Department of Truth #25 // Review

Right on the first page he’s telling you that there’s no reason to believe him. If you’re thinking his narrative is nonsense...you’re not wrong. He’ll be the first to tell you that. Of course...being the central narrator for much of the issue, he’ll be the first to tell you just about anything, so pay close attention to The Department of Truth #25. Writer James Tynion IV continues his weird and trippy journey through the shadowy corners of conspiracy in the 20th century with artist Martin Simmonds. The more obscure parts of recent history are a swamp...Tynion and company take a deep dive into that swamp in another weird issue.

He’s talking about life in a world where faith creates truth. He’s talking about life in a world where everyone votes on popular reality by simply...believing things are a certain way. He was there when J.F.K. was shot. He was there when a whole bunch of people had decided to believe that the president of the United States had died. Somehow he was plugged-into it all. He saw everything from everyone’s perspective. And he hasn’t been the same since. He’s going to sit there in a kind of darkness smoking a cigarette. And he’s going to tell you what happened. 

So much of what Tynion is doing is so very, very simple. To a certain degree, it’s just taking a look at history from a different angle that isn’t entirely fictional. In and amidst the shattered fragments of reality, there’s this guy named Cole. His life is falling apart because he’s been hauled into a life with a governmental agency that’s responsible for manipulating reality and formatting popular truth. Tynion could rush off in any direction at all with it, but to his credit he’s keeping it slow and moody from beginning to end. There’s a deep emotional resonance that echoes through Tyrion’s narration.

There are other artists who work on fragments of the narrative around the edges of Simmonds’ work. Simmonds’ shadowy, dramatic visuals serve as the central anchor to a story that seems so weird and nebulous. There’s serious weight drawn into the heaviness on the faces of everyone in the narrative. The fragmented, disjointed nature of history and reality in Tyniion’s world takes a beautifully jagged edge in the art as shattered glass seems to rest everywhere on the page in every different angle of the action. 

Tynion and Simmonds seem to be circling back a bit on the essence of what they’ve been moving through in the early going of the series. It’s fascinating to see the story weave itself in and around itself as the fictions on the page articulate with the fictions of history. It’s fascinating stuff that could translate well into other narrative forms off the comics page. Thankfully, Simmonds does a breathtaking job of rendering visuals the keep the more abstract nature of everything firmly anchored into page and panel. It continues to be very well balanced. 

Grade: A