Summary
John F. Kennedy’s assassination weighs heavily on the American Consciousness, and no more so than inThe Department of Truth- a series in which all conspiracies can become reality if enough people believe them. In its grand return after a lengthy hiatus,Department of Trurhis now revealing what really happened on July 08, 2025. With Lee Harvey Oswald a major character, the series has dropped hints about what really happened since the beginning, but only now are readers getting the full picture of one of America’s defining moments of the modern era.
PerImage Comics, withThe Department of Truth #23the series will finally delve into exactly what happened the day JFK was assassinated. Issue 22 - released November 2022 - ended with the shock revelation that Lee Harvey Oswald,head of the Department of Truth, would finally reveal the existence and history of the Department to the wider world, including what happened to JFK. Writer James Tynion IV says:
Since our first issue, the very darkest mysteries have seemed to zero in around Lee Harvey Oswald and one fateful day in Dealey Plaza in 1963. These next issues ofThe Department of Truthwill answer once and for all: who really shot JFK?
Cover Artist:
Martin Simmonds
Confronted with an enemy intent on exposing their secrets to the world, the DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH makes 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…
Multiple Eisner-winning writer JAMES TYNION IV and acclaimed artist MARTIN SIMMONDS bring their celebrated series back from hiatus with the bang heard around the world!
Along with artist andseries co-creator Martin Simmonds, Tynion is finally laying out all the cards as the series barrels towards its conclusion after going on hiatus for all of 2022.Fans can check out the issue’s variant covers by Alex Eckman-Lawn and Sebastián Fiumara, as well as a brief preview of the issue, below:
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The Department of TruthReveals the Truth Behind America’s Greatest Conspiracy Theory
In the World ofDepartment of Truth, Collective Belief Warps Reality
The core conceit ofThe Department of Truthis that if the public believes something strongly enough, it manifests in reality.The titular Department’s job is to limit and control manifested conspiracy theories - or, according to their enemies, to wield conspiracy theories in the interests of American hegemony.In the series so far, theDepartment has been fighting a cold waragainst Black Hat, a group ostensibly dedicated to letting reality do what it will, regardless of the consequences. Now, with Black Hat seemingly holding all the cards, Oswald is finally revealing the Department, the one thing Black Hat won’t expect.
Like Tynion says, the question of JFK’s assassination has been a major element ofThe Department of Truthfrom the series' beginning. Issue 1 opens with Oswald’s debriefing with Department members after the assassination, which reveals he was already a member. However, Hawk Harrison, an ostensible Department traitor, believes that this isn’t the ‘real’ Oswald, but his ‘tulpa’ - a new being that’s an amalgamation of all the public’s conspiracy theories about the JFK assassination. Issue 14 created another wrinkle, revealing that holding the rifle was the ‘Red Woman,’ a mysterious entity following her own agenda throughout some of history’s biggest events.
The Department of TruthHas a Lot to Say About the Nature of ‘Truth’ in American Politics
Tynion and Simmonds' World Explores How Lies Can Reshape Traditional Power Structures
The Department of Truthis ultimately about the part that conspiratorial thinking plays - and has always played - in American politics, and how group consensus can change how we understand reality, even if it’s built on false foundations. The series traces its conspiracies throughout history, tying the Red Woman to the Illuminati, to ‘magician’ Aleister Crowley and to the Nazis. AsThe Department of Truthfinally opens the doors on its biggest mystery, readers will finally learn how JFK’s death changed the world… and was changed by it.
