Mr. Pizza's Hardy Boys Forum

We just wanted to know what the readers like. Please vote! :)

I don't like them, so I went with 'No way', but I also didn't like the old photocovers.

i really dont care what the covers look like, because i dont follow this series, they could have barney and friends on the cover for all i care. In case you havent noticed,  im really not fond of the ubs

I went with "No way!" because I liked the old photocovers better. They should not put Frank and Joe portrayed as actors on the cover, they should just let the readers imagine what they look like.

Even the old ones had depictions of them on the cover... I think ... Maybe ... Its possible ... I'm tired.

I really liked the old UB covers, so it's obvious what I chose. 

Quote from: Q on July 15, 2008, 09:12:11 AM
I really liked the old UB covers, so it's obvious what I chose. 

I did too!

You know, I was just showing my dad the new covers (he's a retired teacher). His relationship with the Hardy Boys goes way back - he used to read the Originals in the classroom to the kids years and years ago.

But anyways, he said he likes the big font (the "Hardy Boys" at the top) but not the rest of it. Just thought I'd share that random fact.

So I like the old covers better. And negative_zone, you're right, they did have a depiction - it's a small sketch of them in the top left corner!

Yeah, I like the font and colors on these new cover but that's about as far as it goes. But I do think these new ones are better then the first ones, having said that I can't of wish they didn't change them - I like it when a series looks the same for all the books.

BTW, the picture of the boys you mentioned is what I miss most about, I thought it looked good, and I especially liked how it was used at the beginning of chapters.

I agree with you - I actually like that character sketch thing too!

Quote from: oliviatocali on July 21, 2008, 05:26:02 PM
I agree with you - I actually like that character sketch thing too!

The character sketch is awesome! It looks better than the actors. ;D

I like the character sketch too! ;D

Plus, that character sketch harkened back to the way the original series books were issued between 1962 and 1987 with the picture of the Hardy's on the spine.

Yes, definitely to bad that the character sketch not on the cover or the spine any more!

Do you think if there was a full body character sketch on the  covers, they would be better than the actors? ???

Drawings/paintings would be better, but we are talking about the sketch on the original UB covers, which only showed the boys from the chest up.

Yes, but I said IF there was, and I know which ones we are talking about!

Okay, YES, I think drawings/paintings would be better then these models!

ANYTHING would be better than the actors! :D

The cover that doesn't make the most sense is this one (click on the pic for a bigger size):

http://bookmanager.ca/?opt=kw&q=h.ts&qs=Double+Trouble%3A+Book+One+in+the+Double+Danger+Trilogy+

You know why it doesn't make sense? Because Joe is down there crouching and ready for action, but Frank is just standing there and posing, looking straight at us!

::)

Doesn't CSI have a couple of characters that do that at the end of the opening credits?  One is in an action pose while the others just POSE for the camera?

Hmm, I don't know. I've only seen bits and pieces of CSI.

You know, I was thinking (and I'm half-serious) that we should have a poll for the worst HBs cover, starting with Deprivation House ;)

But I guess we should wait for a few more covers, anyway. If there's going to be any more, that is...

I think the best covers used for the Undercover Brothers, are the UK ones - they look like they could be adult crime novels.

http://www.hardyboys-uk.com/undercover.html (http://www.hardyboys-uk.com/undercover.html)

Yeah, they do look like adult crime novels! I like the Toxic Revenge one. But they still used the pathetic Boardwalk Bust ::)

Forgot to mention - and they wrote the back covers pretty well too!

Yeah, better then the mission briefing style used on the US books. When the cover art changed I was hoping the back cover summaries would change with it, but as we know now they did not!

It probably takes less time and thought to write up the mission briefings, then an actual plot summary.

Quote from: HardyBoysWiki on July 23, 2008, 03:57:45 PM
I think the best covers used for the Undercover Brothers, are the UK ones - they look like they could be adult crime novels.

http://www.hardyboys-uk.com/undercover.html (http://www.hardyboys-uk.com/undercover.html)

But they only did that on the reissued Casefiles (Choke Hold/Toxic Revenge/Cave Trap/Darkness Falls) while the original UB's used the same photo's as the American books.

I didn't mean photos, I meant the design, while the US books look cartooning, these don't. Also not that the photos are slightly changed and/or at different sizes.

Yeah, I just realized that the cover photo I liked was a reprint of the Casefiles. Well, that tells you something.

I sort of wonder how the reprint Casefiles fit into the first person Undercover Brothers series, considering the books were written in the third person.  Or did they just re-write the Casefiles so that they were in the first person?

According to people I've talked to that have the Casefiles reprints, other then the cover the books are pretty much unchanged. Imagine how confusing this would for new Hardy Boys fans, unaware that those books were originally part of another series!

I can see reprinting some Casefiles, but why S&S would choose the titles they did, and why they would repackage them under the ''Undercover Brothers'' banner, is beyond me!

And the books probably list their late-80's, early 90's copyrights, so people should know from those that the books are reprints.

One thing I've learned, is never give people too much credit  :D