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The Department of Truth #2
The Department of Truth, Vol 2: The City Upon a Hill
Cole Turner thought he joined the right side of the war for the Truth. But now that he's learning more about Lee Harvey Oswald's tenure leading the Department, he's not so sure. And as Tulpas start to gain a stronger foothold in the real world, Cole's time to decide where he stands is running out...
The second arc of the smash-hit THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH from James Tynion IV (Batman) and Martin Simmonds (Dying is Easy) is collected here!
Collects THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH #8-13
The second arc of the smash-hit THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH from James Tynion IV (Batman) and Martin Simmonds (Dying is Easy) is collected here!
Collects THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH #8-13
176 pages, Paperback
First published October 28, 2020
47 people are currently reading
626 people want to read
About the author
James Tynion IV
1,679 books1,964 followersPrior 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.
Tynion is also currently one of the writers in a rotating team in the weekly Batman Eternal series.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 242 reviews
November 16, 2021
This series is creepy and unsettling and unnerving and I am loving it. The stuff with bigfoot guy got a little melodramatic, but damned if I'm not chomping at the bit for the next volume.
October 12, 2021
A much weaker arc than the first volume, I can barely call it a self-contained arc. It's basically a lot of exposition, with parts of it feeling redundant. It comes across as an assortment of ideas, bits and pieces stuck together. Cole has little agency, is just shoved around to different places, barely interacting with the story, until the last issue.
We do find out that Cole has a large penis. Or maybe that's a tulpa too.
We do find out that Cole has a large penis. Or maybe that's a tulpa too.
May 5, 2022
In Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass," the sequel to "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." The Queen tries to persuade Alice that you can believe impossible things -- and suggests that it helps if you practice. "Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast," she declares.
An intense comics series I guess I have to call horror about a key dimension of modern life, the way belief in conspiracy theories actually shapes the world in so many damaging ways. Not just shapes it for them, but for us as well, of course. Though probably conspiracy theories have been with us forever--maybe most religions can be seen by non-believers as conspiracy theories (masturbation is sinful and will send you to Hell; maybe the threat of Hell itself is a conspiracy theory). Most of these theories are relatively benign, yet almost all of them are fear-based: Yeti, The Loch Ness Monster, immigrants. Some are lies developed for political gain: Was the 2016 election stolen? If you say it often enough and enough people say it with you, do beliefs actually form? Then, and this is key, does that belief actually shape reality?
I won't mention all the conspiracy theories on the internet today, but belief in them might be akin to beliefs such as that being gay brought on God's punishment, AIDS. Or that the current pandemic is also God's punishment for something or other. This comic features a guy who is gay and who knows what mistaken beliefs about being gay can do to destroy lives.
This is the second volume of a sketchily and darkly drawn series that, similar to The X-Files, assumes that there is a government agency called the Department of Truth, that investigates conspiracy theories, though in both series, there is some concern that the guvamint may actually at times be propagating these theories. Tynion has a guy in this volume explain (for way too many pages) all sorts of background about tulpas, egregores, (go ahead, look them up) and magic. Alan Moore's Providence is in part about this, and the occult. From Hell, his long novel based on his belief that the "Jack the Ripper's" were occult-based killings.
Anyway, this is an ambitious and intense comic; this volume had too much talk in it, though I liked the Bigfoot parts and the way Cole's personal story is connected to his interest in conspiracy theories (as it is for Fox Mulder, who believes his sister was abducted by aliens).
Here's just one of very many about conspiracy theories becoming tulpas, a guy who obsessed about the Slender Man for years. For many people, Slender Man has become real, with real and dangerous implications:
https://kotaku.com/for-five-years-one...
An intense comics series I guess I have to call horror about a key dimension of modern life, the way belief in conspiracy theories actually shapes the world in so many damaging ways. Not just shapes it for them, but for us as well, of course. Though probably conspiracy theories have been with us forever--maybe most religions can be seen by non-believers as conspiracy theories (masturbation is sinful and will send you to Hell; maybe the threat of Hell itself is a conspiracy theory). Most of these theories are relatively benign, yet almost all of them are fear-based: Yeti, The Loch Ness Monster, immigrants. Some are lies developed for political gain: Was the 2016 election stolen? If you say it often enough and enough people say it with you, do beliefs actually form? Then, and this is key, does that belief actually shape reality?
I won't mention all the conspiracy theories on the internet today, but belief in them might be akin to beliefs such as that being gay brought on God's punishment, AIDS. Or that the current pandemic is also God's punishment for something or other. This comic features a guy who is gay and who knows what mistaken beliefs about being gay can do to destroy lives.
This is the second volume of a sketchily and darkly drawn series that, similar to The X-Files, assumes that there is a government agency called the Department of Truth, that investigates conspiracy theories, though in both series, there is some concern that the guvamint may actually at times be propagating these theories. Tynion has a guy in this volume explain (for way too many pages) all sorts of background about tulpas, egregores, (go ahead, look them up) and magic. Alan Moore's Providence is in part about this, and the occult. From Hell, his long novel based on his belief that the "Jack the Ripper's" were occult-based killings.
Anyway, this is an ambitious and intense comic; this volume had too much talk in it, though I liked the Bigfoot parts and the way Cole's personal story is connected to his interest in conspiracy theories (as it is for Fox Mulder, who believes his sister was abducted by aliens).
Here's just one of very many about conspiracy theories becoming tulpas, a guy who obsessed about the Slender Man for years. For many people, Slender Man has become real, with real and dangerous implications:
https://kotaku.com/for-five-years-one...
January 28, 2022
While I did feel it got a bit long winded at points, and never a huge fan of written letters in books like comics since the font makes it hard to read, I really did enjoy a lot of this. This is basically our "hero" getting deeper into the organization. Understanding how the powers to be use their influences to control and even CREATE things. Monsters. Sometimes they are real...sometimes...they are manifested. A more supernatural feel and themes but still just as powerful. Some great stuff.
December 14, 2023
Read in a different edition.
October 22, 2021
Department Of Truth skips a few fill-in issues (which I assume will be collected later) before heading into its second big arc that drags poor Cole even deeper into its conspiracies.
DoT's ideas are huge, and I love watching them play out. But it does sometimes get bogged down in explaining all its big brain ideas - the few issues here that focus on Bigfoot with the prose stuff midway through are a bit of a slog, and sometimes it feels like the issues are just one big monologue. It's compelling, but it definitely takes a bit of willpower to sit down and read; once you get started you'll be sucked in though, it's just getting there that takes some doing. The super scratchy artwork's also an acquired taste - it works well in my opinion for the subject matter, but it does make some of the more down to earth scenes come across a bit strangely.
A definite headscratcher of a book that I'm really enjoying once I get around to reading it, but I do worry that it might get crushed under its own desire to turn essays on conspiracies into a full on story.
DoT's ideas are huge, and I love watching them play out. But it does sometimes get bogged down in explaining all its big brain ideas - the few issues here that focus on Bigfoot with the prose stuff midway through are a bit of a slog, and sometimes it feels like the issues are just one big monologue. It's compelling, but it definitely takes a bit of willpower to sit down and read; once you get started you'll be sucked in though, it's just getting there that takes some doing. The super scratchy artwork's also an acquired taste - it works well in my opinion for the subject matter, but it does make some of the more down to earth scenes come across a bit strangely.
A definite headscratcher of a book that I'm really enjoying once I get around to reading it, but I do worry that it might get crushed under its own desire to turn essays on conspiracies into a full on story.
February 6, 2022
3.25 stars Not quite as captivating as volume 1. That volume moved through multiple story beats that were all interesting and creapy. Here, Tynion sits on like 2 main story beats for long periods of time which takes the story away from being intriguing and creepy to being a bit mundane. For instance when The Hawk character first meets up with Cole, he rambled on for ever. I felt like I was reading him talking for multiple issues. Then we get more of the same when the lady shows up to go on the hunt with Cole and Hawk. She rambled on forever. I wish a better way to get this info to us was cooked up instead of reading these characters talking for what seemed like half the book. However, the were some interesting things laid out at the end of the book about the lady in red which was preceded by a nice plot twist.
July 11, 2022
So I'm starting to think this book just isn't my cup of tea. I like Tynion a ton, so I should be biased in his favor, but I actually had to take a break from reading this because I was having trouble getting through some of it without my eyes glazing over.
The concept of this story is what keeps me here. The synopsis, or elevator pitch, of what is being told here is awesome. Conspiracies come to life by belief.
However, I think the execution of the storytelling loses me. So much of this is just exposition dump for the sake of pouring information onto the page. At one point, Cole is describing the Satanic Panic and it feels like someone reading a school paper they wrote mostly sourced from Wikipedia. It's literally just a dozen panels of him dryly explaining the subject.
The real thing that killed me in this was the Bigfoot hunter's journal. Just page after page of the lamentations of a dude written it garbage cursive on stained and doodled stylized pages. I'd get a couple pages of the main story explaining how monsters and angels came to be and as soon as I was hooked it was back to a grown man's journal where he describes how much he dislikes barbecues.
Maybe I was too excited to read this and created a standard that wasn't possible to meet. I'm going to keep reading because there is stuff here I like and if they can find the plot I'm down for whatever comes next.
The concept of this story is what keeps me here. The synopsis, or elevator pitch, of what is being told here is awesome. Conspiracies come to life by belief.
However, I think the execution of the storytelling loses me. So much of this is just exposition dump for the sake of pouring information onto the page. At one point, Cole is describing the Satanic Panic and it feels like someone reading a school paper they wrote mostly sourced from Wikipedia. It's literally just a dozen panels of him dryly explaining the subject.
The real thing that killed me in this was the Bigfoot hunter's journal. Just page after page of the lamentations of a dude written it garbage cursive on stained and doodled stylized pages. I'd get a couple pages of the main story explaining how monsters and angels came to be and as soon as I was hooked it was back to a grown man's journal where he describes how much he dislikes barbecues.
Maybe I was too excited to read this and created a standard that wasn't possible to meet. I'm going to keep reading because there is stuff here I like and if they can find the plot I'm down for whatever comes next.
December 8, 2021
This series makes my brain explode in the very best way! Sometimes the art and colouring are beautiful, more often they are ugly but it is the story that keeps me coming back.
November 28, 2022
I just feel really dumb when I read this because I kind of don’t understand anything but I do at the same time. It’s interesting though.
December 1, 2021
Still an interesting story, I always love Tynion’s writing, but the art was hard to follow at times.
February 26, 2022
The first volume was strong, but this one just ramps things up even further. If you're not a fan of exposition-heavy writing, you may struggle with this, but I found it fascinating. Even the lengthy, hand-written notes written by two generations of fathers to their sons, explaining their fascination with tracking and locating Bigfoot, were gripping. Simmonds' art continues to be controversial. I think it works great for the story, but know it won't be to everyone's taste. Here, we get a lot more detail about just what the Department of Truth is and what it does, and its competition with the Black Hat organization, as well as why Cole Turner has been selected for this job. Also, we spend a lot of time with Hawk Harrison, Lee Harvey Oswald's number two man at the Department, and the guy who goes out and takes care of the conspiracies and "wild fictions" that have become a little too real. Looking forward to the next volume and I hope this series continues for a long time to come. Excellent.
November 4, 2021
James Tynion IV creates a world where the rantings of right-wing political pundits, the screeds of in-the-woods radical libertarians, and the platitudes of limp-dicked liberals are all correct, are all lies, and are all coming true right now. The pages of this book are are non-stop adrenochrome-drenched conspiracy theorizing, their text the in-the-margins scribbling of madmen driven by nightmares of black helicopters, Bigfoot, and Satan running the Deep State. The too-real world depicted here has placed the fringe is in the mainstream, the mainstream is in the basement, and the basement contains ntohing but a bile-spewing hellmouth with the face of Ronald Reagan and the voice of an angel.
The scariest thing about this book is that hiding within the psyche-breaking hurricanes of terror is weaves lie breadcrumb after breadcrumb of truth about the history of America, of western civilization, and about humanity itself. The things that will trickle ice down your spine while consuming this manifesto are not just the the horrifying visages of hideous face-trading tulpas, but the realization the inferno we sit in now was set in motion thousands of years ago and that the gears slowly grinding you and I into gore could be stopped by those who wield the levers of power simply choosing to say no. Instead of these leaders and visionaries becoming our saviors, they choose to become modern pharaohs under a red, white and blue sky, content to bury themselves within pyramids of bone and gold while the rage of the sun burns us, their abhorred slaves, to ash.
What government, what country, what god can save us when we are born into the bottom of an ocean of blood with our only choices being hold our breath until the darkness comes or to inhale a fathomless and boiling crimson insanity?
Five stars, highly anticipate the next trade.
The scariest thing about this book is that hiding within the psyche-breaking hurricanes of terror is weaves lie breadcrumb after breadcrumb of truth about the history of America, of western civilization, and about humanity itself. The things that will trickle ice down your spine while consuming this manifesto are not just the the horrifying visages of hideous face-trading tulpas, but the realization the inferno we sit in now was set in motion thousands of years ago and that the gears slowly grinding you and I into gore could be stopped by those who wield the levers of power simply choosing to say no. Instead of these leaders and visionaries becoming our saviors, they choose to become modern pharaohs under a red, white and blue sky, content to bury themselves within pyramids of bone and gold while the rage of the sun burns us, their abhorred slaves, to ash.
What government, what country, what god can save us when we are born into the bottom of an ocean of blood with our only choices being hold our breath until the darkness comes or to inhale a fathomless and boiling crimson insanity?
Five stars, highly anticipate the next trade.
March 27, 2022
Who doesn't like a good conspiracy theory? Well they can be entertaining, and even comical to wonder why people could believe some of this stuff. Well Tynion is very well versed in all the best ones. There is a lot of Americana in here, and back door American political history thrown in. As a Canadian I don't find it as interesting in all honesty.
Another criticism is how long winded the explanations are at times. The writings quality, but I felt a little burned out at times. Now the groundwork is laid hopefully the next volume can focus on pushing pace and story.
The art is really growing on me and I feel the execution is even better this time around. It's quite abstract and Martin Simmonds definitely gets a little wild if you like that sort of thing.
Another criticism is how long winded the explanations are at times. The writings quality, but I felt a little burned out at times. Now the groundwork is laid hopefully the next volume can focus on pushing pace and story.
The art is really growing on me and I feel the execution is even better this time around. It's quite abstract and Martin Simmonds definitely gets a little wild if you like that sort of thing.
March 8, 2022
A second visit to this none-more-unattractive world, where conspiracies, lies and 'keep out' signs at the end of the world can all become true, if enough people decide to believe in them. As an extended scene shows, that also includes Bigfoot – and so there are some staffers in the Dept of Truth who have to put down the humans making the concept so commonly thought of that the Bigfoot and Sasquatch could get too fond a taste for human flesh. But the whole bunch of issues with that mini-arc are far too common across the whole book. It is visually still as compelling as a fifty year old tattoo on someone who doubled in weight every even-numbered year and lost it all each odd. It still hasn't got to catch up with Covidiots and their conspiracies, so all it can yack about are things like American airport designs. It is far too wordy, far too keen on its own voice as people tell the bloke who's supposed to be our way in to this stuff what they want him – and ergo us – to know. And for all the yack here, there's just so little drama, and nothing at all with the necessary punch to justify why this Grand Unified Theory of Nutjobbery is supposed to exist. The book cries out for a redesign, an editor, and an actual reason why the so-called baddies are doing what they're allegedly doing. Without them, I think I'm done.
