The Department of Truth is the next project for extremely busy Batman writer, James Tynion IV, per an exclusive from Entertainment Weekly. He’s joined by illustrator Martin Simmonds (Dying is Easy), letterer Aditya Bidikar (These Savage Shores), designer Dylan Todd, and editor Steve Foxe. Published by Image Comics, The Department of Truth proposes a world where conspiracy theories’ validity is affected directly by the number of people that believe in them – a literal take on the real-world status quo in which a leader of the free world recommends chugging bleach to cure an unprecedented viral pandemic.
Anyway – The Department of Truth follows Cole Turner in his recruitment to the titular United States’ shadow organization, as he struggles with “the nature of truth, history, the human condition and the American dream,” Tynion writes in his newsletter. He goes on in his weekly communique, adding that this project has been in the works for years. Pitched back in 2017, he’s committed himself to constant research in hopes of honing an intricate message once the series is at an end.
But, that end is a question mark. The Department of Truth, as Tynion describes, is optimistically a monthly ongoing that he tells readers to expect regularly, as long as they want it, “without gap months.”
In this first issue, the team begins with a common conspiracy: the JFK assassination. In EW’s exclusive preview, Lee Harvey Oswald is interrogated by government agents, in Simmonds’ signature noir style. Look for their conspiratorial collaboration on comic racks beginning September 30.
