The Department of Truth vol. 3: Free Country
Vol. 1 of “The Department of Truth” was a well-constructed marvel which tied the idea that belief shapes the world to the history of conspiracy theories as they relate to America. It did this with a reveal at the end of the first issue that stands among the best I’ve seen in recent memory. Vol. 2 didn’t hit this same level of quality, though. It had its moments, like the introduction of Hawk Harrison and a touching story about Bigfoot of all things, but a good portion of that volume felt like you were being led around by your nose as writer James Tynion IV explained the plot to you. Now we’re at vol. 3 and it’s the first one to not feature any interior art from co-creator Martin Simonds. Instead, he’s replaced by six very talented artists as we get the history of the department in ways that are as disturbing as they are compelling.
We start off with Elsa Charretier and “Apocrypha” and Lee Harvey Oswald has just been killed on national TV. He’s also in the basement of the Department of Truth learning about what he’ll be doing there in a book that he has to learn Latin to read. The story it tells initially seems very simple, about a monk going into a forest to meet an old lady who claims to be the son of the last Roman Emperor. The catch being that it’s the eve of the first millennium, so how has she managed to stay alive for 500 years?
What we get with this story are tales of how the power of belief was used to shape the Roman Empire and then utilized by the Catholic Church for its own ends. It’s a good example of the series doing what it does best: Weaving history together with conspiracy theory to create something that sounds frighteningly plausible. There’s a lot of exposition here, but Charretier’s whimsical, almost exuberant art helps keep you invested throughout. Better still is the last-page reveal of a potential antagonist for the series that you may have heard of already.
“Foil” is an origin story for Doc Hynes, the tinfoil hat-wearing scientist that was briefly introduced in vol. 1. He may have come off like a standard-issue kook there, but his actual backstory is genuinely tragic as he was a kid who thought that the emergence of UFOs was a thing to look forward to, until he met a Man in Black. Tyler Boss sells the normalcy of the early scenes quite well, which makes the strangeness in the issue’s back half trend closer to horror by comparison. It’s another engaging story that benefits from the character work done to make Hynes feel like an actual person instead of a conspiracy cipher.
Which is a good thing because the next story has Oswald and Hynes working together to learn about the Babylon Working from a man who was in the same lodge as Jack Parsons and L. Ron Hubbard in “Rocket Man.” This is the weakest story in the volume because, outside of some comedic character interaction between the two government agents in the first few pages, it feels like a reprise of the kind of leading-you-around-by-the-nose storytelling that dragged down vol. 2. Admittedly, it’s not uninteresting to hear about what Parsons and Hubbard had to do with the Woman in Red, and by extension the series’ overall story and artist John Pearson does a reasonable approximation of co-creator Simmonds’ style. It’s just that the story reads like we’re being talked at for 22 pages, but without the necessary style or character development to make it fully interesting.
A better example of how to make that kind of thing interesting follows in “Point Pleasant” which is told via an interview transcript between Hynes and the unnamed Director of the Department of Truth. What starts off looking like it’s going to be all about the Mothman quickly doubles back to the concept of Wild Fictions like Bigfoot, but quickly adds a sinister new layer to it. While Wild Fictions only have the intent the people who conjure them up give to these things, what happens when they develop an intent of their own.
Told from Hynes’ perspective, the story reads like a description of Oswald slowly coming undone by his obsession with this new breed of fictions. There’s a good reason for that, which we find out at the end of the issue. However, the real standout in this issue is the art from David Romero. He doesn’t provide sequential art as he just illustrates selected scenes from the transcripts. Though the Mothman is the ostensible star of this issue, the real standout is how he draws Indrid Cold. To call him a telepathic alien with a human appearance is the safest way to describe him. The thing is that Romero draws him in a way that nails the unreal-thing-in-a-normal-setting vibe that always creeps me right the hell out. I consider myself fortunate that Cold hasn’t shown up in my dreams. Yet.
You’ll feel like you need to unwind after a story like that. Lee certainly did as “Free Love” tracks his escape all the way out to San Francisco at the height of the counterculture movement. This issue is all about how the character comes to grips who he is, what he might be, and what he’s going to do about it. Government brainwashing, the RFK assassination, and the eventual failure of the counterculture movement also figure into things here. The real star of this issue is the art from Allison Sampson who makes the story look like how you think it would after ingesting a lot of mind-altering drugs. You know what’s even crazier? Sampson’s storytelling is still easy to follow in spite of this!
Finally we come to the final story in this collection and the only one without a proper title. It doesn’t need one as you’ll no doubt remember this as the one where the moon landing is faked. This is also the first time we see Oswald working with the former Director of the Department of Truth and they’ve come before freshly inaugurated President Nixon with a plan to make America’s story the dominant one of the 20th Century.
I won’t spoil the identity of the former Director for you; though, I will say that it’s the best reveal the series has produced since its first issue. If you don’t know who he is, look up his films and you’ll see why it makes perfect sense that this man was the Department’s first director. Tynion does a good job articulating that character’s concerns while also showing us a newly confident and ambitious Oswald after his escape to San Francisco. Nixon also gets some great character moments here as he slowly warms up to the idea of the kind of power the Department has, so long as it’s properly controlled. Delivering these series of intimate character moments is Jorge Fornes, who’s great with subtle character acting. Particularly Nixon’s as he becomes steadily more sinister as the issue goes on.
While there isn’t an outright bad issue among the ones collected in “Free Country,” we can learn something from the least of them as to what makes a good story in “The Department of Truth.” “Rocket Man” is essentially wall-to-wall exposition. It may be crucial to the overall story of the series, but that doesn’t stop it from being something of a chore to get through.
However, there are two kinds of “best stories” in this volume. The first is “Apocrypha” which also traffics in the same level of exposition as “Rocket Man” but has much more playful and inventive art to draw you in with. It also has some interesting character beats with Oswald getting used to his new lot in life with a nice surprise at the end that broadens the scope of the series. This is how you make this level of exposition interesting: Give it a good look with some tangible payoff at the end.
The other kind of “best story” in this volume dials back on the exposition almost entirely. While the final story in “Free Country” is backstory, it’s told through through then present-day conversations between the entire cast. We do learn more about the Department and what it can do, but it’s all told through the characters and their actions. There’s also payoff here too in the identity of the Director and how the seeds for Nixon’s real-life downfall are being planted here.
Even though all six of the stories in “Free Country” are set in the past, what they have to say feels crucial to “The Department of Truth’s” future as well. With Oswald still at its head and the Woman in Red still out there, learning more about them feels like a side-trip that was ultimately worthwhile. I have a better idea of where the series is going from here and I’m very much looking forward to seeing how things play out in vol. 4 when the Department gets to mix it up with their Russian counterpart The Ministry of Lies. Which has to be an ironic name like “The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants,” right?