Writer: James Tynion IV / Penciller: Martin Simmonds / Letterer: Aditya Bidikar / Designer: Dylan Todd / Editor: Steve Foxe / Image Comics
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30th September 2020
The Pitch: Cole Turner has studied conspiracy theories all his life, but he isn't prepared for what happens when he discovers that all of them are true, from the JFK assassination to flat Earth theory and reptilian shapeshifters. One organization has been covering them up for generations. What is the deep, dark secret behind the Department of Truth?
We all look sensible on the surface – your boss, your colleagues, the person that serves you a pint in your favourite pub. But scratch the surface of any 'sane' individual and you'll find a beating heart of a conspiracy. We all have it. Whether it's the lesser madness of the pre-set kill-switch that makes all your electronics cease working just a few months past warranty to the full-on science-denying crackpots who think the earth is flat, we've all got our something. And we all claim to want the same thing: The Truth. But would we really want to know? If we knew what it takes to make the world run (money, cynicism and an unhealthy dose of fear as far as I can tell), would we survive knowing? Is the 'truth' all it's cracked up to be? Or are the comforting lies better for us in the end? It's the answer to these questions that sit at the core of The Department of Truth.
Conspiracy feels like a very American thing, like most of our cultural obsessions, so it's cool to see the ultimate American conspiracies – who killed JFK and did they really land on the moon? - referenced in this opening issue. The book tricks you the way a good cult might work, pretending to offer answers, then snatching away those answers, making you second-guess your own mental state until you only believe in one version of the truth. Even as the reader, on the outside looking in, the book starts to tick the conspiracy boxes that we're exposed to on social media. Check out the moment with the polo shirts at the Flat-Earth society conference if you don't believe me. Here the book begins to touch on the why and how of conspiracies. The way in which they're able to take hold of first our imaginations, then the day to day aspects of our lives. One of the characters talks about 'seeing the curvature of the Earth', the true shape of things and I think that hits the nail on the head. If we see how things really are, what they truly are, we would feel inadequate - as we should. We would be subject to gravity not just in our physical lives but in our minds. Constrained and unimportant. And an awful lot of people just aren't content with being small. In a way, conspiracy theories become just another symptom of the grand sense of entitlement that sweeps western society these days. We want to feel as if we know some secret code to the world, to our humdrum daily lives. It's this in a way that has driven the need for more experiential living as opposed to the more possession-accumulative lives we were living in the decades before the '00s. Comic book collectors are of course still living that possession-accumulative life, so what do I know?
can you redeem the man who shattered the american dream?
It's this desire to pull back the curtain and meet the Wizard that makes our lead become first part of the inner circle of conspiracy nuts, then part of a government-funded unit that opposes them – The Department of Truth. For me, this is where the book became its most American. First in its notions of ideation and turning those notions into actualisation, then with its idea that everyone can – and deserves to – be redeemed and then finally with Lee Harvey Oswald himself, the ultimate conspiracy nut. That question alone makes the book worth picking up. Can you redeem the man who shattered the American dream? Do we want to? For the more cynical brits, I imagine the answer to this is an easy one. For Americans... who knows? I'd love to hear how this comic went down with US readers, especially the older ones. Tynion's writing is as always, tight. He always makes you feel the moment, whilst keeping in mind the larger machine at work (see his recent run on Batman for more of this). Simmonds' art is evocative and atmospheric. His newer style, painterly and haunting, is perfect for this story where the world seems solid, but the truth is veiled and just beyond reach. Where the answers to the questions might prove terrifying. Bidakar gives expression and realism to the voices and words, making everyone seem plausible, even though you know they can't all be telling the truth. Or maybe they are and that's the scary part. This could be part of a larger conspiracy, convincing us that comics are the best medium for artistic expression since art was invented. Of course, I could just be suckering you in. You tell me... What truth would you prefer?
Buy Image comics here and support The Comic Crush. You can buy the trade at Gosh Comics or order it from Bookshop.org