Appearances of The Network

[tomswift2002]

I'm pretty sure Fenton is aware of Frank and Joe's activities with The Network (though I'm pretty sure Laura and Aunt Gertrude and their friends outside of Nancy Drew definitely are not.) In Dead on Target, Frank and Joe first meet Arthur Gray, who is introduced as an associate of their father's. So the connection between Fenton Hardy and The Network is established from the first book- though I don't think Fenton really has much interactions with them after that.

Yeah, but after Dead On Target that association with Fenton Hardy and the Network seems to get dropped.  Plus, how do we know that by "associate", the Gray Man didn't mean that Fenton Hardy only knew of him being connected with another government agency (ie. FBI)?

[SDLagent]

Also interesting is that The Hardy Boys don't seem to mention Nancy Drew. I've read all of The Hardy Boys Casefiles and I don't recall any of them referencing Nancy Drew or making any mention of Supermysteries cases- though there are certainly flashbacks to previous cases within the Casefiles series.

Frank mentions Nancy Drew in the UB book Operation: Survival. But, in this continuity, the Hardys don't even meet Nancy until Terror on Tour, the first book of the Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Super Mystery series. I guess one could say that even though Terror on Tour was published after Operation: Survival it doesn't necessarily mean that it takes place after. Chronology and publication dates don't need to relate to each other but Hardy fan (including myself) have always assumed that they do.

[tomswift2002]

Frank mentions Nancy Drew in the UB book Operation: Survival. But, in this continuity, the Hardys don't even meet Nancy until Terror on Tour, the first book of the Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Super Mystery series. I guess one could say that even though Terror on Tour was published after Operation: Survival it doesn't necessarily mean that it takes place after. Chronology and publication dates don't need to relate to each other but Hardy fan (including myself) have always assumed that they do.

Not to mention that Tom Swift and Swift Enterprises were never mentioned in the Casefiles either, even though Swift Enterprises appears to be a rather large corporation in the Casefiles universe.

[MacGyver]

Frank mentions Nancy Drew in the UB book Operation: Survival. But, in this continuity, the Hardys don't even meet Nancy until Terror on Tour, the first book of the Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Super Mystery series. I guess one could say that even though Terror on Tour was published after Operation: Survival it doesn't necessarily mean that it takes place after. Chronology and publication dates don't need to relate to each other but Hardy fan (including myself) have always assumed that they do.

Okay- I was thinking of the earlier Hardy Boys series- I forgot about the UB reference. And I also generally assume the publication dates to mandate the chronology and continuity, at least to a large degree...

[MacGyver]

Yeah, but after Dead On Target that association with Fenton Hardy and the Network seems to get dropped.  Plus, how do we know that by "associate", the Gray Man didn't mean that Fenton Hardy only knew of him being connected with another government agency (ie. FBI)?

Okay- I just pulled out Dead on Target to look at it again- The Gray Man introduces himself via handing his business card to Frank and Joe, which reads- "Arthur E. Gray: World Import-Export."
The Gray Man just mentions that his firm is a client of their father's. Frank says that Fenton has never mentioned him, but Gray counters by saying that Fenton has often spoken of his sons. It gives me the impression that maybe Fenton had done a little paternal bragging about Frank and Joe's detecting abilities and even mentioned them as possible recruits for The Network. Maybe that's reading too much into it, but just an idea. And in Chapter 5, The Gray Man explains to Frank and Joe some about his work with The Network and tells them that World Import-Export is a cover company for The Network. And then he says that Fenton has given them some help from time to time. And now he's called in some favors to have his family protected while he's working as head of security for the Walker campaign.
     So that passage there seems to indicate that Fenton has worked directly with The Network and has done enough good work for them that he could even call in some favors. I don't think much (if anything) is mentioned of this connection past the first book, but I'm inclined to think it must be a direct connection in place.

[SDLagent]

I wonder if the Grey Man just said that to gain the Hardy boys trust. Is there any books where Fenton and the Grey Man actually interact?

[MacGyver]

good point- I'd have to research that...don't think I can recall any such interactions right now though...

[Hardy Boys UB Fan]

Didn't they interact in #105, Law of the Jungle?

[MacGyver]

Okay- I can't believe I had forgotten about this one. For the record, in #100 True Thriller, The Gray Man meets up with just about all of The Hardy Boys' friends- Callie Shaw and Vanessa Bender, for sure. Chet Morton, Biff Hooper and Tony Prito all have at least some knowledge of the Gray Man and The Network as well, though I'm not positive if they actually talked with him- though Tony obviously did from waiting on him at Mr. Pizza. Chief Collig and Con Riley both show up in the book too and probably have some interaction with the Gray Man at some point as the police are pursuing him for a while. This book was actually really neat because The Network and The Assassins were both involved and it was all set in Bayport, with most all of Frank and Joe's friends showing up. I love how Frank mentions at one point that they're going up against terrorists with machine guns and all they have is a Swiss Army Knife. And Frank actually does use his knife later in the book so I'm inclined to think he was being both metaphorical and literal there. (which of course, makes me think of MacGyver, so I like that.)
   And in all this, Fenton and Laura Hardy do actually show up, but they go off on a trip towards the start of the book before all the stuff with The Network happens...
          I should also mention #80 Dead of Night, where the Gray Man again has some level of interaction with Vanessa and Callie as well as Laura Hardy.  And in #101 Peak of Danger, Frank and Joe briefly tell their friend on the soccer team in Bayport, Carlos Capac, about the Gray Man since they just had run into him in the middle of the case. Of course, since Carlos was wrapped up in the middle of things, it couldn't really be avoided.

