ups.”  In an article about Dynamite in the Business Section of today’s New York Times, Dynamite Executive Editor Joseph Rybandt talked about taking a “two-track” approach to The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, “one which aims for the mass-market teen and tween readers, and something for the comic book market that aims a little older.”

The Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys novels, which have collectively sold over 300 million copies, were among the first (and most successful) YA series.  Created by a publisher (Edward Stratemeyer) in the late 1920s and written by ghostwriters (to save on royalties), these teen detectives have long been a publishing goldmine--and Papercutz certainly has had success with its line of The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew graphic novels, reporting sales of over half a million on each (see “ICv2 Interview: Terry Nantier and Jim Salicrup, Part I”).