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Nancy Drew: Girl Detective Graphic Novels #9
Nancy Drew #9: Ghost in the Machinery
Has Nancy Drew solved the world's energy crisis? On a mission, sponsored by young, rich, and handsome Ralph Credo, Nancy teams up with eccentric scientist Roy Hinkley, to find an amazing high efficiency engine able to operate at an amazing 200 miles per gallon! The experimental engine, mounted on a tank, was part of an experiment during the final days of World War II. There's just one problem, the engine and the tank are haunted. "Ghost In The Machinery" is the first in a series of three Nancy Drew adventures entitled "The High Miles Mystery."
112 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 15, 2007
1 person is currently reading
168 people want to read
About the author
Stefan Petrucha
321 books273 followersStefan Petrucha (born January 27, 1959) is an American writer for adults and young adults. He has written graphic novels in the The X-Files and Nancy Drew series, as well as science fiction and horror.
Born in the Bronx, he has spent time in the big city and the suburbs, and now lives in western Massachusetts with his wife, fellow writer Sarah Kinney, and their daughters. At times he has been a tech writer, an educational writer, a public relations writer and an editor for trade journals, but his preference is for fiction in all its forms.
Born in the Bronx, he has spent time in the big city and the suburbs, and now lives in western Massachusetts with his wife, fellow writer Sarah Kinney, and their daughters. At times he has been a tech writer, an educational writer, a public relations writer and an editor for trade journals, but his preference is for fiction in all its forms.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
April 4, 2023
Instead of camping in river heights, Nancy Drew is in the woods, a bit far from her neighborhood, looking for getting into trouble. In other words, there is a mystery. The locals are experiencing strange lights and Nancy & her besties are on the trail to solve the mystery of a Psycho-Killer Ghost!
They end up inside a WW2 deserted Military Facility, which is for some strange reasons of the grid from a lot of people. There, the ownership of The World War II military base has been changed. The new owners are going to blow up the place and level it to the ground to start over.
Nancy, Bess and George meet some people inside the building, some of them are infamous, these people are in pursuit of an invention during WWII, that might change the fate of the humanity. But all they have is just one night. If they don't get out of that facility in time, they are doomed.
In this action packed issue, Nancy's crime fighting ability has been highlighted more than her deduction skills. The art is of somewhat Manga style. The writing is good, since Nancy is speaking in monologue during the whole story out of the conversation speech bubble, it was a fast paced fun read.
I would love to gradually review at least five more issues, where Nancy Drew and her resourceful besties are in action.
Comic Book Review
Name : Ghost in the Machinery
Writer : Stefan Petrucha
Artist : Sho Murase
With 3D CG elements and color by
Carlos Jose Guzman
Letterer : Bryan Senka
Editor-in-Chief : Jim Salicrup
©2005 Simon and Schuster, produced and represented by Papercutz, USA.
Reviewer : Wasim Hasan Mahmud
They end up inside a WW2 deserted Military Facility, which is for some strange reasons of the grid from a lot of people. There, the ownership of The World War II military base has been changed. The new owners are going to blow up the place and level it to the ground to start over.
Nancy, Bess and George meet some people inside the building, some of them are infamous, these people are in pursuit of an invention during WWII, that might change the fate of the humanity. But all they have is just one night. If they don't get out of that facility in time, they are doomed.
In this action packed issue, Nancy's crime fighting ability has been highlighted more than her deduction skills. The art is of somewhat Manga style. The writing is good, since Nancy is speaking in monologue during the whole story out of the conversation speech bubble, it was a fast paced fun read.
I would love to gradually review at least five more issues, where Nancy Drew and her resourceful besties are in action.
Comic Book Review
Name : Ghost in the Machinery
Writer : Stefan Petrucha
Artist : Sho Murase
With 3D CG elements and color by
Carlos Jose Guzman
Letterer : Bryan Senka
Editor-in-Chief : Jim Salicrup
©2005 Simon and Schuster, produced and represented by Papercutz, USA.
Reviewer : Wasim Hasan Mahmud
March 20, 2021
Not as good as others
February 23, 2026
THE BEST ONE IN THE WHOLE SERIESSS
December 31, 2014
An odd thing this, but sort of madly appealing in a problematic sort of way; Ghost In The Machinery is an adventure "so big that it takes three graphic novels to tell the whole story". Ghost In The Machinery is the first in the series and complete, after a fashion, though with several big over-arching gapes of plot that I presume lead into the next one.
It begins with Nanc, Bess and George camping out in the woods coincidentally on purpose to investigate strange lights in the woods. They investigate the lights and come across an old munitions factory which is due to be demolished the next day (explosives, naturally, we do need the dramatic here) and the lights lead inside. And so Nancy and her pals decide to investigate. As you do. I was mildly hysterical at this point, though I went on with it because it's sort of hard not to. When a book, a comic, a play, whatever, starts with such headlong giddiness and sort of careens down the path of not giving one iota about it, you do tend to go along with it, even if it's just out of a sense of delirious fascination as to where it goes next.
