Review: Department of Truth #8

Issues within the Law Enforcement community, U.S. elections and the Pandemic have made Americans ripe for instilling for conspiracy theories. Those paranoid ideas have lead to in some cases terrible outcomes. Department of Truth #8 continues a reflection on some of the most poignant conspiracy theories from the last 30 years.

Story Thus Far:

The Satanic Panic, Day-care sex-abuse trials during the late 1970s and early 1980s relied on the testimony of interviewers that had “coaxed” children into making unfounded accusations. At the center of that Panic was new DOT recruit Cole Turner. Cole has just found out that all the conspiracy theories are real… if enough people believe them., has spent trying to suppress the memories of the Star Faced who was in most of his false memories of Satanic ritual abuse. Now Cole has been given the chance to investigate the core the Satanic Panic conspiracy and the why, starting at the Denver International airport.

Dialogue:

The dialogue in between the characters tended to be more expositionary, than past issues. It did not have any mind-blowing propositions, and I am okay with that. Tynion, needed to transition he reader from Cole the recruit to Cole the investigator, and it was not going to come smoothly.

Art:

The art is the best part about this issue. Page for Page, most bang for your buck. The art creative team consists of Martin Simmonds and designed by Dylan Todd. The team stuck so many artistic styles into the story, I am not sure, but it works. It is an interesting blend of abstract expressionism, cubism, and a little bit of impressionism and Fauvism baked in.

Final Thoughts:

It is easy to forget that Department of Truth is supposed to be a Sci-fi horror. It feels more like a psychological documentary at this point. The earlier issues demonstrated the way Conspiracies theories can use Confirmation Bias and Proportionality bias to neutralize movement on an issue. In this issue, it feels like the narrative is transitioning to demonstrate Illusory pattern perception: The tendency to see causal relations where there may not be any.

Secondly there is an interesting sub narrative regarding the people caught in a war between the DOT and the Men in Black, the reporters. It is well known that people with greater knowledge of the news media are less likely to believe conspiracy theories.

Lastly, I will ask the readers to ponder the fact that one reason for the pervasiveness of conspiracy theories is that they serve as a coping mechanism for people trying to cope with large, stressful events. If Cole was the person who manifested the Star Faced Man, what was the event that triggered it? Is any of this real?

Note to Comic Speculators:

Sister Global has plans to adapt Department of Truth into a TV series. Paramount and Amazon Studios have adapted some of Sister Globals projects already. The play here is the Department of Truth #1, Werther Dell’Edera Variant (1:100), with 9.8’s going in the $1000 range. Comparatively, the Department of Truth #2, David Romero Variant (1:25) 9.8 cost about $600.

SCORE: 2.8/5

Department Of Truth #8, Will have 3 covers: Cover A by Martin Simmonds; Cover A by: Cover B, Bill Sienkiewicz; Cover C, Skottie Young.

Writer: James Tynion IV
Artist: Martin Simmonds
Designer: Dylan Todd
Letterer: Aditya Bidkar
Publisher: Image Comics