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Nancy Drew: The New Case Files Graphic Novels #1
Vampire Slayer
Vampire-mania has gripped River Heights, with teenage girls going wild over the new "DieLite" novels and movies. But what happens when a supposedly "real" handsome young vampire arrives on the scene? Will Nancy expose him as a fraud -- or fall under his dark spell? As if that wasn't enough-- there's something dark and sinister happening while everyone's distracted by the vampire madness. Could this possibly be linked to what's happening in Bayport, home of the Hardy Boys? Spoiler warning: there are no vampires, blood or gore in this graphic novel.
64 pages, Hardcover
First published September 14, 2010
5 people are currently reading
216 people want to read
About the author
Stefan Petrucha
321 books274 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 - 30 of 41 reviews
March 7, 2011
I was reluctant to read this at first (why mess with an original?), but found it surprisingly funny and creative. After much pressing from friends, Nancy Drew gets dressed up in order to get a discount on a movie, and whilst walking along with friends, they come upon a strange boy who behaves even stranger.
Could said boy be a vampire? He lives on tomato juice and has a coffin in his house....and what is it about a girl in a cloak sitting in the movie theater who reappears later to confront the alleged vampire?
Could said boy be a vampire? He lives on tomato juice and has a coffin in his house....and what is it about a girl in a cloak sitting in the movie theater who reappears later to confront the alleged vampire?
July 27, 2017
I was hoping that Nancy Drew would be a legitimate vampire slayer, big disappointment >_<
February 13, 2011
As a kid I loved reading all the nancy drew novels and I still have a few of them. Now papercutz has brought nancy into this day and age with new stories. This particular volume takes the detective in a new direction, she is not only a detective but also a vampire hunter. Nancy is on her way to the movies with her bffs george and bess, they take a shortcut through a cemetery and meet an interesting stranger new to town. At first they think he is chasing them and trying to suck on their blood but it turns out he is running from something not running after them. Nancy makes friends with the stranger and her friends are afraid that he is really a vampire, and her bf, ned, is worried about more than that. Will they find out the truth about this mysterious stranger before its too late? or will nancy be turned before they can help her?
November 14, 2014
I never thought I would see a Nancy Drew graphic novel.
How cool! I'm all for getting the younger generation to read.
This was a cute take on Nancy Drew being a vampire slayer.
How cool! I'm all for getting the younger generation to read.
This was a cute take on Nancy Drew being a vampire slayer.
May 5, 2016
Good story, great artwork...but not exactly the teenage sleuth as I've come to know her.
August 25, 2023
NOTE: my rating of this novel is more like a 2.5 meaning half of a third star. However, since Goodreads does not allow for half star ratings I had to give it a 2 star rating instead.
As a Nancy Drew stan I really wanted to like this book. Especially since the concept of Nancy drew and vampires seemed really badass, but unfortunately I couldn’t bring myself to like this. It wasn’t horrendous, but compared to my gold standard for good Nancy drew narratives, the HER interactive video games; particularly the old ones from the 90s and early 2000’s, this felt like fanservice trash at best.
the only reason this book didn’t anger me is because, you know, it’s Nancy drew, so at least I can say if you like the Nancy Drew characters this will be an entertainingly bad read. It also is, to its credit, certainly a new place to take the Nancy drew series as I think it’s the only comic book series Nancy drew has ever gotten.
Let me explain why I didn’t like the novel.
First the art.
The art in this novel was all very cynically clean, and had almost a hospital clean style to it. In other words, it felt way too overly-rendered. The Nancy drew characters and some of the props like flowers or animals, are the only hand draw (digitally but still) parts of this, and they look subpar, not bad by any means just average and passable rather than stunning and overly fluid like one would expect from a comic book or graphic novel. Like I guess I would call their style cookie cutter as the artists do nothing to really stylize the Nancy drew gang. Where they do add more stylization is the backgrounds and it flops hard. The backgrounds in this novel are clinically clean. They all look as if the artists did the drawings for the characters then chugged those drawings into photoshop to create perfectly drawn backgrounds using shapes and tools rather than drawing them out. Then, for some odd reason every single background has a bright blue or red Color scheme that’s almost too much on the eyes.
