Welcome back to Hoax Hunters Backstage Pass, where you get a behind the scenes look at the work done by writers Michael Moreci and Steve Seeley. They’ll take you inside the big moments & mysteries of every issue. This month, we saw the Hoax Hunters explore an extremely haunted house, make fun of supernatural reality shows, and barf up some bad tacos.
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:
Hoax Hunters #9 is a stand-alone “flip-book” issue with a couple of fun aspects to it.
Did you feel like it was time to show more of what the Hoax Hunters actually do in the production of their episodes?
Michael Moreci: Yes and no. I think the second arc really incorporated the TV show angle well, probably as good as it’s going to get. It’ll always be there, and we’ll have fun with the device, but that’s not central to our story. But we had the opportunity, and Steve had the idea to be literal with our concept. Two sides of one story – why not just do that as advertised? And it comes at a good time, as the issue is designed to be picked up casually by anyone and get an pretty clear idea of the characters, story, horror, humor, etc.
How did you arrive at the idea to show the entire sequence of events from two different points of view?
Steve Seeley: From the get go, we knew we wanted an issue that showcased the events from the TV show’s viewpoint. We got talking and realized that having an issue that showed both sides (behind and in front of the camera) would not only be the most successful take but also the most entertaining. The “flip book” aspect came a little later, which seemed to be a no brainer.
You’re allowed to do things in comic books that would be much more difficult to do in any other media. Hoax Hunters #9 seems to be a good example of that in practice. How often do you think about the rules of storytelling and how you can use the medium to break them?
MM: I think about the rules of storytelling pretty regularly, in all forms. I’m a huge movie buff, and it sometimes pains me the dimensions comics lack from cinema–score, performances, things like that. But comics has some advantages in its own right, and one of which is to mess with the conventions of the actual product. It doesn’t have to be a certain size, a certain page count, a certain format. You have a lot of room to play. There was this French literary group, the OULIPO, who were designed on that principle, to play and potentially create an entirely new way of doing things. And they succeeded in many ways. Georges Perec’s novel “Life: A Users Manual” is probably one of the most wonderful books ever written. I wish comics would have an avant-garde movement. It seems like the most experimenting you can get away with is being non-superhero, like that’s so ballsy. Even books by Image, Vertigo, etc–including mine, do not get me wrong–are totally conventional genre stories. Either that, or their conventional slice of life tales. There’s some experimental stuff out there, there is–but I’d love to see the equivalent of a New Wave movement that really rattles some cages.
I didn’t even come close to answering your question, I know this.
Wow – great answer though. That’s a fascinating idea and I must say that I agree. I want to see comics like that too!
Issue #9 was another arc-break with Axel Medellin taking a break. Can you tell me a little about getting Brent Schoonover to do this issue? What unique aspects did he bring to the series?
SS: Both Mike and I were/are huge fans of Brent’s work. Ive often found myself getting lost in his blog/website. He does such beautiful work, and he’s able to not only cross, but also unify, so many different artistic worlds. Early on, we had talked about how great it would be to work with him, Mike contacted him and, well, the rest is history.
Continued belowWhat caused Murder to freeze up like that? Given that the Hoax Hunters take on the unknown all the time, what was it about this haunted house that would keep him away?
MM: Well, we needed to do two things: Because we only had 14 pages for each side of the story, we had to trim it. Getting rid of a character made sense. Also, we made Murder our Scooby-Doo for an issue. He still plays a role, accidental or otherwise.
Seeing him as Scooby-Doo gives the entire issue something of a new light.
How familiar are you with the types of series that the Hoax Hunters make fun of over and over in this issue? You really capture how ridiculous those reality shows.
SS: Yeah, I hate to admit it, but I’m pretty familiar with a lot of reality TV. Its the mindless stuff that I watch while I work. Luckily, in my opinion, the cryptozoological, ghost, monster reality shows are the best of the bunch but they still fall to so many of the reality TV tropes. With that said, its pretty easy to poke fun of them, since they fit that typical reality TV formula.
The Hoax Hunters’ show has a secret ulterior motive, of course, but how much does the cast enjoy pretending to be something else? What is their mental approach to pulling something over on their audience?
SS: I like the idea that they’ve done it so much that its become a game or sorts for them to cover up. Nothing suprises them anymore, so they are able to spend more time focsuing on getting sick or the mundane than to take care of the horror at hand. It’s a fun dichotomy.
What the hell was that disgusting thing that covered Regan with blood?
MM: A blood zit? I don’t know, actually. You always see the haunted house thing where “the walls bleed.” What if there was a source of the blood, this giant, throbbing zit that was as disgusting as can be.
You can say that again.
We got to enjoy a lot of camaraderie between the cast members. Are these people that would hang out outside of the show? Or are they just forced to? “Hoax Hunters” seems to be their lives. Do they ever get any down time?
MM: Ha, I think they hang out together because they don’t have any friends. Their lives are constant lies and travel–not exactly the foundation to form a healthy relationship on any level. But we’ve stressed, from the beginning, that this team is a family. There is genuine care, between all of them. Without that, there’d be no stakes. If Adama and his son didn’t have such a complex, dynamic, tender, and real relationship on BSG, it would be impossible to really care much about either of them, and that ambivalence would quickly seep into the story. As we’re beginning to see, they all share similar wounds and hangups, just like anyone else, and that’s what binds them together, and to us. As the stakes raise–as they do to an insane degree in the coming arc, which marks the end of season one–we want readers to worry about these character, to want them to not only survive, to stick together. It’s an experience I got watching LOST; we wanted them to triumph over their inner demons. I hope readers feel the same with Hoax Hunters, wanting Jack to reconcile his father’s disappearance, wanting Ken to find comfort in his much too long life…we’ll see Regan’s story starting in issue #10.
Taco Bell or Taco John’s?
SS: Not even a question. Taco Johns! Potato Oles are seriously like crack. Delicious deepfried crack.
MM: Taco Johns! I love the Bell, but give me TJ’s any day.
Gotta love the Oles. Steve was probably hitting up the one on old Business 51 back in Schofield, right?
Now for the big question that Ken posed at the end of the issue: Why DON’T other reality TV shows run into the supernatural, themselves?
SS: We’ve toyed with the idea of having another “monster hunting” type show that is aware of whats happening and we’ve also toyed with the idea that maybe other shows run into this stuff but are often mind wiped. But regardless of what we have toyed with, we have answers. Just not now though. Mike and I gotta go, we are having Potato Ole withdrawal.
Oh man, just had to leave us with that little tease, didn’t you!?
