Hoax Hunters Parts 1 thru 4 Â Written by Steve Seeley & Michael Moreci, Art by JM Ringuet and Published by Image Comics
Review Written by Shaun Daniels and Edited by Sharon Wong
Hoax Hunters is a fun story found at the back of Hack/Slash and is the 2 in the 1-2 punch combo of Hack/Slash. To call this a backup would somehow diminish the story when, in actuality, it’s like a nice Scotch after a great meal. Below you’ll find a little bit of the first four parts of this story.
When a mysterious haunted 1960s spacesuit appears in Russia, the members of Hoax Hunters, the TV series, investigates to determine if its real or a hoax. The three main characters, Ken the scientist, the lovely Regan and the leader of the group (who remains nameless) make their way to the frosty land of vodka and Lennon. Of course, the group gets caught up in an otherworldly mystery that involves demonic crows, the haunted spacesuit and a former Nazi scientist, who defected to mother Russia after World War II. Although the story is only nine pages (so far), the creative team has managed to cram every single page full of story, from the opening page of the space capsule crashing in the Nevada desert to the reveal that members of the Hoax Hunters have supernatural power(s).
From a writing standpoint, it is really hard to tell a story in just a few pages but Seeley and Moreci waste no time in getting right into the meat of the story. Between the first and second part, the HH team is already in Russia and hot on the case. At no point does the writing team ever hit you with an info dump, explaining who or what the Hoax Hunters are, nor do they use long exposition to fill in the readers. From the get-go, the characters reference contacts at NASA and mention Russian mandates helping to flesh out the story and the characters. At the end of part four, it’s clear that at least one member of Hoax Hunters has psychic power. This duo manages to fit in all this action and story in nine pulse-pounding pages, a feat that most comics can’t do in 22 pages.
Art chores on Hoax Hunters are handled by JM Ringuet, who does a fantastic job setting the tone of the book with its creepy imagery of the gangly haunted spacesuit and the super evil, creepy demonic crows. With great attention to detail, each character is drawn with a different look, from the nameless leader’s smooth features to Ken’s emaciated face and to even the aforementioned gangly astronaut who looks unnatural though the suit is standing still.
Come for Hack/Slash and stay for Hoax Hunters, and hopefully, they’ll get their own independent book so we can get it in larger doses.
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