And so I did, and so it does go to places quite surprising and a bit quantum-leap(y) at points (and a few that were maybe more - wait, what, did I miss a page or two?), but it still managed to retain a certain sense of dynamism about it that kept me interested. A lot of that is due to the art, the ferocious vividness of Nancy; the smart panels which balanced out each other on the page (2:2, 3:3 etc, providing a sense of continuity and equality, but also warning you about the visual highlights yet to come, which will deviate from this rhythm).
So: to sum? There's a lot at fault with this comic really but a lot that's good with it as well; that sort of crazy adherence to the source text's eccentricities, the character of Nancy herself remains an intense joy and she's rendered here with brilliant and intense effect, and, you know, there's a bit with a tank. Bits with a tank are always good.
It begins with Nanc, Bess and George camping out in the woods coincidentally on purpose to investigate strange lights in the woods. They investigate the lights and come across an old munitions factory which is due to be demolished the next day (explosives, naturally, we do need the dramatic here) and the lights lead inside. And so Nancy and her pals decide to investigate. As you do. I was mildly hysterical at this point, though I went on with it because it's sort of hard not to. When a book, a comic, a play, whatever, starts with such headlong giddiness and sort of careens down the path of not giving one iota about it, you do tend to go along with it, even if it's just out of a sense of delirious fascination as to where it goes next.
And so I did, and so it does go to places quite surprising and a bit quantum-leap(y) at points (and a few that were maybe more - wait, what, did I miss a page or two?), but it still managed to retain a certain sense of dynamism about it that kept me interested. A lot of that is due to the art, the ferocious vividness of Nancy; the smart panels which balanced out each other on the page (2:2, 3:3 etc, providing a sense of continuity and equality, but also warning you about the visual highlights yet to come, which will deviate from this rhythm).
So: to sum? There's a lot at fault with this comic really but a lot that's good with it as well; that sort of crazy adherence to the source text's eccentricities, the character of Nancy herself remains an intense joy and she's rendered here with brilliant and intense effect, and, you know, there's a bit with a tank. Bits with a tank are always good.
April 20, 2019
This is a unique mystery book. This is a spin off of the Nancy Drew series but is fitted in a comic book style rather than a chapter book. This story focuses on Nancy finding a high powered engine that was lost a long time ago. Once she does find it, there is a ghost that is protecting it! This book, while in cartoon form, is still complex to read in the sense that you have to figure out the way in which to read the cartoons. The grade I would recommend for this book would be fourth or fifth graders. One way I could use this book in my instruction would be to explore the different forms of books with my students. Some students may have never had exposure to this type of text and would be very interested in reading it. Another way I could use this in my classroom is by having students read it in order to become familiar with the layout of a graphic novel and then have write a short mystery story and illustrate it in the form of this book. This book was a WOW book for me because it was a very unique way of telling a Nancy Drew story and exposes students to a different form of a novel. I've seen a lot of kids get picked on for liking graphic novels and I think part of the reason that happens is that a lot of kids have never taken the time to read them and therefore think they're weird. Nancy Drew is a popular, well-known, mystery series and having it in the form of a graphic novel is really neat to me.
Not an E-text.
Not an E-text.
January 18, 2016
This is the first in a three-manga storyline dealing with a tank that gets 200 mpg. The tank is in a building that is due to be blown up the next day when Nancy and the girls go looking for it. They fall into a hole and are rescued by a guy, but soon Nancy is almost squashed by a huge tire rolling down a set of stairs at her.
Nancy has to deal with whoever is going after her in the building, and in taking a very crash course in how to drive a tank out of an exploding building. The tank uses some kind of very strong magnets which made me think of the Philadelphia Experiment.
The main problem that arises is not with this particular part of the series, but how something very important is not really followed up. The idea was clear that the tank got 200 mpg. Now, if a tank could do that, then the same principle applied to ordinary cars would probably boost their miles per gallon to at least that much if not a whole lot more than that, but that concept is not followed up at all. It doesn't even really get mentioned.
Instead, the concept is used to make a race car in a later part of the story. It's odd that something that could make such a huge impact on the environment (using much less oil, for one thing) is not really given any attention.
Nancy has to deal with whoever is going after her in the building, and in taking a very crash course in how to drive a tank out of an exploding building. The tank uses some kind of very strong magnets which made me think of the Philadelphia Experiment.
The main problem that arises is not with this particular part of the series, but how something very important is not really followed up. The idea was clear that the tank got 200 mpg. Now, if a tank could do that, then the same principle applied to ordinary cars would probably boost their miles per gallon to at least that much if not a whole lot more than that, but that concept is not followed up at all. It doesn't even really get mentioned.
Instead, the concept is used to make a race car in a later part of the story. It's odd that something that could make such a huge impact on the environment (using much less oil, for one thing) is not really given any attention.
