Hoax Hunters #6 – Review

By: Michael Moreci & Steve Seeley (writers), Axel Medellin (art), Charo Solis (flat colors), Jim Campbell (letters), Jenny Frison (cover)

The Story: The Hoax Hunters team has a new rival.

Review (with SPOILERS): Have you ever accidentally stopped reading a newer comic series?  You enjoyed the series and didn’t intentionally drop it, but suddenly you realize you’ve missed 3-4 issues and you think, “Gosh, it’s way too much trouble to catch up and if I try to skip to the current issue, I’ll be horribly confused!”  I’ll bet it has happened to you and it happened to me with Hoax Hunters.

I’m friendly with writer Michael Moreci on Twitter and he mentioned that a new story arc was starting this week.  It seemed like an interesting chance to do something different.  Instead of reading all the issues I’d missed, I’d just dive back in with the new issue.  Gasp!  That’s right!!!  I’m going to skip issues instead of catching up!  Don’t tell anyone that I’m doing it wrong!

Hoax Hunters #0 – Advance Review

By: Michael Moreci & Steve Seeley (writers) & JM Ringuet (art)

Release Date: March 21, 2012

Spoiler-free Advance Review: This #0 issue collects material that appeared as a back-up story in Hack/Slash over the past 6-8 months and I enjoyed it quite a bit.  This first story follows a crew from a TV show called the Hoax Hunters as they investigate a mysterious American “astronaut” from the 1960’s who may or may not be reappearing in modern-day Russia.  So, right away this comic is in my wheelhouse.  I love (and can spend hours) reading websites about things like the Lost Cosmonauts or Bigfoot or Nazi moon bases or the Loch Ness Monster.  Of course, it’s impossible to know what future stories the creators want to fiddle around with, but judging from this comic, their promotional materials and interacting with Moreci on Twitter, I think they’re interested in those sorts of stories too.

So, the creators seem to be interested in cool stuff, but can they tell a story?

Well, this #0 issue shows that they can!  It does what a #0 issue needs to do: establish the characters and the premise for the story.  We meet our core team of 3 folks who are there to investigate the unknown.  There’s nothing too remarkable about the makeup of the team: big, shaved-head black guy + sexy geek-girl + cadaverous science guy.  We’ve seen teams like this before because they’re good for story telling and I’ll credit the creators for not trying to reinvent the wheel.  This team goes out to investigate this weird astronaut and gets more than they expected.  It has a nice pace and while the team seems VERY capable, they’re not so badass that they don’t struggle a little bit and that makes for drama.  So, the story and storytelling check out.