You’ll Want To Believe With A First Look At Image’s ‘Department Of Truth’ Conspiracy Comic Series

To quote Han Solo in the Star Wars: The Force Awakens: “It’s true, all of it.”

Those five words lie at the heart of The Department Truth, an upcoming Image series from writer James Tynion IV (Something is Killing the Children) and artist Martin Simmonds (Dying is Easy). A wonderfully dizzy mixture of Men in Black, John Carpenter, Stephen King, The Matrix, and 1970s conspiracy thrillers, the book (whose title wouldn’t feel out of place in a dystopian novel by George Orwell) posits that all conspiracy theories — from the JFK assassination, to lizard-like overlords, to the flat Earth model — are 100% true. They’re true, and one clandestine organization is responsible for keeping them under wraps.

“In creating The Department of Truth, I wanted to build a story that spoke to the part of us that is always painfully hunting for answers to the chaos of the world around us,” Tynion said in an exclusive statement to Forbes. “The way we’re willing to cling to ludicrous ideas because they give us some handle on that chaos, a way to make it all make sense. I also wanted to tie that to the fact that most of recorded history is its own, slanted conspiracy theory.”

“The Department of Truth, an organization tasked with controlling a world where the potential to rewrite history and shatter what society believes to be true is a constant and very real threat,” added Simmonds in a statement of his own. “Along the way, we’re introduced to various weird and mysterious characters, some of which may surprise a few people.”

Image Comics was kind enough to provide Forbes Entertainment with an exclusive first look at a 2-page spread from Issue #3, as well as a character sketch for an unsettling being known only as the “Star-Faced Man.”

While much of the story is being kept a secret (no surprise there), it’s not a spoiler to say that the book revolves around Cole Turner, an FBI agent, who studies conspiracy theories for a living. Most fittingly, the character looks a lot like Robert Redford’s Joseph Turner in 1975’s Three Days of the Condor. Directed by Sydney Pollack, the political conspiracy thriller was one of numerous films from the decade that (intentional or not) reflected America’s mistrust of the government in the wake of Vietnam and Watergate.

“There are always people out there guiding us towards their preferred vision of the world, even when it has no basis in fact,” continued Tynion. “There is a dangerous subjectivity to reality, particularly right now. And that danger is what attracted me to the project. I wanted to ask myself uncomfortable questions and try to get at the emotional truths at the heart of the conspiracy theories that are deeply intertwined with our day-to-day lives and politics here in 2020.”

When Cole stumbles upon something that completely shatters his perception of reality, he’s recruited by the book’s titular agency. He’s the newbie, the greenhorn — just like Will Smith’s Agent J in the first Men in Black — and he’s got much to learn.

Simmonds’ expressionist art style (which you can check out in previously-revealed pages set in the immediate aftermath of the JFK shooting in 1963) only reinforces the MiB connection, bringing to mind the covers of the original Malibu-Aircel comics written by Lowell Cunningham. Despite being a work of fiction (as far as we know), Department of Truth is, as James stated above, meant to tap into a higher…well, truth about our own world.

“That’s why I wanted to approach subjects like the belief in False Flag shootings, the Satanic Panic, Flat-Earth Theory, QAnon, and more,” the writer finished. “The conspiracy theories that are actively reflecting or refracting the way we see the world today … We’ll get to the fun stuff like UFOs, Reptilians, the Illuminati, and yes, the assassination of JFK. The lore around it will be key to the story, but the real goal was to write something that speaks to the moment.”

The Department of Truth #1 goes on sale Wednesday, Sep. 30. Get more details here.