You might say we here at Multiversity Comics’ are some of the biggest fans of Michael Moreci and Steve Seeley’s “Hoax Hunters.” After all, throughout its entire first “season”, we had a monthly column dedicated to interviewing the creators alongside each new issue hitting the stands. A “backstage pass” to all things “Hoax Hunters”, you might say. It’s been almost exactly one year since the last issue of “Hoax Hunters” came out and its hiatus began, but that doesn’t mean that nothing has been going on with the property. In fact, big things have been happening in the time off. Both Moreci and Seeley have done other projects (“Prime-8s” for both of them, while Moreci now has “Curse”, “Roche Limit”, and “Burning Fields” to his name), and “Hoax Hunters” itself has made the move to a new publisher in Heavy Metal, which is mainly what we’re going to talk about today.
Moreci and Seeley were kind enough to sit down with us to hash through the developments and tell us what we can expect from a new season of “Hoax Hunters”, its new home at Heavy Metal, and the potential that they see for growth. Enjoy – and check out the Heavy Metal relaunch with “Hoax Hunters” #1 arriving in shops on March 25th, 2015. (Available in January 2015’s Diamond Previews, preorder code: JAN15 1482):
How did Heavy Metal arrive as an eventual home for “Hoax Hunters”?
Michael Moreci: That’s a great place to start. So, when Hoax Hunters season one ended in 2013, Steve and I, for a few reasons, turned our attentions to other things. I was writing Curse, Roche Limit, and a few other projects, and Steve was doing more work with his gallery art and printmaking. During that period, Jeff Krelitz, the producer of the Hoax Hunters film–which is progressing–become co-owner of Heavy Metal. When he did that, he came to us and inquired about Hoax Hunters, bringing it to Heavy Metal. He’s always loved the book (hence his investment in the film) and wanted to bring it to Heavy Metal and create a comprehensive brand with the comic, move, merchandise, and other fun stuff to come. Image was very, very cool about allowing us to migrate over–the decision had nothing to do with leaving them, we love, love Image and always will–and we made the shift.
Since then, Heavy Metal has been incredible, investing heavily into make Hoax Hunters a big thing. Their plan for rolling out the book is impressive, to say the least. Being the first ever single issue comic to be released under their banner is a crazy honor–I’m still pinching myself over it. With all that, I think we’ve been able to make the best Hoax Hunters yet. Christian’s art is out of this world, and Mike’s colors are too good to be true. Everyone involved is very, very excited for what’s to come.
Steve Seeley: Mike couldn’t have said it better. And we really are all so excited for this book. It’s been an honor working with Jim, Christian and Mike (Spicer) again, and I couldn’t be prouder of the outcome.And it’s funny, because the people who have seen teasers have all said that it’s a seamless fit in with Heavy Metal. It’s has the look, the feel, and the energy that so many Heavy Metal stories have/had.
I think it’s interesting that this is almost a case of Heavy Metal putting their trust in you to relaunch their brand, and you putting your trust in them to take “Hoax Hunters” from Image, which has become quite the prestige publisher. Is that fair to say? Are there any nerves involved in making that move? Aside from cross-promotion, which we’ll talk about later, what does Heavy Metal bring to the comics publishing aspect when compared to Image, a company known for championing ownership and freedom of content?
MM: For sure, there was some nerves about leaving Image, because I never want to jeopardize that relationship–it’s where I started, and working there is literally a dream come true. Fortunately, Eric clearly understood the reason we were making the shift–he knew, as well as we did, that Hoax Hunters needed some sort of spark or change or something to survive. And Eric isn’t a possessive guy like that, he wants books to do well, he wants the creators he works with to succeed, so I couldn’t imagine him holding anyone back.
Continued belowFrom our perspective, it was also a little nerve-wracking because we were leaving, like you say, this prestige home that gave us total freedom and loads of support. But, fortunately, Heavy Metal has matched that spirit of creative autonomy. At no point have they said “We love Hoax Hunters, now make it like THIS.” We wouldn’t work there if they did. They’ve allowed us to keep Hoax Hunters what it is and always has been while adding this extra layer of brand management that is going to be an important part of the book’s success moving forward.