If anyone reads graphic novels or comics avidly they’ll know that often an artist will choose a color palette to tint all the art in so it looks coherent, usually it’s like a
rose colored glasses pastel tint, well not Nancy drew.
They for some reason thought it would be a good idea to tint the whole comic in hues of bright police siren red and blue which is unsettling on the eyes and makes this look way too clean and overly edited.
Then there’s the up-closes, this art had about as many up-closes as a cheesy buddy cop movie from the 80s or a cheesy black and white horror movie! I’m all for up-closes in my graphic novel/comic but when it’s to the point I have to question if the artists know how to draw full bodies or are using up-closes to get out of drawing full bodies I think that’s a problem.
Next there’s the writing.
I’ll start by giving the writing a bit of credit. This comic tries to have the writing be the forefront of the comic, puts a lot of dialogue in, has some larger chunks of narration and even tries going for the type of prose one would expect to find in a novel. I can respect that as I personally think too often graphic novels/comics forget their also telling a story with words and tend to underplay the words or have a writing style that shows they don’t read enough novels/stories. Nancy drew didn’t do that at least and I appreciate it as a huge fan of both art and written stories.
However I still felt the writing well good learned a bit on being too telling. Kinda just having Nancy state her thoughts or state obvious things happening without letting the readers come to that conclusion themself. Like I wish it went one step deeper and showed us what was happening without telling us outright.
Also near the end without spoiling anything the vampire character is explaining to Nancy how he has a condition, and it turns into a literal Wiki article info-dump on the vampires medical condition, which also doesn’t make for the best storytelling writing. However I still found it cool because I didn’t know much about the condition the vampire had, and apparently it’s a real condition and the information in this book given on it is accurate and I’m all for learning new things to store in my brain, I think it’s fun. unfortunately however, having characters stop the plot to info-dump on medical terms, does not make for the best writing narratively speaking.
Overall, if your a hardcore fan of Nancy Drew, I recommend picking up at least one comic from this series, as their only 7-10 dollars and an interesting piece of Nancy Drew memorabilia to have.
Otherwise if your just a casual Nancy Drew fan and want your Nancy Drew kick or are interested in getting into the series I recommend you give this comic book series a skip and instead go watch this Nancy Drew Let’s play
https://youtu.be/TQUw_lpA0b0?si=2VmeJ...
As that’s one of the best video games in the Nancy Drew gameplay series and the Nancy Drew games have by far some of the most stellar narration and visuals out of the entire Nancy Drew franchise.
As a Nancy Drew stan I really wanted to like this book. Especially since the concept of Nancy drew and vampires seemed really badass, but unfortunately I couldn’t bring myself to like this. It wasn’t horrendous, but compared to my gold standard for good Nancy drew narratives, the HER interactive video games; particularly the old ones from the 90s and early 2000’s, this felt like fanservice trash at best.
the only reason this book didn’t anger me is because, you know, it’s Nancy drew, so at least I can say if you like the Nancy Drew characters this will be an entertainingly bad read. It also is, to its credit, certainly a new place to take the Nancy drew series as I think it’s the only comic book series Nancy drew has ever gotten.
Let me explain why I didn’t like the novel.
First the art.
The art in this novel was all very cynically clean, and had almost a hospital clean style to it. In other words, it felt way too overly-rendered. The Nancy drew characters and some of the props like flowers or animals, are the only hand draw (digitally but still) parts of this, and they look subpar, not bad by any means just average and passable rather than stunning and overly fluid like one would expect from a comic book or graphic novel. Like I guess I would call their style cookie cutter as the artists do nothing to really stylize the Nancy drew gang. Where they do add more stylization is the backgrounds and it flops hard. The backgrounds in this novel are clinically clean. They all look as if the artists did the drawings for the characters then chugged those drawings into photoshop to create perfectly drawn backgrounds using shapes and tools rather than drawing them out. Then, for some odd reason every single background has a bright blue or red Color scheme that’s almost too much on the eyes.
If anyone reads graphic novels or comics avidly they’ll know that often an artist will choose a color palette to tint all the art in so it looks coherent, usually it’s like a
rose colored glasses pastel tint, well not Nancy drew.
They for some reason thought it would be a good idea to tint the whole comic in hues of bright police siren red and blue which is unsettling on the eyes and makes this look way too clean and overly edited.
