The Department of Truth, vol. 5: What Your Country Can Do for You

The Department of Truth #5

by James Tynion IV, Martin Simmonds (illustrator), Alison Sampson (illustrator)

"A wonderfully dizzy mixture of Men in Black, John Carpenter, Stephen King, The Matrix, and 1970s conspiracy thrillers." —Forbes

Confronted with an enemy intent on exposing their secrets to the world, the Department of Truth made a shocking choice—go public first. But to understand Lee Harvey Oswald’s risky gambit, we have to return to where it all started: Dallas, 1963, as President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade passed the grassy knoll…and a woman in red with X’s for eyes picked up a rifle in the window of the Texas Book Depository.

ALSO IN THIS VOLUME: Marilyn Monroe’s life was stranger than fiction. So strange that she may have slipped out of reality herself.

Multiple Eisner Award-winning writer James Tynion IV (W0RLDTR33, The Nice House on the Lake) and Eisner Award-nominated artist Martin Simmonds (Universal Monsters: Dracula) reveal the truth behind the shot heard around the world, while acclaimed artist Alison Sampson (Sleeping Beauties) joins for a very special tale about a uniquely American icon.

Collects issues #23-27.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Mystery, Science Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published February 11, 2025

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

[Sean Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost too true to be scary, if that makes sense.

[Oscar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so weird ! Hunter S. Thompson making an appearance was pretty good!

[PMB · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been waiting for Dept. Of Truth to get to JFK. Worth the wait. If this title reaches 50-75 issues, it will be considered alongside the greatest comics of all time. Department of Truth is Tynion’s masterwork, and this arc was the high point of the series. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

[Jason Roemaat · Rating 4 out of 5]

If enough people believe something, it will become true. That is the premise for this series. The Department of Truth is using this knowledge to shape our world. This volume shows us the JFK assassination as well as the Marilyn Monroe / JFK relationship.

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a wack job of a graphic novel series. Each volume creates more mystery.

[Estibaliz · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite volume so far, an absolute five stars read.

It might have to do with the fact I've been reading other series lately that are both, extremely chaotic at times, and also too confusing and bland in their narrative, but the contrast has just made this whole plot stand up in such a major way.

With an always interesting art, that mixes different styles when it comes to materials and use of color, 'The Department of Truth' manages to capture today's world in a really horrifying way, via conspiracy theories and mysteries of past History.

This volume puts the focus in Lee Harvey Oswald (current director of the Department), the whole JFK thingy, and Marilyn Monroe to boot, and it is just a masterpiece that will keep you mesmerized and fascinated from start to finish. With, once again, a lot of food for thought, in a story that certainly is provoking, without falling in old boring platitudes and pseudo-philosophy.

This series sure is paying off.

[Alex Sarll]

Ever since we found out that the Department of Truth was run by a surprisingly not-dead Lee Harvey Oswald, it was inevitable that the series would have to explain that, and now the moment has arrived. I can't recall whether we already knew that his predecessor was Frank Capra, but this is the story of how one man's America became the other's. The other side of the story visits someone else forever associated with the Kennedys: it was enough of a headfuck being Marilyn Monroe here, but what about in a world where what people believe becomes the truth ?

[Ziyad Baksh · Rating 3 out of 5]

down the fog of history

we get the backstory of how Lee Harvey Oswald became the director and what really happened with JFK's assassination.

solid work.

[Pedro Plasencia Martínez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oswald cuenta todo lo que recuerda sobre su reclutamiento, sus primeros experimentos con las ficciones salvajes y su enigmático papel en la conspiración de Dallas. El volumen nos presenta a Frank Capra como el creador del Departamento de la Verdad y a Dziga Vertov como su homólogo soviético, ambos son los relatores oficiales, los perfeccionistas de las propagandas que moldean la realidad. Por último, uno de los agentes asignados para eliminar las frecuentes apariciones de Bigfoots es enviado a Hollywood para supervisar el comportamiento de una criatura muy distinta llamada Marilyn Monroe. Es un buen número, pero las historias se empiezan a repetir un poco, no hay ninguna revelación gorda, simplemente se profundiza un poco más en lo que ya se trató en otros números, los diálogos siguen siendo geniales, eso sí.

