Welcome back to Hoax Hunters Backstage Pass, where you get a behind the scenes look at the latest issue of “Hoax Hunters” with writers Michael Moreci and Steve Seeley. They’re taking you inside the big moments & mysteries of every issue.
Here it is – the finale of “Hoax Hunters'” first season. In the true spirit of a season finale, Moreci and Seeley left our heroes in some precarious positions, resolved a question or three, and left us plenty to mull over before they start up again in the future.
Special thanks goes to Tim Daniel for supplying us with our terrific “Hoax Hunters Backstage Pass” banner! You can see more of his work here.
Remember that we’ll be spoiling these issues, so read the book before getting the inside look. Let’s dive in:
Regan uses the Book of All Futures to vanquish the demon allowing her and Donovan to escape. But this opens up another can of worms, doesn’t it? As with everything else, any time a Hoax Hunter goes against conventionality, there are consequences down the road. What has Regan done? Is Donovan even fully aware of what the consequences could be?
Michael Moreci: Yeah, our team is good at shooting first and asking questions later. While Donovan doesn’t know what exactly the book can do, he knows not to mess with it. Just like he knows not to mess with the multiverse device. Come to think of it, Donovan might be the smartest character around. Too bad no one listens to him…
The book, and what Regan has done, will play a part of the story going forward. It also shows that Regan is crazy powerful, and whatever she’s capable of is now amplified to the nth degree.
What is it about Regan that ties her to the book? Does it have the something to do with the innate powers that she already possesses?
Steve Seeley: What exactly ties her to the book isn’t known yet but it definitely gives the reader a glimpse into the fact that she is way more powerful than is/was known. She has a lot of hidden potential, and I think she now knows that as well.
Borges claims that he tried to protect Jack’s father and failed. Is that true? Can we trust Borges? Or does he have conflicting goals too?
MM: Hell no. Borges is everything Donovan says he is. If Borges tried to protect Jack’s dad, it was on his own terms—and those terms are always his own self-aggrandizement and the service of the Faceless Man. Borges cannot be trusted, and we’ll be seeing a lot more of him soon enough. He’ll get his.
Donovan drops a lot of bombs on our heroes in this issue. He tells them Borges can’t be trusted and that the Faceless Man is pulling the strings. Does Donovan become an ally now? How interested is Donovan in taking down these guys and helping the Hoax Hunters? What’s in it for him?
SS: Donovan plays a large part in Season 2. Not to give anything too much away, but he’s an ally for sure as well as the filler of a pair of shoes in more ways than one. I like to think that Donovan, besides being kinda smarmy, is actually an okay guy, even if he has a lot of skeletons (or demons) in his closet.
Am I correct that this whole thing set Jack up to go somewhere of Borges and the Faceless Man’s bidding? If so, was he carrying the real device? Or was this a decoy? How are they pulling the strings on this one?
SS: Yeah. Borges and FM knew that without the complete annihilation of a species that Jack would end up where he did. They didn’t necessarily start the fire but they definitely stoke it. Jack was determined to find his dad, and intent on finding in him by any means. Borges and the FM knew what extent he’d go to. And yeah the device was real. Things just didn’t go as planned.
Murder was kind of going nuts there for a minute – was that the doing of the Faceless Man too? Or was he just freaking out?
Continued belowSS: Mothman was the culprit. I don’t think the Faceless Man knows what to do with Murder yet.
How do the Hoax Hunters go on without Jack & with the team in limbo trying to save him? Lots of re-runs? Pawn Stars marathons in their place?
SS: Tons of reruns. Or they just take jobs at other reality shows. Ken can go to Storage Wars, Reagan to My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding and Murder to any of the Real Housewives shows.
The mystery man in the Eighth Parallel tells Jack that everyone on that world wants him dead. Why is that? How do they know Jack?
MM: Well…first of all, I can say this: the mystery man is the Frankenstein monster. And he’s in the prison for a specific reason; once that reason is revealed, a lot of the Hoax Hunters mythology will fall into place. We’ve been wanting to get him in the mix for awhile. He, and another character who will debut in season two, are going to be a lot of fun.
The monster knows Jack because he knows a lot about what’s going on behind the scenes. He knows who Jack’s dad is and what he’s up to. And just because Jack’s dad built the prison, doesn’t mean he’s still responsible for it today…
Apparently the Eighth Parallel is also a “prison that Jack’s father built”, which is an extremely cool concept. What does that mean for those trapped there? What hand did Jack’s father have in creating the world as we see it?
MM: How to tiptoe around this question…Jack’s dad, Alan, is the mastermind behind a lot of things we’ll see in these other universes. Whether he’s creating them or manipulating them is yet to be seen. But, like all things, control only goes so far. In doing this mystery thing that Jack’s dad is doing, he may have caused some unintentional collateral damage.
As for the creatures trapped there—they are the worst of the worst. Jack’s dad had to deal with some unbecoming characters on his way to his goal—you don’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs, after all.
Tell us what we can expect for Hoax Hunters’ Season Two, and when we can expect to see it!
MM: Season two is going to be a lot of fun. We’re upping the ante on the mythology while incorporating a lot of stand alone hoaxes to hunt. The Hoax Hunters team is completely shaken up and, without Jack, they kind of suck at what they do. With the stakes as high as they are—Jack missing, the Faceless Man keeping a close eye—this isn’t the best time for them to be less than perfect. There will be new characters, new cases, new locations. We’ll see Jack in the prison dimension and we’ll learn the origins of the Faceless Man.
Also, we’re going to move faster than we did in season one. Looking back, it might have taken a little too long for certain things to develop.
Christian DiBari and Mike Spicer—who absolutely rocked issue #13—are back for the first arc, and we couldn’t be more excited about that. Jim is back with letters, Tim on design.
We hope to return with Season Two, Issue #1 in the fall, that’s our goal. I’m actually writing issue #1 right now, and Christian is doing some character redesigns. It’s going to feel like a new book in a lot of ways, and we can’t wait for it to return.
Vince, we should take a moment to acknowledge your amazing contributions to the Hoax Hunters universe. You’ve given us insightful questions for over a year now, and it’s been a blast having these in-depth talks. Thanks so much! We’ll be looking forward to picking things back up soon.
Thanks a lot, Mike. Thanks, Steve. It’s been a pleasure and I think I speak for “Hoax Hunters” fans when I say I can’t wait to pick up where the story left off in the Fall.
Previous Issues: #0-#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12
