The Department of Truth #0 Review

 

Writers: James Tynion IV

Artists: Martin Simmonds & Joshua Hixson

Colorists: Martin Simmonds & Jordie Bellaire

Letterer: Aditya Bidikar

Cover Artists: Martin Simmonds, Joshua Hixson, Tom Muller & Tyler Boss

Publisher: Image Comics

Price: $4.99

Release Date: September 24, 2025

 

Like Janie, Hunter’s got a gun. It's an impressive rifle. Still, Stevie prefers customers to order a large pepperoni rather than discharge a firearm inside Pizza Gogo. Hunter insinuates Stevie is doing something sinister. When the rifle-toting customer points to a door, Stevie wonders why he hasn't noticed it before. And when Steve opens it and hears children crying, why does it hurt to peer into the darkness? Let's grab a flashlight, leap into The Department of Truth #0, and see!

 

Story

While Hunter's story begins in 2016, time passes quickly in prison. Still, it's a surprise when the guard leaves Hunter with government spooks. A kid eating a candy bar waxes lyrical about his vision of America. Chuckie claims that Hunter is a hero and fits in with what he's trying to do for their country. But Chuckie is a teenager. Years ago, he could have been one of the kids Hunter intended to rescue from Pizza Gogo.

 

In The Department of Truth #0, Charity Sinclair realizes her colleague isn't connecting with Hunter. She explains how her government department faltered under poor leadership. Now, the administration shares Charity's vision. Like the door that Stevie had never seen before, Charity believes that Hunter can help make her vision of America a reality. Her department is on a recruiting drive, and she wants Hunter to be a part of it.

 

All this strange talk mystifies Hunter. And when he gets confused, he gets angry. Hunter cares about others. But he tries to see the world objectively. The government has given him time to reconsider his actions. How did his threatening and menacing crimes become heroism? James Tynion IV’s story is all about the truth we perceive, and the passion and work necessary to help others embrace your worldview.

 

Art

As Hunter points his rifle at Stevie, the restaurant mascot on the wall behind the bald, muscular man evokes Eddie Valiant's investigation for Roger Rabbit. Customers watch the standoff as the room skews around them. The stairs descending into darkness recall Bilbo sneaking into Smaug's domain. Martin Simmonds intersperses the action with frequent close-ups of Hunter and Stevie. Then the two men resemble figures at a crime scene, as a pistol-wielding woman in a black suit studies them.

 

Colors swirl, spin, and surround the characters in The Department of Truth #0. Martin Simmonds often adorns people and places with contrasting colors, such as red and green, to suggest texture, patterns, and energy. Red drifts from Hunter’s rifle to bathe Stevie. The same white speckles that hover around Hunter also surround the magical door. Outside Pizza Gogo, the restaurant lights and the roof lights on the patrol car and ambulance blur amid a white ground fog. Later, a greenish haze surrounds Chuckie, Charity, and Hunter, while a yellow-and-red children’s drawing portrays how Charity views her department liaison.

 

Suspicious Minds Pt 1: Story

Hank remembers how seeing Elvis Presley in a parade affected him. Now, he must assess the King's impact on national security. In Scott Snyder’s story, Hank has failed the bureau once. He feels out of his depth. But Hank has something to prove to his director and himself.

 

This short serial installment concerns how stories influence us. These may be the stories we tell. Or they may be stories that others create about us. Stories sustained Hank during his childhood. His time as an agent has taught him that some stories can hurt others. What Hank discovers when he enters Graceland confounds everything he knows about how “truth” and “fiction” change us.

 

Suspicious Minds Pt 1: Art

Joshua Hixson shows Hank walking through the throng lining the street. Beside him, his mother uses a handkerchief amid her distress. But she waves at people she admires. Unlike the celebrities perched atop the back seats of convertibles, the King reclines on the trunk of a car with a hard top. Elvis smiles and winks at Hank's stoicism.

 

Jordie Bellaire applies beige, red, and gray to Joshua Hixson’s precision drawings in The Department of Truth #0. Inking portrays darkness and shadows as Hank slows before the wrought iron gates in his big-bodied, OAPEC-defying sedan. People merge with symbols and mythological creatures as Hank ponders his discoveries and enters the colonial revival mansion.

 

Lettering

Aditya Bidikar adorns characters with white balloons featuring straight lines and sharp edges. Large black uppercase words reveal dialogue, while small lowercase letters in narrative boxes adorn art illustrating the characters' worldviews. Small uppercase letters fill rounded white balloons in Suspicious Minds Pt 1, while small lowercase typed letters in beige boxes convey Hank's thoughts. Thanks to Image Comics and Tiny Onion for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

Countries have gone to war to promote their version of the truth. Empires have crumbled because they lacked a unifying story. In The Department of Truth #0, people who believe in objective truth falter, while those who live the lie until it becomes truth gain momentum in their bid for power.

 

Rating 9/10

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.