The Department of Truth Volume 7: Another National Anthem

The Department of Truth #7

by James Tynion IV, Martin Simmonds (Illustrator), Ben Templesmith (Illustrator)

A new day has dawned at the Department of Truth.

Lee Harvey Oswald and his ruthless new recruits are ready to do whatever it takes to make the agency great again. Now, Cole Turner is on the run—and he may have nowhere left to turn except for Black Hat, the counter-agency that’s been trying to recruit him since the very beginning…

ALSO IN THIS VOLUME: critically acclaimed artist Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night) joins the series to reveal the shockingly primeval origin of gun-toting, Bible-quoting new agent Charity Sinclair.

Collects issues #0 & #34-38.

Genres: Horror, Graphic Novels, Comics

208 pages, Paperback

Published September 22, 2026

About the author

Prior to his first professional work, Tynion was a student of Scott Snyder's at Sarah Lawrence College. A few years later, he worked as for Vertigo as Fables editor Shelly Bond's intern. In late 2011, with DC deciding to give Batman (written by Snyder) a back up feature, Tynion was brought in by request of Snyder to script the back ups he had plotted. Tynion would later do the same with the Batman Annual #1, which was also co-plotted by Snyder. Beginning in September 2012, with DC's 0 issue month for the New 52, Tynion will be writing Talon, with art by Guillem March. In early 2013 it was announced that he'd take over writing duties for Red Hood and the Outlaws in April.

Tynion is also currently one of the writers in a rotating team in the weekly Batman Eternal series.

Reviews

[Chris]

2.5 stars.

The first half of this book I loved, it's the continuation of the overall plot that's been building up over the last 6 volumes.

The second half is what I would describe as "filler". Backstories on side characters, fun little detours to help flesh out this world. By volume 7 I really don't give a shit about any of that, just give me the main story dammit.

I liked the guest artists though.

[Alex Sarll]

Part of the problem with stories in which a whole government department or similar apparatus exists to battle uncanny evil is that it risks making things too easy for the protagonists, meaning it's a mainstay of the genre from Harry Potter to the Laundry that the organisation should be subverted, forcing our heroes to go underground and fight against both the threat and their former colleagues. And yes, that move is topical here given what's happened to the actual United States government and its real agencies, but it still leaves me feeling like the series is slightly spinning its wheels. The Elvis detour was fine, but not on the level of the earlier Marilyn story it inevitably recalled; the Hunk and Doc flashback, though, was fun, very much helped by the absurd mood of Ben Templesmith's guest art (and I'm not normally a huge fan), even if a little prone to that risk always attendant on historical stories where applying the benefit of hindsight to make sense of the mess we're in tips over into making favoured characters precognitive mouthpieces. Still, what's not to like about replaying Jurassic Park in one of those moronic anti-evolution evangelical theme parks, with a lead who's seen Jurassic Park?

[Jim Furey]

So many strings to pull.
So many threads to unravel.

That James Tynion has been able to keep Department of Truth going for this long is a testament to the power of conspiracy throughout history. Just when you think the story has run it’s course, there’s a new rabbit hole to explore. And now we’re squarely into the question of who is really pulling the levers and greasing the cogs of the machine.

In addition to continuing the main story, this volume also takes a few issues to give us some background stories on characters gaining prominence in the main storyline. It also references Jurassic Park multiple times, which is unexpectedly humorous. The volume then closes with a fantastic story about the “passing” of Elvis. It’s completely absurd while also making total sense.

One thing volume seven is not is a jumping on point. Read or refresh yourself on the previous volumes before tackling this one.

[Chr*s Browning]

Interesting as always and Simmond’s art style is always worth the time, but I have to be honest and say that reading this in trades, it’s kind of hard to follow. Doesn’t help that there’s been only 22 issues of “the story proper” out of 38 to date - the deviations are always fun to read and do a lot towards deepening the Lore (which owes a lot to the X-Files but the patriotic paranoid style distinguishes it somewhat) but anytime we pivot back to Cole, I’m a bit lost with what’s going on. Sure, I could reread the whole thing every time but who’s got the hours for that? I’m sure I’ll be back in a year for the next one and have much the same to say, but Tynion tends to hit most of the time.

[Jake Kilroy]

When the story becomes a secret government agency, a secret opposition organization, and a secret group of defectors all warring for reality itself, you can do pretty much anything—and it can prove challenging to toss in a few meditative shared-universe stories when the stakes and pacing of the main storyline are so insane. But the team always does it well and there's so much to dig on here, my word. From dinosaurs to Elvis, America has so much, wants even more, and fails to connect the dots of what's real.

[Jessie Shappell]

4.5. I’d already read the issues included in this volume, but I was happy to go back and re-read them. Usually I don’t like the variations and wish we could get back to the main plot, but I actually really enjoyed this particular variation.

[Martijn Van]

I love this series, but lately there is more filler then main story in these volumes. At the same time most of them are so good it adds to the experience. So do i love or hate the amount of fillers? I do not know wich truth to believe....

[Xroldx]

Main story is still very interesting and the artwork is top notch. The Elvis back story fell a bit flat.

[Daniel Butcher]

2.75. Elvis story saved it…but maybe too much breaking today’s stories.