(Image Comics, 2013)

Review by Brad Gischia

Writer – Micheal Moreci & Steve Seeley
Artist – T-Rex Jones
Cover Art – Jason Copland
Cover Colors – Nate Lovett
Letters – Jim Campbell

I’m just going to say it. It’s hard to write about Hoaxhunters. I stare at the computer screen, the white box of waiting for the filling text, the preview screen behind and open, showing me images from the latest issue, and my mind goes blank, my fingers tense and poised. Nothing. Thank you Michael Moreci, for silencing my fingers. Thank you Steve Seeley, for making me hate Microsoft Word, with its blank page and blinking cursor.

It’s not that I don’t love it. I do. I think that it’s a great concept with great art. T-Rex Jones has definitely changed the look of the book, but it’s still great, something I have come to look forward to. The problem is not with the art or with the story, which is completely engrossing. Moreci and Seeley have created the characters convincingly, they’ve created great and intriguing back-story that makes you want to learn more about them. They have given us Murder, one of the most innovative new characters in comics. But what do I say about it? How can I write a review when doing so will spoil something for someone who has only read the first eight issues? Or…gasp…has never read it at all?

I suppose that is my job as a reviewer, but he hasn’t made it easy. So here we go. (Just so you know, the first two paragraphs have been my way of psyching myself up, trying to get my fingers working faster than my brain, which is what I almost always have to do to get any writing done.)

Issue 11 continues the two stories of the split Hoaxhunters team. Jack and Ken have fished Murder off of the roof and they’ve gone to Muncie to investigate the thunderbirds that were reportedly seen there, and in the process have had to face their biggest worry in recruiting new members, keeping those people safe.

Donovan and Regan are bouncing around the jungle in search of the demon that was shown in issue 10. Donovan shows a softer side, which softens Regan towards him, but I have trouble believing that this is going to be the regular role for him. How much do you trust a demon in the first place?

Both teams will come through this stronger for going through it, which will make a stronger team. But what will be the cost?

So that’s it. I’m not saying any more about issue 11. Moreci and Seeley have made it too hard. If spoilers were not an issue, I could ramble on for pages about the possibilities in the book, the range of creatures they could investigate, the depths of the characters, the mysterious stranger that makes an appearance, but that could ruin it. Do you tell a new fan of The Walking Dead the governors’ back-story? How do you explain to someone who has never seen the X-Files about the Scully/Mulder relationship without ruining something?

I’m just going to tell you, that Hoaxhunters has staying power. If you haven’t read it yet, pick it up, if you’re not caught up, get there.

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Follow Brad Gischia on Twitter:  @comicwasteland