October 20, 2021
Second volume continues with exploring the world, bringing new characters in play and evolve the plot. There are still many unanswered question, and main story line moves quite slowly, thanks to the few side ones. What really piss*d me off off, was letter, that was too long, unnecessary and cheap. You don't want to draw to much? Put there 15 pages of letter, that explains motivation of side character and bore reader to death...
December 11, 2021
Very text heavy in this volume but still intrigued as to what will happen next.
December 22, 2022
Satirical and brilliant. Recommended.
January 5, 2022
The Department of Truth Vol. 2 The City Upon A Hill collects issues 8-13 of the Image Comics series written by Janes Tynion IV with art by Martin Simmonds.
After Cole Turner is revealed how conspiracy theories can manifest into reality and reshape the world, he is taken under the wing of Hawk Harrison, a grizzled veteran of the Department of the Truth. Cole begins to wonder if the DoT are the good guys or the bad guys in this new world.
Wow! This series has really impressed me with it's weaving of conspiracy theories, history, politics, myth, psychology, sociology, and more. Its a real mind bender and actually quite scary. It's safe to say I am hooked and ready for volume 3!
After Cole Turner is revealed how conspiracy theories can manifest into reality and reshape the world, he is taken under the wing of Hawk Harrison, a grizzled veteran of the Department of the Truth. Cole begins to wonder if the DoT are the good guys or the bad guys in this new world.
Wow! This series has really impressed me with it's weaving of conspiracy theories, history, politics, myth, psychology, sociology, and more. Its a real mind bender and actually quite scary. It's safe to say I am hooked and ready for volume 3!
November 10, 2021
DNF @ 35%
October 28, 2023
Me está gustando. Vamos a por el tercero.
February 13, 2025
No puedo ser objetivo. Estoy enganchado hasta la médula. Conspiración, doble pensar, tulpas. El capítulo en dos partes del Bigfoot es una obra literaria que casi me hace llorar. Tynion maneja un nivel de escritura muy "en la zona", se sienten las vibraciones de su imaginación. Y lo de Simmonds es indescriptible, el artista conceptual de las pesadillas de Estados Unidos.
November 8, 2022
Pues nada, continúa la fiesta y yo continúo flipando. Para empezar, como el dibujante es el mismo que el del primer tomo, solo voy a decir que me sigue pareciendo una absoluta gozada y que he disfrutado de todas y cada una de sus páginas, extrañas, desconcertantes, inquietantes e incluso rechinantes. Pero las he gozado.
Y luego... pues nada, la historia sigue avanzando. Resumen, seguimos los pasos de Cole Porter, un agente del FBI que ha sido fichado por el llamado Departamento de la Verdad, una agencia dirigida ni más ni menos que por Lee Harvey Oswald y que lucha contra las posibles desviaciones de la realidad surgidas de las creencias populares, las leyendas urbanas y la conspiranoia. En el tomo anterior habíamos visto que el Departamento parece enfrentarse al Sombrero Negro, una agencia que tiene interés en todo lo contrario, y de alguna forma, ambas agencias parecen haber interferido en la infancia de Cole, que fue víctima de un caso de satanismo infantil... o algo parecido. En el tomo anterior habíamos visto que ambas agencias parecían interesadas en Cole, y que quizá el Departamento de la Verdad no sea todo lo... "bueno" que Lee Harvey Oswald intenta vender.
Y en este tomo, vamos a conocer a otro de los personajes del Departamento, Hawk Harrison, una especie de "mago" que va a guiar a Cole en sus siguientes misiones, y que parece tener más que ver con la infancia de Cole y su "demonio" de lo que Cole se imagina. Con Hawk, Cole va a participar en la persecución contra el Sombrero Negro, va a formar parte de una cacería de un Bigfoot (dos episodios con un formato semiepistolar muy interesante), y va a viajar al pueblo donde creció, profundizando en ese extraño caso de satanismo que protagonizó... Y es tan impresionante como el número anterior, de verdad. Y eso que creo que hay cosas que desde nuestra perspectiva se nos escapan y que yo he ido mirando a posteriori, como que es el QAnon, el Pizzagate y esas cosas, y que me parece aún más alucinante que haya gente que de verdad considere que estas cosas pasan...
Con muchas ganas de seguir leyendo.
Y luego... pues nada, la historia sigue avanzando. Resumen, seguimos los pasos de Cole Porter, un agente del FBI que ha sido fichado por el llamado Departamento de la Verdad, una agencia dirigida ni más ni menos que por Lee Harvey Oswald y que lucha contra las posibles desviaciones de la realidad surgidas de las creencias populares, las leyendas urbanas y la conspiranoia. En el tomo anterior habíamos visto que el Departamento parece enfrentarse al Sombrero Negro, una agencia que tiene interés en todo lo contrario, y de alguna forma, ambas agencias parecen haber interferido en la infancia de Cole, que fue víctima de un caso de satanismo infantil... o algo parecido. En el tomo anterior habíamos visto que ambas agencias parecían interesadas en Cole, y que quizá el Departamento de la Verdad no sea todo lo... "bueno" que Lee Harvey Oswald intenta vender.
Y en este tomo, vamos a conocer a otro de los personajes del Departamento, Hawk Harrison, una especie de "mago" que va a guiar a Cole en sus siguientes misiones, y que parece tener más que ver con la infancia de Cole y su "demonio" de lo que Cole se imagina. Con Hawk, Cole va a participar en la persecución contra el Sombrero Negro, va a formar parte de una cacería de un Bigfoot (dos episodios con un formato semiepistolar muy interesante), y va a viajar al pueblo donde creció, profundizando en ese extraño caso de satanismo que protagonizó... Y es tan impresionante como el número anterior, de verdad. Y eso que creo que hay cosas que desde nuestra perspectiva se nos escapan y que yo he ido mirando a posteriori, como que es el QAnon, el Pizzagate y esas cosas, y que me parece aún más alucinante que haya gente que de verdad considere que estas cosas pasan...
Con muchas ganas de seguir leyendo.
December 17, 2022
"El Departamento de la Verdad" es algo serio. Mientras se le puede achacar que el desarrollo de personajes y tramas siempre están supeditadas a las ideas y conceptos que nos quiere explicar Tynion IV, paradójicamente son las ideas y los conceptos los que hacen avanzar a la historia y evolucionar, especialmente a su protagonista, el pobre Cole, el cual se ha visto en mitad de un embrollo -dos organizaciones, ninguna buena, luchando por el control de la realidad implantando "ideas" en la mente global de la civilización- terrible y disparatado.
Probablemente la serie de cualquier medio que lleva con mayor orgullo ser "el X Files de nuestra era" (sería bastante duro ver ahora a Mulder, ¿no sería terraplanista o creería en Qanon?), con un marcado y deprimente sesgo ideológico (cualquier elección es mala, al menos a estas alturas de la serie, que tampoco lleva mucho, a ver si con el tiempo aporta algo de luz), episodios verdaderamente increíbles (el segundo incluido en el tomo desarrolla un relato del desagradable pero fascinante Hawk Harrison sobre el uso de la magia en el siglo XX que abarca a Blavatsky, Crowley, el Satanic Panic y Ronald Reagan, entre otros) y un bello arte de Martin Simmonds que recuerda al genial Bill Sienkiewicz.
Leo cómics a paladas, pero de series actuales (con permiso de "Saga") ninguna me tiene más adicto, tonto y tembloroso que esta.