August 5, 2009
I had some misgivings about reading this; the back cover proclaims that it's the start of a mystery so "BIG ... that it takes 3 graphic novels to tell the whole story!" Fortunately there was a reasonable sense of closure, though there are some awfully big unresolved issues at the end.
This was quite enjoyable, though there were a couple things I found a touch off-putting. First, there was an offhand mention of "the Mustang, the fastest fighter in the sky, and a vital tool for the Allies beating the Nazis." I'm pretty sure it was also used against the World War II Japanese ... who are never mentioned in this book. The other thing that bothered me rather more was the macguffin; a WWII tank engine that got 200 miles to the gallon and was just left to rot. Riiiiight. (On the plus side, magnetism does play a role in the plot.)
I'll be interested in reading the next 2 graphic novels ( The Disoriented Express , Monkey Wrench Blues), when I have the chance.
(Finished 2009-07-30 < 09:30EDT)
This was quite enjoyable, though there were a couple things I found a touch off-putting. First, there was an offhand mention of "the Mustang, the fastest fighter in the sky, and a vital tool for the Allies beating the Nazis." I'm pretty sure it was also used against the World War II Japanese ... who are never mentioned in this book. The other thing that bothered me rather more was the macguffin; a WWII tank engine that got 200 miles to the gallon and was just left to rot. Riiiiight. (On the plus side, magnetism does play a role in the plot.)
I'll be interested in reading the next 2 graphic novels ( The Disoriented Express , Monkey Wrench Blues), when I have the chance.
(Finished 2009-07-30 < 09:30EDT)
March 10, 2010
Nancy invites friends Bess and George to go camping in the woods. Little do they know, Nancy has motive for the camping trip. Strange lights have been seen in the woods and Nancy wants to get to the bottom of it. When the girls see the lights, they run towards them and discover an old government factory no longer in use. Or so they thought. They enter the rundown building and meet Roy Hinkley, an engineer. He explains he’s there to find the hidden magnetic tank engine that can operate on 200 miles per gallon. Problem is, he thinks there is a ghost in the building trying to protect anyone from locating the tank. Nancy and her friends find themselves on the case looking for both the ghost and the tank.
June 11, 2013
I enjoyed the mystery in this book. Within a building scheduled for demolition is an experimental engine that was built in WWII. Eccentric scientist Roy Hinkley believes this engine is the key to solving some of our energy problems we currently face. He was given the go ahead to look inside the building and take whatever "urban legends" he may or may not find inside the walls before demolition takes place. Since no one believes him or the existence of the engine he is moving about relatively undisturbed.....until Nancy Drew and her gang stumble upon Roy and his angel investor Ralph Credo aka a safecracker who has been playing by the law.... pick up the book yourself to see how the mystery unfolds!!
November 29, 2011
This book was a great surprise to learn about and see that Nancy Drew was carrying on as a graphic novel now. While I wasn't too keen on the art style, I still sucked it up and enjoyed it. The story was good, but Nancy was a bonehead! She was so absent minded and forgetful, this was nothing like the real Nancy Drew in the main series. I was disappointed about that, but it was still a fun read.
One other thing I am wondering about is where the heck is Helen Corning? Nancy seems to only be hanging out with Bess and George now. Don't get me wrong, I like Bess and George, but I liked Helen too.
One other thing I am wondering about is where the heck is Helen Corning? Nancy seems to only be hanging out with Bess and George now. Don't get me wrong, I like Bess and George, but I liked Helen too.
March 30, 2013
Nicely self-contained though part of a greater story arc. Some of the artistic choices are odd in that they don't jive with the narrative, and there's a lot of padding in the book once the story itself is done, but still a fun, fast read. The flavor is distinctly more Scooby Gang than I recall Nancy Drews' traditionally being, but that didn't detract much from my enjoyment of the book.
ETA that I did like the addition of Bess' mechanical talents. I always figured her to have a quirky savant skill like that, tbh. Reminds me a bit of my friend, Lisa.
ETA that I did like the addition of Bess' mechanical talents. I always figured her to have a quirky savant skill like that, tbh. Reminds me a bit of my friend, Lisa.
October 15, 2016
Petrucha wastes no time getting right to the action and doesn't clutter the episode with needless exposition. I really enjoy Nancy's internal dialogue; it adds another dimension to the story and insight into Nancy's strong and capable personality. There are times when things seem a little rushed, but it doesn't really hurt the story, since Petrucha writes for the format and isn't trying to replicate the style of the prose version of the character. This was better than I thought it was going to be!
April 11, 2012
It was good I'm always up for a good mystery but this one was a heck of a ride including a ill man from the war it is worth looking at as well as reading so if you see it buy it because you will enjoy it no matter how old or young you are or if your a boy or girl you will thank me
November 28, 2013
Hadn't read this for a while :)
October 1, 2014
Whatta zombiiiiiiies!
October 5, 2014
as per Sherlock Holmes, "Elementary", but quite fun to read.
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March 16, 2015Spoil, Spoil, Spoil
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews