It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that we here at Biff Bam Pop! love our monsters, our aliens, our paranormal and our conspiracy theories. These topics just seem to root, enjoyably so, deep in our pop-culture love lives. And that’s why we’re enamoured with the comic book series Hoax Hunters, published monthly from Image Comics.
Hoax Hunters scratches that deep-rooted itch in a firm, sharp-nailed, and oh-so satisfying manner. It tells the story of the eccentric hosts of the Hoax Hunters television series – a program dedicated to de-bunking all of those Moth Man, Sasquatch, Chupacabra, Nessie, ghost and witch stories that we’ve all heard while growing up (or when listening to Coast to Coast each evening). Heck, every once in a while these legends still make the mainstream news!
The most recent story arc (issue #’s 0-5 of the series) has just wrapped up and last month saw the release of the first Hoax Hunters trade paperback, compiling them. That book comes highly recommended – exciting times, indeed! But best of all, this week sees the release of issue #6, which starts up a brand new storyline and makes for a great “jumping on” point for new readers.
Find out why below…
In the spring of 2012, Biff Bam Pop! got a chance to interview Hoax Hunters writers Michael Moreci and Steve Seeley as well as illustrator JM Ringuet. In that piece, the creators talked about the genesis of the series, their love for conspiracy stories, monsters, aliens and other cryptoids, as well as the media world these myths inhabit. Hoax Hunters, you see, is based on “real-life” television series’ such as Destination Truth or my all-time fave, the Leonard Nimoy narrated In Search Of…
The one major difference behind the comic book series Hoax Hunters and the television programming it’s somewhat based on, is that Hoax Hunters isn’t out to prove the existence of the strange. No. These characters know it exists. For juicy, conspiratorial reasons not entirely revealed, the Hoax Hunters team is trying to cover it up!
And that’s exactly where this new storyline picks up: with the introduction of the Hoax Hunters Hunters – a subversive team of pseudo-journalists with a video camera determined to prove the mainstay Hoax Hunters, those lying debunkers, wrong! Monsters do exist! And, of course, our Hoax Hunters protagonists are trying to make sure that the truth doesn’t get found out in the real world. It’s a fascinating conundrum for our heroes: knowing, but always having to suppress – a metaphor for so many things in our real lives.
Written by Michael Moreci and Steve Seeley and illustrated by Axel Medellin, the latest issue (wrapped up in a fantastic cover by the amazing Chicago-based artist, Jenny Frison), draws on the real life Haunchyville myth: a village populated by dwarves who savagely cut off the legs of trespassers at the knee so that they live out the rest of their lives as one of the pint-sized denizens of the town. It’s said that Haunchyville exists somewhere in the US state of Wisconsin. Info is found on Wikipedia and the Hoax Hunters are trying to hide it, so the story’s got to be true, right? Right?
Not only does Hoax Hunters #6 contain an introduction that brings readers up to date with the storyline thus far, but it’s got a dark forest, mysterious assailants, bullies that get their due, a convention full of adoring Hoax Hunters (ok, Regan) fans, a smarmy television producer, and a sharp finger-nailed druidic albino king! There’s also the cheeky appearance of a garden gnome that wouldn’t want to ever Travelocity to Haunchyville as that locale’s real gnomes are monstrous and brutal!
And that’s the sheer fun of the Hoax Hunters series! The stories, all based on our real-world esoteric legends and myths, are limitless! And boy, does it scratch that deep-rooted crytoid itch something fierce!
Check out the brief video trailer for the current “Haunchyville” storyline featuring the Hoax Hunters Hunters – a video that recalls films such as The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity while adding even more mythological, pop-culture realism to the Hoax Hunters world-building endeavours.
Hoax Hunters #6 is released on Wednesday, January 16, 2013. Visit the official website at: www.hoaxhunterscomic.blogspot.ca
This was a great post. I loved reading about it and I need to check out the hoax hunters again