Giant Boy Detective

Giant Boy Detective is the titular protagonist of a series of children's mystery novels on The Venture Bros. He is based on characters from twentieth century serialized boy adventure novels like The Hardy Boys and Tom Swift, with the twist that he is unbelievably large in size and has a "freakishly loud voice".^[1]

History[]

Season 1[]

The first season of the show The Venture Bros. establishes that Giant Boy Detective is Dean Venture's favorite series of novels, his go-to choice of reading material, and his role model for sleuthing.

The first reference to the series was in episode two, Careers in Science, where Dean was disappointed that he couldn't read GIANT BOY DETECTIVE and the Mysterious Lighthouse after being disciplined by Dr. Venture for fighting with Hank on the ride to Gargantua-1. The book floats up next to Dean's face within the cockpit of their spaceship, signifying they have already left Earth's gravity. Dr. Venture mentions that Dean shouldn't be reading in a moving vehicle anyway and is proven correct by Dean vomiting inside his spacesuit a moment later.

While aboard Gargantua-1 in the episode Careers in Science, Hank and Dean try to solve the "Phantom Spaceman" mystery of who opened the cargo bay doors on Brock and apparently killed their father. Dean asks aloud "What would Giant Boy Detective do?" Hank smacks the book out of Dean's hand, saying "Screw Giant Boy Detective! His dad's not dead!" (They later learn that their father is not dead, either.)

Season 2[]

In Fallen Arches Dean and Hank are sent to their room while The Order of the Triad hold their "villain screening" in the conference room of the Venture Compound. Dean occupies his time by reading a Giant Boy Detective novel until his father asks him to entertain Triana.

Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II) finds Dean hallucinating from fumes in the engine room of The Monarch's Cocoon, causing him to imagines he's on a Neverending Story-like quest with his guide Giant Boy Detective, who appears as a giant (though not as giant as depicted in the books) version of Billy Quizboy.

Season 4[]

In Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel, Dr. Venture is tasked with cloning Adolf Hitler from a dog that contains the former Nazi leader's blood. Dean takes responsibility for the dog, renaming him "Giant Boy Detective".

Dean reads aloud from GIANT BOY DETECTIVE and The Haunted Mine to Mr. Doe, annoying the OSI agent to the point of giving him a migraine.^[1] Doe snatches the book from Dean, flips ahead five chapters to the end, and reads him the conclusion to shut him up.

In Perchance to Dean, Dean is pursued by D-19, a disfigured early clone who had been rejected by Dr. Venture in the fetal stages. The adult D-19 chases Dean to his bedroom, where Dean attempts to escape with hover boots. The chase leads them to the top of the Venture compound, where Dean spies a battered copy of GIANT BOY DETECTIVE and The Haunted Mine on the roof. He marvels aloud "Hey, that's where that is!" before returning to the confrontation with his clone.

Having become the Venture family bodyguard in Season 4, Sergeant Hatred begins reading his way through Dean's book collection and gets into the Giant Boy Detective series. In the episode Return to Malice, Hatred asks Dean which book comes after The Mystery of the Burning Island. Dean replies GIANT BOY DETECTIVE and the Secret of the Disappearing Pyramid, which Hatred then borrows from Dean's shelf.

Later in the same episode Sergeant Hatred revisits his old house in Malice, peeping in through the windows to find his estranged wife Princess Tinyfeet engaged in an orgy. Hatred mopes on his deck, despondent, as dark clouds roll in and pour rain upon him. He faces the sky, hands raised and head thrown back, and shouts, "Oh, what would Giant Boy Detective do?!"

Season 5[]

In the Season 5 premiere What Color is Your Cleansuit?, Dean Venture goes through an angsty period following his fallout with Triana Orpheus and his discovery that he is a clone. He consequently dyes his hair black and sets fire to his Learning Bed, upon which he tosses his old sweater vest, his Bizzy Bee wallet, his Spider-Man pajamas, and his copy of the novel GIANT BOY DETECTIVE and The Haunted Mine (among other things from his childhood). Everything is consumed by the flames.

Book Titles[]

There are numerous books in the Giant Boy Detective series^[2], including:

GIANT BOY DETECTIVE and the Mysterious Lighthouse
GIANT BOY DETECTIVE and The Haunted Mine
GIANT BOY DETECTIVE and the Mystery of the Burning Island
GIANT BOY DETECTIVE and the Secret of the Disappearing Pyramid
GIANT BOY DETECTIVE in the Tiny Tower Treasure
GIANT BOY DETECTIVE and the Hands of Mystery
GIANT BOY DETECTIVE Returns from the Grave
GIANT BOY DETECTIVE Deflects the Alien Menace
GIANT BOY DETECTIVE and the Secret of the Hooded Peacock
GIANT BOY DETECTIVE and his Propellor of Mystery
GIANT BOY DETECTIVE Defies the Elder Council
GIANT BOY DETECTIVE and the Devil's Earlobe
GIANT BOY DETECTIVE and his Supersonic Go-Kart
GIANT BOY DETECTIVE and the West Shore Cliff
GIANT BOY DETECTIVE and the Phantom Fireplace
GIANT BOY DETECTIVE in the Caves of Nuclear Fire
GIANT BOY DETECTIVE Goes West

Episode Appearances[]

Season 1[]

Careers in Science (mentioned, book shown)

Season 2[]

Fallen Arches (book shown)

Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II) (Dean's hallucination sequence)

Season 4[]

Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel (mentioned, book shown)
Perchance to Dean (book shown)
Return to Malice (mentioned)

Season 5[]

What Color is Your Cleansuit? (book shown)

Trivia[]

The covers for GIANT BOY DETECTIVE and the Mysterious Lighthouse and GIANT BOY DETECTIVE and The Haunted Mine list the author as show creator Jackson Publick.
In the description for Dean Venture in Jackson Publick's original pitch book for The Venture Bros., it says "despite the fact that he usually has a book in his pocket, his reading material tends toward the lame '60s pulp boy adventure books upon which The Venture Bros. is based (his favorite series is Giant Boy Detective)."^[3]
In Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II) Dean says the character of Giant Boy Detective is around thirty feet tall in the books.
Giant Boy Detective has a female partner named Susie, similar to the way boy detective Encyclopedia Brown had a female partner named Sally.
There are at least two separate musical projects named after this fictitious series:
- Giant Boy Detective, a solo musician named Tristan Shinnick from Austin, TX who released the album "Stuff I Wrote..." in 2010.
- Giant Boy Detective, an alternative three-piece band from Wilmington, DE who have been performing under the name since 2014.