Probablemente la serie de cualquier medio que lleva con mayor orgullo ser "el X Files de nuestra era" (sería bastante duro ver ahora a Mulder, ¿no sería terraplanista o creería en Qanon?), con un marcado y deprimente sesgo ideológico (cualquier elección es mala, al menos a estas alturas de la serie, que tampoco lleva mucho, a ver si con el tiempo aporta algo de luz), episodios verdaderamente increíbles (el segundo incluido en el tomo desarrolla un relato del desagradable pero fascinante Hawk Harrison sobre el uso de la magia en el siglo XX que abarca a Blavatsky, Crowley, el Satanic Panic y Ronald Reagan, entre otros) y un bello arte de Martin Simmonds que recuerda al genial Bill Sienkiewicz.
Leo cómics a paladas, pero de series actuales (con permiso de "Saga") ninguna me tiene más adicto, tonto y tembloroso que esta.
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June 17, 2023Never would have guessed that a two-issue Bigfoot comic book stretch would be my favorite thing I've read all year, but here we are...
January 15, 2023
I actually liked this one better than the first volume. The art style, esp when it becomes a multi-media effort, is stunning and unsettling. The order of the panels can sometimes be counterintuitive and hard to follow. The exposition dumping was def a lot but bc it was ideas that I personally find interesting / have already thought through before, I didn't mind. So while I didn't feel like I was slogging through, I think many ppl might get turned off by that part. Honestly, I liked the big foot section. To me, it was refreshing to see big foot obsession portrayed not as the butt of a joke/ silly but as actually sad. I like that this addressed how stuff that is culturally seen as dumb or silly can genuinely take over ppls lives and destroy their relationships. I think about QAnon ppl in this regard. Like obviously everyone loves to dunk on and make fun of Q ppl bc esp liberals are terrified of that demographic and need to make themselves feel superior, rational, insulated and safe BUT there is little acknowledgement about how these obsessions, induction into these internet communities can genuinely destroy people's lives and their relationships with loved ones, how there is a deep sadness there. This is made more sad by the fact that these people are driven mad with fear and hatred by a world, a political and economic system that legitimately is a NIGHTMARE, that legitimately is controlled by a power elite, where people do get dissapeared, where governments are toppled, leaders assassinated and classes of people crushed under the weight of the machinery. They rightfully sense that something is wrong and so they are easily funneled into these insane communities with twisted and fucked up worldviews. But anyway, the bigfoot thing is also sad just bc of the extent to which it is just fully seen as a joke, to be made fun of. So while the handwritten letter got a lil melodramatic I still found them to be soulful and affecting (ngl I did almost tear up at the final part of the letter). And then Hawk and Cole's descent below the school was also well done imo and Hawk brought up something that has been coming up over and over lately (both Laura and Andres have both talked about this): conspiratorial thinking is all about this notion that all we need to do is REVEAL the truth, that once the truth is brought to light and people finally wake up to that horrific truth then everything else will fall into place, that people will take the necessary steps to slay the dragon, will come together and fight back against that horrible truth, but then there is the reality or the fear that revealing the truth is not enough, that consciousness is not enough, that even if everyone is watching the giant monster slowly lumber towards us, even if we all openly acknowledge to ourselves and each other that this monster is coming to annihilate us, to devour us, that we will still just watch as it approaches, filled with apathy and dread.
March 14, 2022
The Department of Truth continues to be an engaging read that never quite makes sense while I'm reading it, even though it goes to great lengths to make it seem like it's explaining itself to me. I'm pretty sure every single issue in this volume revolved around one character explaining "the nature of things" to another character. And yet I couldn't put it down?
I gave the first volume three stars and was tempted to do so here, but I really did enjoy my time with The City Upon a Hill even if 90% of it was talking heads. James Tynion IV writes the pant off this thing. Ugly characters explaining conspiracy theories has never been so fun. The ending has an apparent cliffhanger that could change the shape of future volumes - maybe more action, less dialogue? I'm not sure the extremely punk rock artwork will be suited to that.