Then there’s the up-closes, this art had about as many up-closes as a cheesy buddy cop movie from the 80s or a cheesy black and white horror movie! I’m all for up-closes in my graphic novel/comic but when it’s to the point I have to question if the artists know how to draw full bodies or are using up-closes to get out of drawing full bodies I think that’s a problem.
Next there’s the writing.
I’ll start by giving the writing a bit of credit. This comic tries to have the writing be the forefront of the comic, puts a lot of dialogue in, has some larger chunks of narration and even tries going for the type of prose one would expect to find in a novel. I can respect that as I personally think too often graphic novels/comics forget their also telling a story with words and tend to underplay the words or have a writing style that shows they don’t read enough novels/stories. Nancy drew didn’t do that at least and I appreciate it as a huge fan of both art and written stories.
However I still felt the writing well good learned a bit on being too telling. Kinda just having Nancy state her thoughts or state obvious things happening without letting the readers come to that conclusion themself. Like I wish it went one step deeper and showed us what was happening without telling us outright.
Also near the end without spoiling anything the vampire character is explaining to Nancy how he has a condition, and it turns into a literal Wiki article info-dump on the vampires medical condition, which also doesn’t make for the best storytelling writing. However I still found it cool because I didn’t know much about the condition the vampire had, and apparently it’s a real condition and the information in this book given on it is accurate and I’m all for learning new things to store in my brain, I think it’s fun. unfortunately however, having characters stop the plot to info-dump on medical terms, does not make for the best writing narratively speaking.
Overall, if your a hardcore fan of Nancy Drew, I recommend picking up at least one comic from this series, as their only 7-10 dollars and an interesting piece of Nancy Drew memorabilia to have.
Otherwise if your just a casual Nancy Drew fan and want your Nancy Drew kick or are interested in getting into the series I recommend you give this comic book series a skip and instead go watch this Nancy Drew Let’s play
https://youtu.be/TQUw_lpA0b0?si=2VmeJ...
As that’s one of the best video games in the Nancy Drew gameplay series and the Nancy Drew games have by far some of the most stellar narration and visuals out of the entire Nancy Drew franchise.
July 29, 2018
I got pretty excited when I learned Nancy Drew had been rewritten into graphic novel format. I found a 2 part story at a thrift shop the other day and was so pumped. Sadly, after reading part one I think some things are best left to memories. I was hoping they took the original stories and left them as they were but simply ‘graphified’ them. This isn’t the case. They have turned Nancy into a campy, modern gal with no real connect to the girl I remember as a child. I will read part 2 because I have it, but I won’t be looking for any more of these. If I want a bit of nostalgia I will reach for the originals.
May 31, 2021
Synopsis: Set in River Heights, Nancy Drew’s hometown - there is a new boy in town Gregor Coffson who is living at the vacant Benson Estate although Nancy’s friends fear he is a vampire! When Gregor approaches her for help her natural detective instincts kick in how can she refuse fangs or not!
Review: A graphic novel of which I haven’t read that many to date, it has a very blue theme which is a bit samey. I found the graphic style bit dumbed down/lazy in design the facial features not well defined. The story is okay. It ends on a cliffhanger so there is a Part Two which I will of course have to finish at some point fortunately eBay is my friend :)
Review: A graphic novel of which I haven’t read that many to date, it has a very blue theme which is a bit samey. I found the graphic style bit dumbed down/lazy in design the facial features not well defined. The story is okay. It ends on a cliffhanger so there is a Part Two which I will of course have to finish at some point fortunately eBay is my friend :)
May 5, 2025
I hated this so much. There is so much good stuff out there for kids and YAs I don't understand why so much bad stuff survives. The art isnt done well in book one there is a panel where Nancy isn't even colored fully. The story wasn't edited with care: in book 2 a thought bubble reveals the name of the muster character a full 20 pages before we are supposed to get the answer. The mystery is the whole point of a Nancy Drew story and they tank the whole thing by adding in the name too soon! It feels like no one cared about the production of this book. There are better things out there to read.
March 17, 2024
“In good with crime but sometimes I can be totally dense about things like keeping my gas tank full…” Really?!? They had to mention this twice?!?! This new Nancy Drew is not a positive role model or enjoyable protagonist.
