# Frank and Joe vs. Bob, Pete, and Jupe **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 2, 2010, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-and-joe-vs-bob-pete-and-jupe/545308 "2010-07-02T13:57:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-and-joe-vs-bob-pete-and-jupe/545308/21 "2010-07-05T03:47:09Z")
Honestly, I always read more Nancy Drew than anything else. i will say this, the Three Investigators need a better PR agent. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a library that didn’t have at least a shelf of Hardy Boys but I’ve never seen the Three Investigators anywhere but in the bookshelves of my uncles. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-and-joe-vs-bob-pete-and-jupe/545308/22 "2010-07-05T21:16:12Z")
Heh heh … the Three Investigators would win by a landslide. Why, when they got older and Bob became a teen heartthrob instead of an awkward geek, they managed to solve Comicon-related crimes (and Jupe got to make time with a hot female superhero!) AND survive a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness! ---
**Author:** ![drillrod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@drillrod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drillrod)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-and-joe-vs-bob-pete-and-jupe/545308/23 "2010-07-06T14:24:42Z")
The Three Investigators were much better than the Hardys, although I agree with the poster upthread; Brains Benton can out-think any of them every day of the week. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-and-joe-vs-bob-pete-and-jupe/545308/24 "2010-07-06T14:46:22Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Note that while the giant brawl was going on, Encyclopedia Brown walked by, thought for a moment, asked a rhetorical question that got the bad guys to confess everything, then went home for a wild night with Sally and Nancy. There is absolutely nothing which can be added to this post which could make it more correct. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-and-joe-vs-bob-pete-and-jupe/545308/25 "2010-07-06T15:47:27Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > i will say this, the Three Investigators need a better PR agent. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a library that didn’t have at least a shelf of Hardy Boys but I’ve never seen the Three Investigators anywhere but in the bookshelves of my uncles. When I was a kid (70s), the local public library didn’t carry the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew, because (or so I heard) they weren’t of high enough literary quality (i.e. they were formulaic hackwork). The Three Investigators were available, as a better quality alternative. And I have to agree, they are better quality. The characters actually had personalities (although I read plenty of Hardy Boys, I can’t remember anything differentiating Frank from Joe besides age and hair color), and there were clever plot points and interesting gimmicks (at least in the early books by Robert Arthur). ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-and-joe-vs-bob-pete-and-jupe/545308/26 "2010-07-06T16:13:30Z")
Joe was supposedly more impulsive, whereas Frank was more cool-headed. Apart from that though, they didn’t have a whole lot of personality. The Three Investigators rule. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-and-joe-vs-bob-pete-and-jupe/545308/27 "2010-07-06T16:17:14Z")
??? FTW Seriously, is there any contest? And their HQ was WAY cool! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-and-joe-vs-bob-pete-and-jupe/545308.md?page=1)