Welcome back to Hoax Hunters Backstage Pass, where we dive into each issue of Hoax Hunters on the day of its release and get insight from the creators themselves! Writers Michael Moreci and Steve Seeley enthusiastically take you inside the big moments & mysteries every issue. This month, the Hoax Hunters explored some seedy carnival-cult activity, rustled the jimmies of some anthropomorphic cryptids, and ended up on the unlucky side of a monstrous final-page splash that demands your attention.
Remember that we’ll be spoiling these issues, so read the book before getting our inside look. It’s still early in the game here, so you best head to your local shop, ebay, or Comixology and jump on board if you haven’t already. If you’re already one of the enlightened, let’s get inside this one:
I think your covers have all been great, so far. The issue #2 homage to the infamous “Bigfoot photo” was a nice touch. Do these cover concepts come from the cover artists? How much collaboration is there with the writers on these?
Steve Seeley: Issues #1 and #2’s covers didn’t really have any direct correlation to the interior story, but all the ones for the foreseeable future do, so they are a little more structured. With that said, we are still very loose with our cover artists. We generally just give them the gist of the story and a few possible cover ideas, but we let them run with it. Issue #3’s cover, done by the amazing Ryan Browne is, for all intents and purposes, crazy. And that’s all him. We just told him to draw some sort of undulating creature. Everything is pure Ryan.
In issue #2, we see an early scene giving more details tying into the fate of Jack’s father in a very creepy cult ritual scene. Later, we see the members of the cult matter-of-factly set themselves on fire in a disturbing, deliberately-paced sequence. (It reminded me of the more grotesque things you could see in an Indiana Jones movie, actually.)
Was this particular cult, or its leader, inspired by any specific event in history? If not, what gives you the inspiration for this sort of imagery? How well does Jack himself know this cult? He reacts to seeing the leader, Clive, as if they have a complicated past beyond his father’s involvement.
Michael Moreci: The idea for the carnival comes from a few places. For starters, it makes sense that a band of cryptids would live under the guise of a traveling carnival. It’s the classic method of hiding in plain sight. So that was one way, on a practical level, for us to integrate cryptids into the story. Also, I’m a huge fan of the HBO series Carnivale. I lament its untimely end regularly (if I could get my hands on the rights and finish the story in comic form, I’d be one happy, happy man). In addition to being an amazing, unique, and intelligent show, it had great imagery. I loved the depth of narrative that the visuals alone provided. After Steve and I broke the concept for this arc, I knew there were a lot of opportunities for arresting visuals. So, instinctually, my mind drifted to thinking of Carnivale, and that world became the perfect setting for this story.
I should note that unusual imagery is a cornerstone of Steve’s and my Hoax Hunters storytelling. I mean, the inclusion of Murder alone should indicate that we’re thinking along visual levels. The comics medium is still the preeminent medium for over-the-top visual–you’re limited by nothing but your imagination. We don’t want to be caught cramming our pages with excessive violence or hard-bodied characters and, ultimately, look like so many other comics. Flaming head cults, crazy monsters, and other oddities is where Hoax Hunters, visually, exists.
As for Jack and Clive – you’re absolutely right, the two of them do have a complicated history. Clive we’ll be a recurring character in one form or other, and we’ll see he’s a thorn in the side of both Jack and the Hoax Hunters mission. He’s chaos to their control; he’s smart, resourceful, and knows how to play on the weaknesses of the Hoax Hunters.
Continued belowSo much of the imagery in this book has been memorable. From the Cigar-chomping Bones and his anthropomorphic gang of freaks, to the chimera revealed on the final page, there’s a ton of strange stuff to look at in each issue so far. I’m fascinated by where these images come from. How much of this is in the notes that you give to Axel and what does he end up surprising you with?
SS: It’s been a little of both so far. The creature at the end of #2 is visually 100% Axel. And we wanted to keep it that way. We wanted Axel to have fun drawing the monster, and I’m pretty sure if we told him exactly what to draw, we’d remove the funnest part for him. With Bones, Durand, and some of the others, we’ve given brief descriptions with a reference here and there, but we have always stressed to Axel to show his vision and to make things his own. It’s worked out great thus far.
We see another of Regan’s skills in a chuckle-worthy scene as she gets a carnival worker to admit to rigging his game. I have a few questions with this one: What happened to Regan in her past? What does she know about the extent of her abilities? And, most importantly, is Steve or Mike the funnier writer?
MM: You’re backing me into a corner, here! Hmmm…how do I dodge this one?
Let me divulge what I can say: Regan was once a child movie star. On the set of one of her films, she was overtaken by a demonic possession (it’s no coincidence that she shares the name with the famed Exorcist character). That experience is what brought her to the Hoax Hunters fold–though there’s a more complicated story there–and left her with some unusual powers. Now, what exactly her powers are and what Regan is capable of, I can’t say just yet. We’ll get significant details into Regan’s past two arcs from now, in the aptly titled “Codebreakers” storyline. I can divulge that even Regan doesn’t know what she’s fully capable of, but she’ll discover that soon, and it’ll have major ramifications on the Hoax Hunters universe.
As for Steve and I: You know, I don’t know which of us is the funnier writer. Technically, I do most of the scripting, but when we meet to break down stories, Steve spouts out some crazy, crazy things that generally find their way into the script. And I usually forget if I’m writing something I thought of, or if I’m transcribing something weird Steve suggested.
SS: We are both very very serious writers. Any joke is purely coincidental.
Finally, I’d like to dig a little deeper into one character, if we may. Ken Cadaver. Over the course of the 3 issues, but especially in this one, we’ve seen him to be the most cautious member of the group. He’s cerebral and seems to have a greater desire to do things “by the book.” He also seems to have the least “personal” stake in the Hoax Hunters show at this point. Or perhaps it’s the most secretive stake? Either one may prove true in future issues, but what is in it for him at this point?
MM: That’s a great observation, because Ken is definitely an emotionally detached character. We haven’t seen much personalization from him, and for good reason. I’ve stressed before how we want to keep our characters – however fantastical they may be – tethered to reality. When it comes to writing Ken, Steve and I really had to consider what someone of his unique existential situation would be like.
For those who don’t know the background, Ken was a NASA scientist, one of their black operative scientists, who was working on reanimation technology in the 1960s. Tragedy befell Ken and, upon his death, his own tech was beta-tested on him. And it worked. Now, Ken is a walking corpse. Superficially, you can write his character off to another zombie-type persona. But if you consider his actual character, some interesting things become clear. Namely, Ken is a man who hasn’t felt anything in nearly fifty years. Not pain, not rain drops, not anything. He doesn’t hunger, he doesn’t thirst. His physical existence is numb and, after awhile, that carried over to his spiritual/personal existence. Being starved of sensation has made him the cold pragmatist we see in his character. But – there’s always a but – we’ll see Ken challenged emotionally in the arc to come. Readers will get a significant glimpse into his past on a more personal level. It’s a story I’m definitely excited to tell.
As for his role in the Hoax Hunters, well, he’s a product of his times. Ken was weaned on loyalty and obedience. Not only that, he believes in the cause; he certainly sees the flaws in what the Hoax Hunters do, but he sees the necessity – and the nobility – as well. Not to mention he has nowhere else to go!
Previous Issues: #0-#1
