Department of Truth #7 // Review
Somewhere in the mid-20th century, someone writes a book about the Men In Black. There is more than a bit of interest in the book and its author by people in the government. That author meets an agent of a shadowy government agency in Department of Truth #7. Writer James Tynion IV engages the dark end of UFOlogy in the latest issue of the series with the aid of artist Tyler Boss and colorist Roman Titov. Like so many other attempts to explore the weirdness of UFOs and related phenomena, Tynion’s exploration fails to capture the depth of the mystery. Still, it DOES expand the reach of a very compelling series.
Doc Hynes is a kid. He’s a teenager. He’s been looking into the stories of sinister figures who are intimidating people who have reported sightings of UFOs. An agent from the Department of Truth is more than a little disappointed to find out that the author isn’t any kind of expert…just someone with an active interest. Of course…in a world where belief can create truth in a very real and tangible way, Doc’s interesting in Men In Black could prove to be a harbinger of something altogether more sinister.
It was inevitable that a comic book series focussed on conspiracies was going to eventually settle into UFOlogy. With popular fiction having strafed the subject of UFOs countless times, it’s a bit difficult to find an approach that’s novel or interesting. Tynion doesn’t quite manage anything of note here. The weird blending of actual accounts of MIB encounters mix with fiction in a way that’s actually kind of trippy for anyone familiar with the background of what Tynion is covering. Still, a casual conversation between a government agent and a kid at a diner in the 20th century isn’t really all that interesting in and of itself.
Boss and Titov do a pretty good job of making a conversation between two people seem reasonably compelling. The layout involving actual reports of MIB encounters is kind of interesting as purple-and-white single-panel-pages accompany courier-fonted blocks of text outlining time-worn tales of UFOlogy. It’s not until Doc’s personal encounter with an MIB hits the page that things get truly haunting and dynamic as Boss and Titov play strange games with light, shadow, texture, and text. It’s a fun experiment at issue’s end, but it fails to make the story terribly interesting.
Tynion’s better work in the series thus far has been exploring the weird edges delineating conspiratorial shadows, belief, and the drama of human emotion. Very little of what hits the page in Department of Truth feels fresh or original enough to explore an already thoroughly-explored topic with much of any interest. The fusion between the world of UFO lore and the world of the series was going to be kind of a challenge to try to fuse together in a compelling way. Tynion hadn’t found a connection between lore and fiction that works.
