Image Comics has been putting out a lot of solid new books lately, and Hoax Hunters #1 keeps that tradition alive, with a strong debut issue. Moreci and Seeley aren’t names I’m familiar with, but I really liked their script for this issue, which brings a group called the Hoax Hunters to Louisiana, looking to debunk a potential hoax, but which turns out to be something else entirely, something far more deadly. Moreci and Seeley spend the issue introducing Regan and Jack, the two principal leads of the Hoax Hunters television show, as they begin investigating a weird occurrence down in the bayou in Louisiana. The writers have created a world of their own here, as with each page the reader gets a sense of something larger going on not just in the story, but also in the back-story for the lead characters. The reader gets just enough to pique their interest without giving atoo much away, and it keeps the mystery fresh and more interesting for the reader.
The characters don’t get a lot of time or space to develop, and yet the writers managed to imbue them with some great characterization, to make them more fully realized, three-dimensional characters. I also liked that the Sherriff of the town was somewhat inducted into the team, towards the end of the issue, as it provides a great POV character for the coming issues should the writers decide to use him in that capacity. There’s more going on here than one would initially suspect, from Jack’s own history to the fact that Durand isn’t even human, and what this potentially means for the Hoax Hunters squad going forwards.
The artwork by Medellin is extremely effective in cultivating a captivating sense of mood and atmosphere for this story to unfold in. The artwork boasts some nice clean linework, as well as some really solid colours. Medellin has a strong sense of setting in his artwork, and the details in the background artwork are quite strong as well.
I really enjoyed this first issue, and look forward to reading more issues by this creative team, to see where they plan on going with these characters and this story. This is a very solid debut, and readers should take a chance on this book, it’s a bit different than the norm, and that’s a very positive attribute for this book.