Review By: Sergio Porras This is an issue that deserves all the recognition in the world. Not too many people, including myself, knew too much about it other than it was some sort of Hoax Hunters Annual. The sheer idea for the issue is genius, a bunch of writers got together, wrote short Hoax Hunter style stories, but the big twist was the art, they actually parodied many current popular titles. SkullKickers, Action Comics, The Manhattan Projects, and although I'm not sure, and don't hate me for saying this because I'm sure I'm the only person left who doesn't read this title, Mind MGMT... at least that’s what it looked like.
Just because this is a Hoax Hunters special doesn't mean that you really have to know anything about the series itself. There’s actually a quick, but thorough recap of what the series is about before you start this issue. The book is made up of six separate stories that have literally nothing to do with the actual timeline of the series. Each individual story has its own writer. Steve Seeley writes the first two, Frank J Barbiere and Anthony Marques wrote the third, Tim Daniel and Nick Pitarra wrote the fourth which is my personal favorite because it’s a parody of The Manhattan Projects and stars none other than Bill FUCKING Murray!, Michael Moreci wrote the fifth story and finally the last story, which is only a page in length is credited to Gabo.
The art for each story is as unique as each story itself. Even though all the artists only had a few pages to illustrate you can tell that they all put everything they had into making this issue look amazing. It had to have been of the upmost importance that the art was as good as it was since most people will make the connection through the art for the parody that they are reading before they make the connection through the story.
As much as I love Hoax Hunters I would have to say that the creative team really went above and beyond by creating a special that has a little something for everyone no matter what comics you may be into and most importantly if you read Hoax Hunters or not. It looks like the intention here is to gain new readers to the series as opposed to pleasing the already solid fan base. If you're buying this issue because you're already a loyal reader of Hoax Hunters then you're in for a real treat, If you're buying this issue just to see what it’s all about make sure that you keep an open mind and understand that this is meant to be fun and you shouldn't base what this issue offers on what the actual series is about. If anything else Hoax Hunter's - Case Files #1 will be something great to discuss amongst the comic shop crowd or maybe even on an online forum… or the comments below!
Score: 5/5
Writers: Steve Seeley, Frank J. Barbiere, Anthony Marques, Tim Daniel, Nick Pitarra, Michael Moreci, Gabo
Artists: Clint Hilinski, Stan Browne, Tyler Champion, Nick Pitarra, Brian Level, Gabo
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $2.99
Release Date: 6/26/13