ENGLISH
Oswald recounts everything he remembers about his recruitment, his early experiments with wild fictions, and his enigmatic role in the Dallas conspiracy. The volume introduces us to Frank Capra as the creator of the Department of Truth and Dziga Vertov as his Soviet counterpart; both are the official storytellers, the perfectionists of the propaganda that shapes reality. Finally, one of the agents assigned to eliminate the frequent appearances of Bigfoots is sent to Hollywood to monitor the behavior of a very different creature named Marilyn Monroe. It's a good issue, but the stories start to repeat themselves a bit; there are no big revelations, just a little more depth on what's been covered in other issues. The dialogue is still great, though.

[Dani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, the two stories that seem to always go together - the Kennedy shooting and Marilyn Monroe. I really like how Tynion made the Department come after both of them. And how he spun the story to fit several different narratives that people may have heard about these two, and I really enjoyed it. And as always, the artwork is always beautiful!

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps the weakest in the series so far, rehashing backstory that we mostly knew about. Jarring guest artists don't help either. Still quite good.

[Bo Dixen Pedersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Department of Truth does JFK and Marilyn Monroe or is it Lee Harvey Oswald.

This series really examines the world of storytelling and how it informs the view on reality. This is beyond conspiracy theory even though on the surface level it's about nothing but.

This is about mythology.

[Xroldx · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series just keeps getting better. Finally a lot of background on Lee Harvey Oswald and the JFK assasination plus a Marilyn Monroe story.

[Michael McGuire · Rating 4 out of 5]

a bridge to vol 6. i hope the wait is brief.

[Jake Kilroy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always loved the dissection of America as an experiment, a story, a theory, or even a plague—somewhere that is as much a fever dream as it is a fable that's spiraled into monsterdom. It is a destination of promise, but who holds the reins or reign of said promise is continually up for debate (more or less). It's always been the ruling class, but a good count of the people believe it's the people. We vote! We rally! We believe in the system! But the real power of the people is our faith in our own potential—and that could be anything. America could be anything. It's the land of everything from cryptids to martyrs. We love the tale of ourselves, or however we've lied to ourselves. So to get this volume, much of it a lengthy speech from this world's version of Lee Harvey Oswald—a man swept up by the tides of a major tipping point in our country's history, a man keenly aware of how the power of people is to ultimately change reality—it's as if I've been waiting for this summary my whole life. Even though this is sci-fi. Even though this country is a fantasy. Even though America is both easily recognizable and foreign to the touch. I loved what this thing puts down, messy and glorious—the artwork always perfectly reflecting the chaotic beauty, or the beauty of chaos, as the founding fathers would have you believe, supposedly, as it's been told to us, mangling the dream of better.

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, incredible, no notes.

The political horror is so well done and well established, and the way the series discusses conspiracies and why they exist and how malignant they can be is just phenomenally done. Likewise, the social commentary on what America could be and should be versus what it is and what it will become is so apt. Perhaps even more so now than when the series initially started.

This just really feels like a series that was tailor made to me and it continues to be my favorite graphic novel series.

Not to mention the absolutely gorgeous artwork by Martin Simmonds. It's genuinely beautiful and melancholy and slightly sinister in a way that fits the series perfectly. This series genuinely wouldn't be the same with a different artist at the helm.

And it has been two years since the previous volume came out, so before getting into this one I re-read the series and it just solidified how fantastic this series is. However, I do think the author knew that it's been a hot minute since they've continued the series and they did a great job at catching us up to speed, and providing us another fascinating tied-in side plot. And I actually think this could be an entry into the series for some people because it doesn't spoil too much and it recaps everything succinctly and uses one of the biggest conspiracies in American history to do so.

I'm just sad now that I have to wait probably another year for the next volume to come out.

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Department of Truth Vol. 5 What Your Country Can Do For You collects issues 23-27 of the Image Comics series written by James Tynion IV with by Martin Simmonds, Ela Charretier, Tyler Boss, John J. Pearson, David Romero, Alison Sampson, and Jorge Fornes.