We’ll miss Image, and we’ll always be grateful for the opportunity they gave us (and I continue to work there now with Roche Limit and, potentially, some new stuff in 2015/6). But we’ve been lucky to find another great home in Heavy Metal.
That’s not to say that Heavy Metal is not without name recognition of its own, certainly from a cult favorite standpoint their “brand” has been around for decades. Why is “Hoax Hunters” a good fit under their banner and, on the flip side, what potential challenes do you guys see?
SS: What’s more Heavy Metal than an astronaut suit filled with crows?
Seriously though, Heavy Metal has such a strong history of these incredible sci-fi horror type stories and Hoax Hunters really does fit in nicely to both of those categories. As for challenges, I’m not entirely sure we see any. It’s still Mike and I at the helm, and we have complete creative control, so I don’t foresee any structural changes to the book.
Before we talk more about the comic, I think it’s interesting that you mentioned the variety of cross-promotional material that Heavy Metal is supporting “Hoax Hunters” with. What details can you talk about, regarding that? You mentioned the movie – what has that process been like?
SS: Honestly, we can’t go too much into the movie stuff, which I’m guessing isn’t a surprise. But it is, like Mike said earlier, progressing forward, which is good.
As for the process, we aren’t involved that much at the moment (which is not to say we won’t be down the road). However, I’m confident that the Hoax Hunters Mike and I birthed (Ewww!) will translate due to Jeff’s vision and love for property as well as everyone else’s involved.
Also, I think it’s safe to say Murder won’t be played by Megan Fox.
Well, that last point is a relief, anyway.
How about the other avenues of “cross-promotion”? Is there anything you can hint at yet? I imagine that’s one area that differs greatly from Image Comics’ approach to marketing.
MM: A relief?! I was promised Megan Fox!
SS: Guys I said she wasnt Murder… I didn’t say anything about her not playing Jack or Ken.
MM: Aaaannnnnnyway…with cross promotion, the coolest avenue we know that’s going to be tapped is the Heavy Metal brand itself. We’ll be advertised in Heavy Metal, which is going to be crazy. I mean, that magazine still has an insanely large domestic and international readership. And, going off that, there’s also that aspect of international audiences to cultivate. Heavy Metal is huge overseas, especially in Europe; introducing the series to that market is a like a whole new lease on life.
We’ve also heard some potential tie-ins with bands and other Heavy Metal projects, particularly artists. We’re working with one Heavy Metal artist in particular, who we can’t name, but his contributions have been amazing.
So, there’s a lot of resources that Heavy Metal offers, and it’s really exciting to be able to utilize them and take Hoax Hunters to new places in new ways.
SS: To add to what Mike said, we also have much more accessibility to merchandise, especially shirts and the like. I’m not saying there’s anything necessarily in the works, but Heavy Metal is a brand, and a well established brand at that, so their ability to get things made is easier and more affordable, than say if Mike and I tried to do so ourselves.
If Megan Fox is playing Jack, I shudder to think who you’re going to put under Murder’s astronaut helmet.
Speaking of Jack, Ken, Murder, and Regan – let’s talk about “Hoax Hunters” the comic.
I’m guessing you guys also see the transition to Heavy Metal, and a new #1 issue, as a chance to garner some new readers? For those who haven’t hopped on yet but are considering it, “Hoax Hunters” Vol. 1 was the story of a group of reality show hosts that regularly encounter supernatural beings, try to keep them under wraps and under control, and then publicly “debunk” them as urban myths. Beyond that, each of the hosts has secrets of their own, or ulterior motives that play weave their way into the main story arcs. Any changes to that approach for the second volume? Anything that new readers should know? I wouldn’t want to spoil anything myself, but the second volume does pick up where the last volume left off and things aren’t so clean cut for our heroes.
