The Department of Truth #0 // Review
A man has walked-into the establishment demanding to see the basement. It’s explained to him that there IS no basement in the establishment. And typically things would end there with a bit of embarrassment and confusion. Maybe the police would be involved. (See: when the guy demanded to see the basement, he was carrying an assault rifle. Typically people don’t just walk into a pizza place with an assault rifle demanding to see a basement. Things are about to get a whole lot more confusing in The Department of Truth #0. Writer James Tynion IV and artist Martin Simmonds continue an intriguing mutation of popular politics and perception in another satisfying chapter of horror.
The gentleman in question has heard the accusations of Pizzagate. On this side of the comics page, it ended quite simply. The whole affair has become a strange footnote to recent history as the spread of information is weaponized. In the world of The Department of Truth, faith literally creates truth. Enough people believed that there were nefarious things going on in an ostensibly nonexistent basement of a very real pizzeria. And even though there shouldn’t be a basement...there is...sort of. And now the DoT has a potential asset to work with...
Tynion presents recent history as surreal horror that fits in more or less perfectly with overarching concerns of the ongoing series. There isn't necessarily a whole lot of insight into the nature of the event in question. The confused gentleman going into a pizza restaurant with an assault rifle had been analyzed to death from every possible angle. (PBS’ Frontline had a particularly good analysis of it some time back.) adding it into the world of the series, adds a little bit to it. And increases the region of the overall mythology of everything. It's kind of fun. But it lacks the kind of resonance of some of.Tynions better work in the series.
Simmonds continues to develop dark and shadowy imagery, which amplify the horror that rests in the margins of popular consciousness. It's dark stuff that bleeds out into Girish color in and around the edges of everything. Oh, there's another shadowy conversation going on to read and there's a lot of mystery that is drawn into the mood of every panel. It seems to be working quite well.
It's kind of surprising that the series could have come this far and still managed to maintain as much momentum as it has given the fact that visually there isn't necessarily a whole lot going on. We visual component of this particular series doesn't necessarily feel like it would have any business working as well as it does. It's the type of thing that really has more potential as some sort of drama on stage or a screen. There is really so much that could be developed on the human level. However, the visuals really do have their own kind of impact in a way that wouldn't work in any other format.