The ‘real’ story of Lee Harvey Oswald and that fateful day in Dallas, Texas and the tragic final days of Marilyn Monroe.

This issue didn’t grab me like other volumes have. I felt like it was retreading a lot of the same ground but we got a little more involvement with The Lady in Red. This book is most definitely a slow burner but with its slow release schedule, I’m forgetting more than I remember for this series.

[Jonathan Crabb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well crap. I didn't know that this series is still ongoing as I thought it was finished. I give this volume 4 stars as I was expecting an ending, but got nothing of the sort. I am still very interested in this series as it is my new favorite, but the interesting place that the authors are at now is that they are getting closer to the real villains of the book. Interestingly, they are more mundane than many of the highlights of the book which is the way it always tends to be. Evil is mundane, but still has to be fought.

Now literally waiting for the next issue to come out.

[Siegfried · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean... ok.
The art was a bit on the TOO MUCH this time, kinda hard to read even
And ok. We all know Lee killed JFK. Or in this case, didn't. It was Babalon, aka the Woman in Red
But this is being dragged on and on... and I can't see any payoff.
The exception is Marilyn. Holy f*ck, that was amazing.
Loved the concept that she became so "big" in everyones mind that she basically collapsed into something else.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deep lore re: Lee Harvey Oswald, JFK and Marilyn Monroe. Beautiful artwork by Simmonds as per.

[Andrew Kline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am conflicted about continuing the series after each volume, but the concept is just so intriguing and relevant to the times. This volume serves as a convoluted and possibly altered origin story for Lee Harvey Oswald, and includes a tragic interpretation of Marilyn Monroe. I wish there was a way to tell this story without so many scene of men sitting in rooms or walking down hallways talking.

[Austin Mackinnon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional as always for this series!

[Kaitlyn (ktxx22) Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really appreciate this volume as a question answerer. Lots of good sideways history and lore I really enjoy that.

[M.i. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read and end up being compelled into believing this is a true recount of the History of the country.

It’s that good!

[Kirstin Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another delightfully strange, remarkably horrifying book. Reading it while we watch the world turn upside down around us makes it that much better and that much worse.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

“If enough people believe something, it will become true”--the central tenet of The Department of Truth, a fictional government agency dealing in various ways with conspiracy theories, lies, government erasure of history, all of that. In America, yup.

James Tynion has for a few years been one of the darlings of the Eisners, much lauded in the comics world, and popular. I’ll cautiously admit I have generally not been a fan of his work, since I don't know all of it, but I do love and admire this one, his Department of Truth series with Martin Simmonds. I’ll say as far as I can tell (and not as legitimate a critic as others) this is Tynion’s and Simmonds’s masterwork. The 2025 volume, #5, subtitled What Your Country Can Do For You [or maybe its really what your country can do TO you], is nominated for the Eisner Best Continuing Series of 2025.

The Department of Truth is shaping the world through public perception of facts. Orwell told us this, and we see it every day, fake news, corporate and political suppression of journalism and history, censorship, so Tynion is just picking up this ball and running with it, touching on a range of historical moments. This volume focuses on the JFK assassination as well as the Marilyn Monroe story and her affair with JFK. It posits that Lee Harvey Oswald is hired by the DOT, while a woman in red, with her eyes exed out, never named or identified, weaves her way through the period's history. Femme fatale? Eve character? I doubt it. Possibly, a demon of history. That woman in red is holding a gun at the Dallas Book Depository, though, as Tynion has it.

Of course most people, Republicans and Democrats, are united in NOT believing that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. And many people have written novels and made films and written historical accounts about it, posing their theories. I would say Tynion’s theory, not adding too much to what we already know at this point from various historical accounts, is most consistent with the darkest versions of the events, such as in James Ellroy and Hunter Thompson (who makes a cameo appearance here, I was delighted to see).