MM: That’s an interesting question, because I think that part of the story will remain the same–the idea of secrets, lies, motives, etc.–but the delivery is much different. Who knows, maybe this is something only I will notice, but when I look back on the first season, one of the biggest technical problems was one of trajectory. We seem to move all over the place–forward, back, and sideways. There were too many times we relied on a character’s history to inform their present, almost like we were relying on readers to wait for a certain nugget of backstory to be revealed in order for the plot to really take. No characters exist without having a history–they’d be flat otherwise–but we’re relying far less on those reveals as we focus on driving the story forward.
Once we pick up in this new season, we really hit the ground running with getting to a cool case to debunk and showing the conflict within the team. We’re going to build on both, making it so what readers know is right there–Ken and Donovan argue because Ken distrusts Donovan; the bad guy has something to do with dark magic that controls a skeleton army. It’s all right there, and I think it serves the storytelling much, much better. It’s crisper, fast-paced, and decisive.
I know you don’t want to tip your hand, but there’s a name you didn’t mention there…
Is Jack “on the shelf” for a bit? He played a rather large role in Volume 1, and his current status was the result of a major plotline throughout. Is this a conscious decision to help focus on other characters, or do we get to him sooner than later?
SS: Jack is definitely not on the shelf. He is, however, far far away in more than way, so his story is an entirely different tale with his own cast of misfit characters. It’ll be interweaved with the regular storyline. The main story will focus on the other characters minus Jack as frontman. Speaking of which, it’s been fun to sort of push Donovan to the foreground as the new “leader”. He was such a weasel when he was introduced and I really enjoy his transformation into his new role.
Donovan as leader, Jack lost in the multiverse – let’s circle back and talk about how relaunching at Heavy Metal gives you a chance to recalibrate your story. Both of you have done other work in comics since “Hoax Hunters” debuted. What have you learned that you’ve applied to this new volume?
MM: Man, my learning has been significant, which just goes to show how little I knew when Hoax Hunters was first launched. The things you mention with these pretty big changes, to me, are resultant of my ability get a better handle on the HH story. I was so rigid in season one and the Jack/Jack’s dad story that it closed a lot of doors. There was one way of thinking, and I see how much that stifled the potential of the HH premise. Now, it’s more like a jazz improve in a way—there’s that foundation (which I still think works very well and it’s the story we want to tell, the underlying mythology of the multiverse and what it means) but the approach is much looser. A big part of this newfound approach is having spent time working on other properties, like Hack/Slash, Planet of the Apes, whatever. The common necessity in all of those projects is recognizing what, exactly, that specific story is all about and how you can either build on it or invert it in interesting ways. I had to sort of do that with my own property in Hoax Hunters and really say “So what the hell is this about, anyway? What’s the tone? What’s the feel?” Having a break from HH—and gaining new experience—enabled that to happen.
Continued belowI don’t think we’re going to see an entirely new book. What we will get is the book a lot of people hoped for/expected the first time around. It’s funny/satirical, it’s scary, and, now, full of some pretty cool surprises. It’s more fun, fun to write and read.
And now, you know, we went through the process of putting out 15 issues of Hoax Hunters, which is a lot—especially for a bunch of first-timers. Now, we’ve been there. We have a better sense of what we’re doing and, being honest, we’re writing like we have nothing to lose. It’s kind of like later seasons of Fringe, where the producers were clearly like “ah, screw it—let’s just do whatever the hell we want.” And I mean that in a way that says we’re just going for broke, and having a good time doing it.
SS: Mike hit a good point. I think the most important thing I’ve learned is to know what I want to say and exactly how is the best and most efficient/effective way of saying it. I think once we established the characters we were able to have more fun with who they were. We had a relatively good idea of who and what we wanted each team member to be when we first started but once the ball starts rolling, so often they sort of develop their own voice. I think it’s listening for that voice that has really helped us push Volume 2 to the next level. Jack is the best example of that. His transformation has been a blast to watch it play out in the script.
I’ve also learned how important consistency is. Same cover artist and same (incredible) art team (Debari and Spicer!) lends itself to creating a specific mood or brand.
