Comix Portal: (P)Review: ‘Hoax Hunters’ #0

I love me some longjohns superhero stories as much as the next comics reader, but I want to read a good story most of all, and that’s got me looking in other places to find a great and powerful tale of people fighting the odds.

Last year, I discovered Quarantined, which was written by Michael Moreci. It was a zombie book, but it had a unique take on the genre, and I enjoyed it greatly because of that and also because it was a powerful read that pulled me in from the first page.

Well, Mike’s been keeping busy, and now Hoax Hunters is being collected into an issue #0 from Image Comics. Previously, it was available as a backup in Hack/Slash. Hoax Hunters is written by Michael Moreci and Steve Seeley, with art from JM Ringuet (Transhuman) and letters from Jim Campbell.

Here’s the description: “Chupacabra. Yeti. The Montauk Monster. All the creatures of folklore, legend, and Internet fame–what if they were real? They’d be made to appear fake by a reality TV show, of course! Hoax Hunters is that show, though to their viewing audience, their goal is the exact opposite: seeking out YouTube sensations, tabloid creatures, and reported monsters and proving them to be false. The Hoax Hunters demonstrate that the truth isn’t out there.

“In this initial run, readers follow the Hoax Hunters team as they respond to a mysterious American astronaut—accompanied by a murder of crows—who appears in Russia. And that team, which consists of a reanimated corpse, a former child star who suffered a demonic possession, and a special ops agent, isn’t your typical television cast. But to their audience, these are just their roles. Together, they keep the world safe from the unknown.”

The weirdness starts right away, with what seems to be an astronaut and crows causing chaos in modern-day Moscow. Of course, the Hoax Hunters are called in to debunk what’s going on. Things only get stranger from there!

The book’s characters are vibrant, but the one that made me smile was Ken Cadaver, who literally looks something like a zombie because he’s the re-animated corpse of a NASA scientist (Now that’s what I call “dead!”). The rest of the team includes Regan (Wasn’t she in The Exorcist?), a red-headed woman who knows a thing or two about possession, and Jack the team leader, who’s black. Even in this enlightened era, it’s rare when a person of color is the one in charge, so the fact that he’s great at his job makes it a good thing to see in a comic, honestly.

The mystery unfolds as we read along, and at the end, there’s an interesting surprise that I won’t spoil here. Let’s just say that the Hoax Hunters roster may not always be the same from issue to issue. My favorite quote? Jack: “The weirdness never ceases to amaze me, Regan.”

The art fits the story perfectly, very alive and very active in its feel. The pacing is strong and quick, keeping the reader turning the pages in a hurry to see just what’s going to happen next.

I know that this story was told in smaller increments previously, but for the life of me, I couldn’t tell just where those breaks took place before. It’s that well knitted together in this volume.

Hoax Hunters #0 is full of fun, quirky oddness and danger, with a team of interesting characters and mysterious situations unlike anything else you’ll find in comics on the stands today. If you want something dynamic and different, this is the book for you!

Want to learn more? You can discover a lot about this book at its official website located here. Be sure to check out the first few pages there! You can also listen to my interview during the latest Wayne’s Comics podcast with Mike by clicking on the player in the upper right corner of this page or by going to the SFP-NOW website here.

Now the important part — there’s a good possibility that Hoax Hunters will continue as a monthly title, but we as fans need to participate to make that happen! Be sure to let your local comics shop know you want issue #0 when it arrives in March. NOW is the time to do this, so you should contact them right away before March’s orders are placed, which should happen very soon. I’ve already placed my order because I’m anxious to read more Hoax Hunters, and I hope you are, too!

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