The Department of Truth vol. 4: The Ministry of Lies

The sub-titular organization of this volume is the Russian answer to the Department of Truth.  At least, they were until Lee Harvey Oswald was finally able to orchestrate the downfall of the Soviet Union in the early 90’s.  Its leader, Grigori, never forgave  him for it and when Black Hat came knocking at his door, he was all too willing to help them out.  Now Grigori is dead and Black Hat’s influence is greater than ever.  So great that they now think they can get to Department agent Cole Turner through his boyfriend, Matty.  Department Director Oswald thinks that killing Matty would be the easiest solution here; however, Cole has a suggestion that just might change the game for everyone involved.

If you were like me and expecting vol. 4 to be a deep dive into the history of the Ministry of Lies, then you’re going to be a little disappointed here.  What we do get here is more of what made the previous volumes work in that it digs into how the perception of reality is something that can be controlled and even subverted to shape history itself.  While this is good, it’s also one of those volumes where it feels like the protagonists are constantly on the back foot and struggling against the antagonists without having a clear means of fighting back against them.  Until the end of the volume when Cole’s suggestion is revealed and the fightback kicks off.

…At least that’s what writer James Tynion IV wants us to believe.  I’d honestly love it if the history of the Department of Truth that we’re (presumably) going to get in vol. 5 put them back on equal footing with Black Hat.  My gut tells me that this isn’t going to be the case.  That what Cole is suggesting is actually what Black Hat wants and it’s going to leave him and the rest of the Department in a much worse place than they were before.  I want to be wrong about this, yet Tynion’s skills are all about making complex ideas like the ones presented in this series accessible.  He’s not as good at subverting familiar plot conventions, or else I’d still be reading “Something is Killing the Children.”  So I’ll just be waiting here for vol. 5 of this series, hoping against hope that it doesn’t fall into this giant pit of plot contrivance that I see right before it.