And thanks to Katie for reminding me about #105 Law of the Jungle- the Gray Man definitely shows up in this one and joins the Hardy Boys in trying to save Fenton's life. And after they succeed in getting the cure to Fenton, he and the Gray Man definitely interact at the end of the book. 
Coupling this with events from Dead on Target, I would say it's safe to say that Fenton Hardy is familiar with the Gray Man and the Network. (considering that most all of the rest of Frank and Joe's family and friends are apparently. )

[MacGyver]

By the way, I know that Fenton shows up in at least the first of the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift Ultra Thrillers, but I don't think he appears in the second. However, The Gray Man and the Network do. So for the record, Fenton Hardy and Frank and Joe have all met Tom Swift and his father in Time Bomb and Tom Swift has met the Gray Man in The Alien Factor.

Also, in #108 Blown Away, Chet and Callie meet up with The Gray Man again and Chet even directly addresses him as Mr. Gray. So that cat's definitely out of the bag- lol.   And Phil Cohen at least briefly meets up with the Gray Man as well.
Also worth noting- in #25 The Borderline Case, both Chet and Phil helped Frank and Joe on a case with The Network and Chet at least met the Gray Man- and Phil probably ran into him at some point as well. I'm not sure if either of them totally got the whole story on who the Gray Man and the Network are- but I think we can definitely say they had a pretty big brush with them here.
Also for the record, in A Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Supermystery #7 Buried in Time- it clearly says that Nancy Drew is familiar with The Network. And as stated previously, she also encounters The Network again in Best of Enemies, and it's stated in this book that both Nancy and Bess are familiar with The Network. I find it interesting that George apparently was not familiar with it in Buried in Time but apparently Bess was in Best of Enemies. I imagine if Bess Marvin was told about The Network and the Gray Man, George Fayne and Ned Nickerson and Carson Drew for that matter probably became familiar with them to some degree at some point as well- but I'm not sure of any books that state this right now.  I don't know that Hannah Gruen or Aunt Gertrude have had any dealings with them quite yet though. lol
        Oh, and the Network and the Gray Man are involved in Islands of Intrigue as well and are definitely mentioned but I'm not sure if the Gray Man actually shows up. Frank and Joe are on a case for The Network in Operation: Titanic and talk on a cell phone with the Gray Man a good bit throughout the book, but I don't think he physically shows up otherwise. Of course, Frank and Joe mainly have cell phone contact with Nancy Drew and Bess in the book as well and don't even really meet in person much except for some at the end of the book. Oh well- I guess you have to give them credit for trying to do something a little different from the formula in that book.
        That's all my findings on this for right now, but if I sleuth anything else out on this, I'll be sure to post it later.

[tomswift2002]

          I should also mention #80 Dead of Night, where the Gray Man again has some level of interaction with Vanessa and Callie as well as Laura Hardy.  And in #101 Peak of Danger, Frank and Joe briefly tell their friend on the soccer team in Bayport, Carlos Capac, about the Gray Man since they just had run into him in the middle of the case. Of course, since Carlos was wrapped up in the middle of things, it couldn't really be avoided.

Con Riley is also in the basement of the "Old Mill" in #80 Dead Of Night interacting with both the Bayport Police and the Network.

But I was just thinking, of the two "official" trilogies in the Casefiles, the Network appears in the one that most fans consider to be the worst of the two. the Ring Of Evil trilogy, while, aside from maybe a mention about how the Network figured into the boys history, there was no mention or appearance of the Network in Operation: Phoenix.  Maybe S&S should take a hint about the newer trilogies from the Casefiles and drop ATAC for a trilogy.  Then maybe we'd see a really great trilogy.

[MacGyver]

While I would welcome a break from ATAC for a while, I liked both the Operation: Phoenix and Ring of Evil trilogies, but I like most all of them anyway.

[SDLagent]

O really!?

[MacGyver]

I know- it was a rather shocking revelation there.

[MacGyver]

Got another appearance- the Gray Man and the Network do get a quick mention in Cult of Crime and Frank and Joe briefly talk with the Gray Man on a radio communicator. I'm sure there are still more books that The Network and Gray Man show up in (like the Ring of Evil trilogy: #76 Tagged for Terror, #77 Survival Run and #78 The Pacific Conspiracy) though of course.