Then we also get a guest artist contribution from Allison Sampson, the story of Norma Jean Mortenson/Baker, later reinvented by the star-makers of Hollywood as Marilyn Monroe, who died of an overdose at the age of 36, and again, none of this is completely new (except the woman with exes for eyes!) but it underscores the American propensity for myth-making, from Kennedy’s Camelot to bombshell Marilyn, who as we know now had affairs with JFK and his brother RFK, so these twin myths come together. The volume, so heavy, ends with a lighthearted short on Bigfoot, whew.

I’ll say it is one of my favorite volumes of the year, as of early June, with high praise for the eerie, paranoid, madness-tinged artwork of Martin Simmonds, just amazing. The art moves the volume from four stars to five for me, but I also give credit to Tynion for loading a lot of little historical nuggets throughout to keep you and AI busy for a few hours.

[Ángel Javier · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Tynion se le va la olla, y, aunque la primera historia, la de Lee Harvey Oswald, es muy buena, la segunda (la de Marilyn) se percibe como un claro desvío de la trama principal, posible señal de que se está quedando sin ideas o de que no sabe cómo continuar la historia, o las dos cosas. Siempre que leo a Tynion se dispara mi sentido Lost, ese que me dice: "esto está guay, pero me da la impresión de que no tienen ni pajolera idea de cómo rematar esto", y con este volumen ya es como cuando a Spiderman le da dolor de cabeza, de lo fuerte que le resuena por el cráneo el sentido arácnido. ¿De verdad otra vez lo de los cazabigfoots? Si ni Marilyn ni Oswald son los auténticos, como se insinúa una y otra vez a lo largo del cómic, entonces, ¿quién es de verdad? O sea, Michael Jackson, Freddy Mercury, los Beatles, Bogart, Madonna, Pelé... el concepto está guay, de verdad, pero en cuanto empiezas a hacerlo tan generalizado (es decir, como la realidad es consensuada, todo lo que pasa en el mundo es tal y como la mayoría lo ve, incluidas las personas) se torna inabarcable. Y lo peor es que no se trata de una serie limitada, con un número planeado de antemano de episodios, sino que mientras se venda... pues ahí seguirá Tynion, dando vueltas sobre sus propios conceptos como un perro tratando de morderse la cola. Y aun así, capta nuestro interés, el jodío... bueno, como Lost...

[Dallas Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book manages to delve so deeply into the concepts of this universe, fleshing out the backstory of several huge reoccurring characters, and at the same time be an intensely fascinating read (that even without context of needing to read anything prior) explores the idea of what America has been in history and is today!

I personally have a really hard time when people have Marilyn Monroe in their art, because of how much I've learned about how exploited she was.
So this series finally had a chance to dip in quality with that direction.
That being said, I think she is used to explore an interesting exploration that needed to be done for this series. How justified in keeping a fiction are we?

This series maintains being one of the best comics series Ive ever had the privilege to read!
Props to all the guest artists on this one for going that next level with paneling and storytelling like Simmonds sets the gold standard for every volume!

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

For my money, Department of Truth is one the best recent comics and one of the bets Tynion's comics. That said, this entry in the series, the fifth one, is its weakest to date. The brilliant concept is still there, but the series feels at bit out of steam at this juncture, and this book doesn't seem to drive the story forward. it's more of a pause, and like some pauses, a slightly awkward one at that.
It also extensively veers into a Marilyn Monroe story, using a different and lesser artist.
Mind you, Simmonds is so spectacularly talented that anyone next to him would seem lesser, but this was just ... well, a very weird way to draw Marilyn.
So, hopefully this is just a placeholder while the series regains steam and not a sign of things to come. Overall, it's still a fun read, and SImmonds' art alone is worth checking it out. Onwards.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Department of Truth finally explores just how Lee Harvey Oswald remains alive after all this time, as well as his actual involvement with the Kennedy assassination. It's some decent backstory, portrayed in truly convoluted fashion, as is the norm for this series.

We also get a sidestory featuring Marilyn Monroe, in which it's revealed that the media sensationalism about her life has affected her reality. (That is, she might not even be real anymore?) It's an interesting little vignette that expands upon some pretty well-trodden ground for this series.

The artwork from Martin Simmonds continues to play a huge role in the vibes here. I still don't like it, but boy does it work.