I wish I knew what was going on more of the time, but I think The Department of Truth is designed to keep your head spinning. There are two issues in the middle of this volume in which a sad father's letter to his son appears. Loads of text! The father attempts to explain his desperation to find Bigfoot. It's tragic! And like, totally unrelated to the main thrust of the narrative. And yet, it's great. So, yeah, four stars.
I gave the first volume three stars and was tempted to do so here, but I really did enjoy my time with The City Upon a Hill even if 90% of it was talking heads. James Tynion IV writes the pant off this thing. Ugly characters explaining conspiracy theories has never been so fun. The ending has an apparent cliffhanger that could change the shape of future volumes - maybe more action, less dialogue? I'm not sure the extremely punk rock artwork will be suited to that.
I wish I knew what was going on more of the time, but I think The Department of Truth is designed to keep your head spinning. There are two issues in the middle of this volume in which a sad father's letter to his son appears. Loads of text! The father attempts to explain his desperation to find Bigfoot. It's tragic! And like, totally unrelated to the main thrust of the narrative. And yet, it's great. So, yeah, four stars.
July 17, 2022
This is way better than a one-star book, unfortunately it's company policy over here to one-star comics that have long handwritten journals that have an art style that make them difficult to read.
The sad thing is, I really liked the bigfoot story, and the contents of the journals was good. But they were written in cursive on paper that had effects that made it look stained, folded, and with ink splotches and faded portions. It was realistic, but it's like, I get it, and making me read this in this format is more frustrating than it is rewarding.
I mean, this is why novels are not published in low-readability fonts. An entire novel I wrote by hand would be ridiculously horrible, and I would never make one. Well, okay, I probably would, and that's how you know it's a terrible, terrible idea.
I understand the desire and the intent, and I sort of respect the idea of using a visual medium in visual ways. But there has to be a balance between realism and something easy to read.
You know what? If you must, give me an appendix in the back with the letters typed out. Give me the option. Have your art and eat your cake, too.
And, I mean, I'm reading a book about someone hunting bigfoot. How realistic does it need to be?
The sad thing is, I really liked the bigfoot story, and the contents of the journals was good. But they were written in cursive on paper that had effects that made it look stained, folded, and with ink splotches and faded portions. It was realistic, but it's like, I get it, and making me read this in this format is more frustrating than it is rewarding.
I mean, this is why novels are not published in low-readability fonts. An entire novel I wrote by hand would be ridiculously horrible, and I would never make one. Well, okay, I probably would, and that's how you know it's a terrible, terrible idea.
I understand the desire and the intent, and I sort of respect the idea of using a visual medium in visual ways. But there has to be a balance between realism and something easy to read.
You know what? If you must, give me an appendix in the back with the letters typed out. Give me the option. Have your art and eat your cake, too.
And, I mean, I'm reading a book about someone hunting bigfoot. How realistic does it need to be?
June 11, 2022
Still love the art style of the comic. It's great for the themes this comic uses. Anyways, metaphysical magic is done in a pretty interesting way in this universe, to shape thoughts and beliefs to make things appear or disappear, we're introduced to a pretty interesting character called named Hawk, the department's "Magic Man" and he begins to teach Cole about how the magic works, in what is an inf-dump that keeps going and going AND GOING. Punctuated by actions that later have consequences for the universe, with beautiful art as always, but DAMN does it go on for a while. There is so much exposition being force fed to you that it does get boring after a while. But I guess that has to happen when you're setting is this weird? Anyways, the actions and revelations ramp up at the end of the volume that connect with non-sequitur we saw in the first volume and things begin to make a little more sense than they used to.
I'm not as big a fan of this volume than I was the first, but I guess they are setting everything up for things to start going down in the third volume.
I'm not as big a fan of this volume than I was the first, but I guess they are setting everything up for things to start going down in the third volume.
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