Hoax Hunters #1
Written by Michael Moreci & Steve Seeley
Art by Axel Medellin
Inks by John Lucas
Cover by Tim Seeley
Image Comics
Release Date: July 4, 2012
Cover Price: $2.99

You all now me, whenever it come to horror I run screaming the other way. Basically, I’ve been described as Scooby-Doo on two legs with less hair. So, I went into Hoax Hunters #1 with cautious optimism. I REALLY liked issue #0, and thought, why not? If it gets gory, I can always stop reading it.

Writers Michael Moreci and Steve Seeley have got something REALLY unique here. The basic premise is, a bunch of people investigate strange and odd occurrences, all the while filming it for their reality show, appropriately titled “Hoax Hunters.” What I loved about this book is the character dynamics. You have the gang trying to figure out just what the hell the mystery is in a small town, and why everything’s dying, but at the same time you get what’s going on in their real lives. Look out, Moreci and Seeley! I can already picture someone swiping your premise. The reality show BEHIND the reality show is a great, fresh new concept, and it’s going to be great to see how this plays out. They give us TWO stories every issue – one of the Hoax Hunters trying to find out what’s really going on, and one where the reader is trying to find out what’s really going on with the Hoax Hunters themselves. All combined, this makes for a very entertaining, engrossing comic that you’re not going to want to put down!

I’m not at all that familiar with artist Axel Medellin, but he’s a great fit to this book. I’m not sure who’s decision it is, his or the writers, but normally a book like this would be filled with blood, guts, and spilled out entrails; this issue, however, includes none of that gratuitous violence and gore. And that’s a very refreshing change of pace in today’s comic book market where every horror comic strives to out gross the next. Through his art, Medellin conveys a sense of SUSPENSE, which is hard to do in a comic, but it hearkens back to the old Universal Monsters films where all the “horror” was in the acting, mood, and lighting. That’s basically what we have here. Medellin is a fantastic artist and he’s right at home here in Hoax Hunters #1. Here’s hoping he stays on the book for a long time.

I can’t wait til this book comes out, so that I can recommend it to people! I honestly can’t think of a person that I wouldn’t recommend this book to. It MAY be a little intense for those under 13, but again, it’s nice to see a horror book that doesn’t REALLY have any objectionable material in it. And more than that, it’s just a fantastic comic. If you haven’t picked up the issue #0 yet, go grab one. You do NOT want to get left out on this title!!