January 4, 2025
A quick read. Interesting to see Nancy Drew in a graphic novel. This one ends on a cliff hanger but wasn’t good enough for me to want to track down the next in the series. I’m not used to Ned being so jealous.
May 17, 2019
Can't wait for part 2! This cuts off in the middle, after the truth behind the vampire is revealed, but before the villain is unmasked!
June 24, 2019
Read by Sara
September 27, 2019
Awesome. It ended with a cliffhanger! I'm glad I work at a library and can order the next issue! I love the crossover with Buffy the Vampire slayer theme!
Read
March 8, 2023protect greggor at all costs...
June 5, 2023
Clearly this is not my genre
April 27, 2011
When I first heard about this volume of the Nancy Drew graphic novel series, I was worried that the series had gone off the rails. Instead, it was a reasonably clever and convincing tale that begins with a trip to see the new vampire movie (Die Lite) in costume with her friends. Yes, Nancy Drew in a Buffy costume was a brilliant opening image, and it paid off in the story.
The new guy in town, who moved into the magician's house from a previous story, just might be a vampire, and even worse, competition for poor Ned, Nancy's longtime boyfriend. Cleverly, the story turns on legitimate mysteries, with enough clues to allow the reader to solve them along with Nancy, other than one left hanging for future stories.
Over the course of this two-volume graphic novel, the story is clever, the artwork is pretty good, but there are minor plot holes that are never explained...like how you feed electrical power through a wire that has already been cut, in the second volume.
Still, the story was good enough to recommend to fans of both Nancy Drew and Buffy, as this odd homage manages to blend the two styles nicely.
The new guy in town, who moved into the magician's house from a previous story, just might be a vampire, and even worse, competition for poor Ned, Nancy's longtime boyfriend. Cleverly, the story turns on legitimate mysteries, with enough clues to allow the reader to solve them along with Nancy, other than one left hanging for future stories.
Over the course of this two-volume graphic novel, the story is clever, the artwork is pretty good, but there are minor plot holes that are never explained...like how you feed electrical power through a wire that has already been cut, in the second volume.
Still, the story was good enough to recommend to fans of both Nancy Drew and Buffy, as this odd homage manages to blend the two styles nicely.
March 4, 2014
Please don't throw rocks at me, but I have to confess: I haven't read any Nancy Drew before this. I know the basic premise, young girl detective (I loved the Veronica Mars TV show, but for some reason, I just never got around to reading Nancy Drew in my youth). *shrug*
Why am I starting with Nancy Drew here, you ask? I came to this book through a co-worker who found this on the bookmobile and brought it in for me. :) I have to say I was quite relieved that this didn't start out as some Twilight/Nancy Drew mash-up. It was fun, and Nancy seems just a clever as and intuitive as I had imagined her character to be, and the "vampire" isn't sparkly or what-have-you. So there you have it.
I'm not sure whether or not I'll continue with this series, but I did find volume one enjoyable, and I liked the artwork too. I'll probably keep the rest of the series in mind for later.
Why am I starting with Nancy Drew here, you ask? I came to this book through a co-worker who found this on the bookmobile and brought it in for me. :) I have to say I was quite relieved that this didn't start out as some Twilight/Nancy Drew mash-up. It was fun, and Nancy seems just a clever as and intuitive as I had imagined her character to be, and the "vampire" isn't sparkly or what-have-you. So there you have it.
I'm not sure whether or not I'll continue with this series, but I did find volume one enjoyable, and I liked the artwork too. I'll probably keep the rest of the series in mind for later.
February 11, 2016
I loved Nancy Drew when I was a kid, and I love commics/graphic novels. So this is a great way to combine the two, right?! WRONG
There are massive plot holes, unnecessary and inexplicable drama between characters, and out of character behavior on the part of Nancy. I actually read the second part of this graphic novel in the same day as I read this volume and there are glaring continuity errors between them. It is a TWO VOLUME run and there are glaring continuity errors as well as spelling errors. Does this production company not have an editor?!
(I go into the continuity errors in my review of the second volume)
There are massive plot holes, unnecessary and inexplicable drama between characters, and out of character behavior on the part of Nancy. I actually read the second part of this graphic novel in the same day as I read this volume and there are glaring continuity errors between them. It is a TWO VOLUME run and there are glaring continuity errors as well as spelling errors. Does this production company not have an editor?!
(I go into the continuity errors in my review of the second volume)
January 18, 2016
Papercutz has stopped printing the standard Nancy Drew graphic novels, and has altered their form so they are taller and wider then before.
This first one in the new series starts off with Nancy seeing a handsome guy in a graveyard. Then she, Bess and George go to see a vampire movie, and from their the plot moves to Nancy's friends thinking that the new guy is actually a real vampire, while Nancy is not so sure.
Nancy makes friends with the guy, Ned gets really jealous of that, Dee Dee starts coming on to Ned, thinking that he and Nancy will split up, and there also turns out to be real vampire killer involved. An interesting story to start off the new format.
This first one in the new series starts off with Nancy seeing a handsome guy in a graveyard. Then she, Bess and George go to see a vampire movie, and from their the plot moves to Nancy's friends thinking that the new guy is actually a real vampire, while Nancy is not so sure.
Nancy makes friends with the guy, Ned gets really jealous of that, Dee Dee starts coming on to Ned, thinking that he and Nancy will split up, and there also turns out to be real vampire killer involved. An interesting story to start off the new format.
April 14, 2012
Not going to lie. I read this just for the title. Nancy Drew...a vampire slayer! I'm there. Only the title lies as Nancy does not turn into a mini Buffy and kicks un-dead butt.
This was my first Nancy Drew "book" believe it or not. I found the story and the art format very disjointed and confusing. It was a simple story that somehow did not manage to flow well at all.
I will read a real Nancy Drew book in the future, but if all the graphic novel formats are like this...I'll take a pass.
This was my first Nancy Drew "book" believe it or not. I found the story and the art format very disjointed and confusing. It was a simple story that somehow did not manage to flow well at all.
I will read a real Nancy Drew book in the future, but if all the graphic novel formats are like this...I'll take a pass.
October 4, 2010
3.5
Vampire movies are all the rage with Nancy's friends, but when a pale new guy arrives in town, the gang has to figure out if he might be a real vampire! This funny, super-fast read pokes fun at the original Nancy Drew series while remaining true to its spirit, and also gets in a few good digs at Twilight. Good for gals who liked the girl detective's other adventures.
Vampire movies are all the rage with Nancy's friends, but when a pale new guy arrives in town, the gang has to figure out if he might be a real vampire! This funny, super-fast read pokes fun at the original Nancy Drew series while remaining true to its spirit, and also gets in a few good digs at Twilight. Good for gals who liked the girl detective's other adventures.
April 4, 2012
I saw this at the library and thought Nancy Drew? VAMPIRES? DAFUK????
I ended up loving this new take on Nancy Drew. It was fun and different and I very much
enjoyed it. I can't wait to read PART 2. If you love Graphic novels then definitely check this one out.
-R.D.
I ended up loving this new take on Nancy Drew. It was fun and different and I very much
enjoyed it. I can't wait to read PART 2. If you love Graphic novels then definitely check this one out.
-R.D.
November 2, 2011
This was silly. There were a few swear words (d word and g word) and the drawings weren't very good. LIke it said the vampire was very handsome... uh no. He was ugly and weird looking. And his face kept changing. It was weird.
November 3, 2016
Gregor Coffson is being stalked by a mysterious girl who thinks he is a vampire.
It leaves just when it gets good...is he a vampire? Does Ned have anything to be jealous about? Tune in when the next book comes out.
I am hooked.
It leaves just when it gets good...is he a vampire? Does Ned have anything to be jealous about? Tune in when the next book comes out.
I am hooked.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 26, 2012
This graphic novel takes a familiar sleuth, Nancy Drew, into a new kind of adventure. Nancy Drew and her friends, Bess and George, use clues to figure out whether or not the new guy in town, Gregor Coffson, is different because he has a dark secret he’s working hard to hide.
October 31, 2010
Nothing will ever compare to the original Nancy Drew, but this is fun for today's young reader who has been swept up by the vampire craze.
January 11, 2011
Cornylicious Nancy Drew graphic novel mystery involving a maybe vampire.
January 31, 2011
The first in a new line of graphic novels. Vampires, sigh.
February 13, 2011
Its Nancy! No its Buffy! A fun read with a many references to the (still?!) popular vampire trend. Read it if only to support this hilarious mish-mash of a title.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews