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''The Department of Truth'' is a 2020 NewWeird {{Horror}}-{{Conspiracy Thriller}} written by Creator/JamesTynionIV (''ComicBook/TheBackstagers'', ''ComicBook/TheNiceHouseOnTheLake'' and various ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' and ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague'' iterations) and illustrated by Martin Simmonds (''Blood-Stained Teeth'' and ''What's The Furthest Place From Here'').
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''The Department of Truth'' is a 2020 NewWeird {{Horror}}-{{Conspiracy Thriller}} written by Creator/JamesTynionIV (''ComicBook/TheBackstagers'', ''ComicBook/TheNiceHouseOnTheLake'' and various ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' ''[[ComicBook/BatmanJamesTynionIV Batman]]'' and ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague'' iterations) and illustrated by Martin Simmonds (''Blood-Stained Teeth'' and ''What's The Furthest Place From Here'').
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* EyeOfProvidence: The Department has an Eye of Providence as a part of their icon, being a government agency that specializes in suppressing conspiracy theories.
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* {{Ghostapo}}: The Nazis pioneered many of the reality-warping techniques used by the Department Of Truth (and its soviet counterpart the Ministry Of Lies).
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* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Given the subject of the story is "conspiracy theories", ''many'' historical characters show up, although given the premise it's always unclear what was a "historical" character and what was a "mythical" character.
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* SovietSuperscience: The Soviets had their own Department Of Truth equivalent, the Ministry Of Lies. It was apparently led by fabled soviet filmmaker [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dziga_Vertov Dziga Vertov]] and thus shaped by his philosophical theories about the technological evolution of humans into "machine men" (i.e. men with a movie camera, shaped by cinema's possibilities).
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* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Angels are a Class-2 "[[OurCryptidsAreMoreMysterious Wild Fiction]]" that is routinely tracked down and hunted by the Department of Truth, being one of the most common types of cryptid due to the sheer number of people that believe they exist.
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* FreudWasRight: Hawk uses the phallic imagery of wands as a starting point to explain how symbolism coincides with magic and the nature of reality.
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* NewMediaAreEvil: It's expressed multiple time that the internet has made the Department's job of maintaining reality that much harder, conspiracies and misinformation spreading like wildfire.
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** [[spoiler:The SatanicPanic was originally commissioned by the Department of Truth and carried out by Hawk Harrison as a means of taking control of multiple other conspiracy theories, Hawk becoming disillusioned with the DoT and pulling the plug on the project when the Star-Faced Man appears, understanding just how dangerous it would be if it ever finished manifesting.]]
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** [[spoiler:The SatanicPanic was originally commissioned by the Department of Truth and carried out by Hawk Harrison as a means of taking control of multiple other conspiracy theories, Hawk becoming disillusioned with the DoT [=DoT=] and pulling the plug on the project when the Star-Faced Man appears, understanding just how dangerous it would be if it ever finished manifesting.]]
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* InsufferableGenius: Hawk Harrison is an agent from the Department of Truth since the 1960's and he is tasked with doing or undoing manifestations if needed, having taken down the [[FlatWorld ice wall]] and Black Hat facility in Denver because he has an intimate understanding of the subjective nature of their job. He's also a massive {{Troll}} that likes saying offensive things to people just to get a reaction out of them, best indicated by his iconic inverted-flag baseball cap. Even Oswald hates his guts, but he keeps him around because Hawk can be counted on for results. [[spoiler:Its eventually revealed that he is a rogue agent, having become disillusioned with the DoT when the Star-Faced Man manifested in front of him after he was commissioned to create him.]]
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* InsufferableGenius: Hawk Harrison is an agent from the Department of Truth since the 1960's and he is tasked with doing or undoing manifestations if needed, having taken down the [[FlatWorld ice wall]] and Black Hat facility in Denver because he has an intimate understanding of the subjective nature of their job. He's also a massive {{Troll}} that likes saying offensive things to people just to get a reaction out of them, best indicated by his iconic inverted-flag baseball cap. Even Oswald hates his guts, but he keeps him around because Hawk can be counted on for results. [[spoiler:Its eventually revealed that he is a rogue agent, having become disillusioned with the DoT [=DoT=] when the Star-Faced Man manifested in front of him after he was commissioned to create him.]]
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* HollywoodSatanism: Discussed. Hawk Harrison makes a disclaimer that real-life Satanists are far more likely to be atheists who make {{Satan}} out to be a metaphor and are relatively harmless as far as society should be concerned. However, thousands of years of fear-mongering culminating in modern day fears of baby-eating Satanists hiding in plain sight have made the concept of HollywoodSatanism a far bigger danger than RealLife Satanism. [[spoiler:The fact that Hawk encouraged the SatanicPanic to help the Department of Truth increase their base of power certainly didn't help.]]
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* LizardFolk: [[ReptilianConspiracy Reptilians]] are real (or at least they are ''now'') and are apparently a bitch to kill. Somehow, Black Hat kept one in its employ.
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* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Hawk sees the Department of Truth as this, believing that is has a darker agenda than Cole was led to believe. Whatever it is he learned about Black Hat however, it seems to scare the Hell out of him way more than anything the Department had him do.
* LizardFolk: [[ReptilianConspiracy Reptilians]] are real (or at least they are ''now'') and are apparently a bitch to kill.Somehow, Black Hat kept one in its employ.had learned to create a verifiable factory, producing reptilians en masse at the Denver International Airport.
* LizardFolk: [[ReptilianConspiracy Reptilians]] are real (or at least they are ''now'') and are apparently a bitch to kill.
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* PlaceOfPower: Locations used in prevalent enough conspiracy theories tend to manifest liminal spaces that defy certain forms of logic, Black Hat having commandeered a hidden space at the Denver International Airport as a base of operations.
* SatanicArchetype: Hawk Harrison is one of the Department of Truth's oldest and most accomplished agents in spite of his {{Troll}}ish behavior, is always seen wearing a cap with an inverted flag on it (which evokes the idea of an inverted cross) and [[spoiler: is eventually revealing that he has since gone rogue]]. This is made all the more poignant in a flashback where he is literally made out to look like a BigRedDevil to a young, impressionable Cole Turner, [[spoiler:having been the one to create the Star-Faced Man and the SatanicPanic of the 70's in the first place.]]
* SatanicArchetype: Hawk Harrison is one of the Department of Truth's oldest and most accomplished agents in spite of his {{Troll}}ish behavior, is always seen wearing a cap with an inverted flag on it (which evokes the idea of an inverted cross) and [[spoiler: is eventually revealing that he has since gone rogue]]. This is made all the more poignant in a flashback where he is literally made out to look like a BigRedDevil to a young, impressionable Cole Turner, [[spoiler:having been the one to create the Star-Faced Man and the SatanicPanic of the 70's in the first place.]]
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** Hawk claims that the Department of Truth attempted to create their own UFOs so that they could capture and reverse engineer it for their own benefit. [[spoiler:This resulted in the creation of TheMothman and the Silver Bridge Collapse of 1967.
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** Hawk claims that the Department of Truth attempted to create their own UFOs [=UFOs=] so that they could capture and reverse engineer it for their own benefit. [[spoiler:This resulted in the creation of TheMothman and the Silver Bridge Collapse of 1967.]]
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* OurCryptidsAreMoreMysterious: There is an entire cryptozoology wing of the Department of Truth dedicated to finds and hunting down cryptids, or "wild fictions". They are placed into three categories: Class One ("Hauntings"; ghosts and demonic possessions), Class Two ("Close-Encounters"; aliens and angel sightings) and Class Three ("Critters" monsters like Bigfoot and Chupacabra). Their level of danger goes up with their numbers, Hauntings being nothing more substantial than sights and sounds, Close Encounters disappearing as soon as they manifest, and Critters acting and behaving (and therefor being as dangerous as) real-life animals.
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* OurCryptidsAreMoreMysterious: There is an entire cryptozoology wing of the Department of Truth dedicated to finds and hunting down cryptids, or "wild fictions". They are placed into three categories: Class One ("Hauntings"; ghosts and demonic possessions), Class Two ("Close-Encounters"; aliens and angel sightings) and Class Three ("Critters" ("Critters"; monsters like Bigfoot and Chupacabra). Their level of danger goes up with their numbers, Hauntings being nothing more substantial than sights and sounds, Close Encounters disappearing as soon as they manifest, and Critters acting and behaving (and therefor being as dangerous as) real-life animals.
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* AmbiguousSituation: The man who runs the Department of Truth says that he is Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who (allegedly) [[WhoShotJFK assassinated President John F. Kennedy]]. It is brought up multiple times whether or not he's the real Oswald, a belief-based manifestation or if this is just a codename, but a real answer is never given.
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* AmbiguousSituation: The man who runs the Department of Truth says that he is Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who (allegedly) [[WhoShotJFK assassinated President John F. Kennedy]]. It is brought up multiple times whether or not he's the real Oswald, a belief-based manifestation or if this is just a codename, but a real answer is never given. [[spoiler:This later becomes a plot point when Hawk Harrison reveals that he is working both sides, thinking that the Lee Harvey Oswald is a manifestation of America's collective distrust of the government.]]
* BeenThereShapedHistory:
** Hawk claims that the Department of Truth attempted to create their own UFOs so that they could capture and reverse engineer it for their own benefit. [[spoiler:This resulted in the creation of TheMothman and the Silver Bridge Collapse of 1967.
** [[spoiler:The SatanicPanic was originally commissioned by the Department of Truth and carried out by Hawk Harrison as a means of taking control of multiple other conspiracy theories, Hawk becoming disillusioned with the DoT and pulling the plug on the project when the Star-Faced Man appears, understanding just how dangerous it would be if it ever finished manifesting.]]
** Hawk claims that the Department of Truth attempted to create their own UFOs so that they could capture and reverse engineer it for their own benefit. [[spoiler:This resulted in the creation of TheMothman and the Silver Bridge Collapse of 1967.
** [[spoiler:The SatanicPanic was originally commissioned by the Department of Truth and carried out by Hawk Harrison as a means of taking control of multiple other conspiracy theories, Hawk becoming disillusioned with the DoT and pulling the plug on the project when the Star-Faced Man appears, understanding just how dangerous it would be if it ever finished manifesting.]]
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** One of the tell-tale signs that Black Hat is involved with something is a woman dressed all in all red and wears black sunglasses. She has large X's instead of eyes, and anyone who looks at her is overcome with an escalating sense of dread.
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** One of the tell-tale signs that Black Hat is involved with something is a woman dressed all in all red and wears black sunglasses. She has large X's instead of eyes, and anyone who looks at her is overcome with an escalating sense of dread. [[spoiler:If Hawk is to be believed, she is the manifestation of Babalon, the Scarlet Woman foretold by Creator/AleisterCrowley to shift the metaphysical paradigm of the world.]]
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* InsufferableGenius: Hawk Harrison is an agent from the Department of Truth since the 1960's and he is tasked with doing or undoing manifestations if needed, having taken down the [[FlatWorld ice wall]] and Black Hat facility in Denver because he has an intimate understanding of the subjective nature of their job. He's also a massive {{Troll}} that likes saying offensive things to people just to get a reaction out of them, best indicated by his iconic inverted-flag baseball cap. Even Oswald hates his guts, but he keeps him around because Hawk can be counted on for results. [[spoiler:Its eventually revealed that he is a rogue agent, having become disillusioned with the DoT when the Star-Faced Man manifested in front of him after he was commissioned to create him.]]
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* OurCryptidsAreMoreMysterious: There is an entire cryptozoology wing of the Department of Truth dedicated to finds and hunting down cryptids, or "wild fictions". They are placed into three categories: Class One ("Hauntings"; ghosts and demonic possessions), Class Two ("Close-Encounters"; aliens and angel sightings) and Class Three ("Critters" monsters like Bigfoot and Chupacabra). Their level of danger goes up with their numbers, Hauntings being nothing more substantial than sights and sounds, Close Encounters disappearing as soon as they manifest, and Critters acting and behaving (and therefor being as dangerous as) real-life animals.
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* MoonLandingHoax: In issue 1, one of the first signs that Cole is heading down the rabbit hole is the film he's shown of an astronaut climbing down from the lander—with a man in a normal business suit visible in the background, standing in the wrong part of the set.
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''The Department of Truth'' is a 2020 NewWeird {{Horror}}-ConspiracyThriller written by Creator/JamesTynionIV (''ComicBook/TheBackstagers'', ''ComicBook/TheNiceHouseOnTheLake'' and various ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' and ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague'' iterations) and illustrated by Martin Simmonds (''Blood-Stained Teeth'' and ''What's The Furthest Place From Here'').
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''The Department of Truth'' is a 2020 NewWeird {{Horror}}-ConspiracyThriller {{Horror}}-{{Conspiracy Thriller}} written by Creator/JamesTynionIV (''ComicBook/TheBackstagers'', ''ComicBook/TheNiceHouseOnTheLake'' and various ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' and ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague'' iterations) and illustrated by Martin Simmonds (''Blood-Stained Teeth'' and ''What's The Furthest Place From Here'').
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''The Department of Truth'' is a 2020 NewWeird {{Horror}}-{{Thriller}} written by Creator/JamesTynionIV (''ComicBook/TheBackstagers'', ''ComicBook/TheNiceHouseOnTheLake'' and various ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' and ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague'' iterations) and illustrated by Martin Simmonds (''Blood-Stained Teeth'' and ''What's The Furthest Place From Here'').
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''The Department of Truth'' is a 2020 NewWeird {{Horror}}-{{Thriller}} {{Horror}}-ConspiracyThriller written by Creator/JamesTynionIV (''ComicBook/TheBackstagers'', ''ComicBook/TheNiceHouseOnTheLake'' and various ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' and ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague'' iterations) and illustrated by Martin Simmonds (''Blood-Stained Teeth'' and ''What's The Furthest Place From Here'').
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WhoShotJFK Were there people on the moon, [[MoonLandingHoax or was it directed on a set by Stanley Kubrick?]] Is the Earth [[FlatWorld flat]]? Are there [[ReptilianConspiracy Reptilians in Congress]]? [[SatanicPanic Satanists in the senate]]?
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WhoShotJFK Were there people on the moon, [[MoonLandingHoax or was it directed on a set by Stanley Kubrick?]] Kubrick]]? Is the Earth [[FlatWorld flat]]? Are there [[ReptilianConspiracy Reptilians in Congress]]? [[SatanicPanic Satanists in the senate]]?
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WhoShotJFK Where there people on the moon, [[MoonLandingHoax or was it directed on a set by Stanley Kubrick?]] Is the Earth [[FlatWorld flat]]? Are there [[ReptilianConspiracy Reptilians in Congress]]? [[SatanicPanic Satanists in the senate]]?
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WhoShotJFK Where Were there people on the moon, [[MoonLandingHoax or was it directed on a set by Stanley Kubrick?]] Is the Earth [[FlatWorld flat]]? Are there [[ReptilianConspiracy Reptilians in Congress]]? [[SatanicPanic Satanists in the senate]]?
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WhoShotJFK Where there people on the moon, [[MoonLandingHoax or was it directed on a set by Stanley Kubrick?]] Is the Earth [[FlatWorld flat]]? Are there [[SatanicPanic Satanists running the country]]?
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WhoShotJFK Where there people on the moon, [[MoonLandingHoax or was it directed on a set by Stanley Kubrick?]] Is the Earth [[FlatWorld flat]]? Are there [[ReptilianConspiracy Reptilians in Congress]]? [[SatanicPanic Satanists running in the country]]?
senate]]?
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* LizardFolk: Reptilians are real (or at least they are ''now'') and are apparently a bitch to kill. Somehow, Black Hat kept one in its employ.
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* LizardFolk: Reptilians [[ReptilianConspiracy Reptilians]] are real (or at least they are ''now'') and are apparently a bitch to kill. Somehow, Black Hat kept one in its employ.
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* FlatWorld: Cole is brought in by the Department of Truth after he invited to a party of rich people who fly a plane to the end of the Earth, appearing as a giant wall of ice. Oswald explains that this is the result of the "Flat Earth" conspiracy in the middle of manifesting in reality.
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* FlatWorld: Cole is brought in by the Department of Truth after he invited to a party of rich people who fly a plane to the end of the Earth, appearing as a giant wall of ice. Oswald explains that this is the result a manifestation of the "Flat Earth" conspiracy in on the middle verge of manifesting in reality.becoming real.
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* BlackAndGrayMorality: The Department of Truth's job is the make sure that Conspiracy Theories remain as dangerous ideas rather than dangerous reality, but they achieve this through gaslighting, assassination (even with bystanders perfectly willing to cooperate) and carefully selecting what should and should not be "normal", an agent of Black Hat trying to indoctrinate Cole by pointing out how they are trying to control the world by controlling the "truth". However, the alternative is to let the public's imagination run wild, the potential changes to reality resulting monsters, {{Nebulous Evil Organisation}}s running the world and other potentially world-ending scenarios.
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* BlackAndGrayMorality: The Department of Truth's job is the make sure that Conspiracy Theories remain as dangerous ideas rather than dangerous reality, but they achieve this through gaslighting, assassination (even with bystanders perfectly willing to cooperate) and carefully selecting what should and should not be "normal", an agent of Black Hat trying to indoctrinate Cole by pointing out how they are trying to control the world by controlling the "truth". However, the alternative is to let the public's imagination run wild, the potential changes to reality resulting in monsters, {{Nebulous Evil Organisation}}s of every ideology and temperament running the world world, astrological anomalies and other potentially potential world-ending scenarios.
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* AscendedFridgeHorror: ''The Department of Truth'' acts as a {{Deconstruction}} of the ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve trope; reality is portrayed as subjective and can retroactively change if enough people believe in a singular "fact". With conspiracy theories on the rise, the Department of Truth works to make sure that conspiracy theories don't take root because a lot of the conspiracy theories people believe in -- like [[LizardFolk Reptilians]] or pedophilic, cannibalistic Satanists controlling the world -- would be incredibly dangerous if they existed. The result is a fic that portrays modern-day American society as its own CosmicHorrorStory, where human belief can literally destroy the world if left unregulated.
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* AscendedFridgeHorror: ''The Department of Truth'' acts as a {{Deconstruction}} of the ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve trope; reality is portrayed as subjective and can retroactively change if enough people believe in a singular "fact". With conspiracy theories on the rise, the Department of Truth works to make sure that conspiracy theories don't take root because a lot of the conspiracy theories people believe in -- like [[LizardFolk Reptilians]] or pedophilic, cannibalistic Satanists controlling the world -- would be incredibly dangerous if they existed. The result is a fic that portrays world where modern-day American society as is its own CosmicHorrorStory, where human belief can literally destroy the world if left unregulated.
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* EstablishingSeriesMoment: The comic opens with Lee Harvey Oswald being taken into custody for assassinating the President. When he is questioned on WhoShotJFK whether or not he did it]], he admits that he cannot properly remember if he did, a sign that people are already speculating on alternative truths.
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* EstablishingSeriesMoment: The comic opens with Lee Harvey Oswald being taken into custody for assassinating the President. When he is questioned on WhoShotJFK [[WhoShotJFK whether or not he did it]], he admits that he cannot properly remember if he did, a sign that people are already speculating on alternative truths.
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* EstablishingSeriesMoment: The comic opens with Lee Harvey Oswald being taken into custody for assassinating the President. When he is questioned on WhoShotJFK whether or not he did it]], he admits that he cannot properly remember if he did, a sign that people are already speculating on alternative truths.
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* WhoShotJFK: The comic opens with Lee Harvey Oswald being taken into custody for assassinating the President. When he is questioned on whether or not he did it, he admits that he cannot properly remember if he did, a sign that people are already speculating on alternative truths.
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* AscendedFridgeHorror: The fic acts as a {{Deconstruction}} of the ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve trope; reality is portrayed as subjective and can retroactively change if enough people believe in a singular "fact". With conspiracy theories on the rise, the Department of Truth works to make sure that conspiracy theories don't take root because a lot of the conspiracy theories people believe in -- like [[LizardFolk Reptilians]] or pedophilic, cannibalistic Satanists controlling the world -- would be incredibly dangerous if they existed. The result is a fic that portrays modern-day American society as its own CosmicHorrorStory, where human belief can literally destroy the world if left unregulated.
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* AscendedFridgeHorror: The fic ''The Department of Truth'' acts as a {{Deconstruction}} of the ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve trope; reality is portrayed as subjective and can retroactively change if enough people believe in a singular "fact". With conspiracy theories on the rise, the Department of Truth works to make sure that conspiracy theories don't take root because a lot of the conspiracy theories people believe in -- like [[LizardFolk Reptilians]] or pedophilic, cannibalistic Satanists controlling the world -- would be incredibly dangerous if they existed. The result is a fic that portrays modern-day American society as its own CosmicHorrorStory, where human belief can literally destroy the world if left unregulated.
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With the proliferation of information, UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories have taken root in the minds of the modern era. Unfortunately for humanity, if enough people believe in something, it becomes true, and a lot of people believe in a lot of horrifying things. Luckily, the United States of America has the Department of Truth to prevent such things from becoming real.
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With the proliferation of information, UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories have taken root in the minds of the modern era. Unfortunately for humanity, if enough people believe in something, it becomes true, and a lot of people believe in a lot of horrifying things. Luckily, the United States of America has the Department of Truth to [[MasqueradeEnforcer prevent such things from becoming real.real]].
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* BlackAndGrayMorality: The Department of Truth's job is the make sure that Conspiracy Theories remain as dangerous ideas rather than dangerous reality, but they achieve this through gaslighting, assassination (even with bystanders perfectly willing to cooperate) and carefully selecting what should and should not be "normal", an agent of Black Hat trying to indoctrinate Cole by pointing out how they are trying to control the world by controlling the "truth". However, the alternative is to let the public's imagination run wild, the potential changes to reality resulting monsters, {{Nebulous Evil Organisation}}s running the world and other potentially world-ending scenarios.
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* MasqueradeEnforcer: The Department of Truth was created to prevent conspiracies from manifesting as a retroactive status quo. This makes them a zig-zagged example, as while most cases manifest as monsters or other things that can be killed or contained, most of the conspiracies would manifest as a CosmicRetcon; the Department couldn't keep such abnormal things a secret if they tried because then they would have always been "normal", no matter how outlandish or horrifying it would be.
* TheMenInBlack: Discussed. The Men in Black as a concept is brought up multiple times, and either the Department of Truth or Black Hat acts as a stand-in to these, or they manifest as {{Tulpa}}s that the Department have to deal with regularly. The comic also references to the ''Franchise/MenInBlack'' franchise multiple times, claiming that they don't have [[LaserGuidedAmnesia neuralyzer]] or fancy ScienceFiction spy-gadgets to help maintain [[{{Masquerade}} normalcy]].
* TheMenInBlack: Discussed. The Men in Black as a concept is brought up multiple times, and either the Department of Truth or Black Hat acts as a stand-in to these, or they manifest as {{Tulpa}}s that the Department have to deal with regularly. The comic also references to the ''Franchise/MenInBlack'' franchise multiple times, claiming that they don't have [[LaserGuidedAmnesia neuralyzer]] or fancy ScienceFiction spy-gadgets to help maintain [[{{Masquerade}} normalcy]].
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* YouCantFightFate: When Cole asks why they need to prevent the concept of school-shooting crisis actors from being real if it meant preventing the deaths of school shootings, Ruby makes a point that the odds of the kid staying dead in the new reality far outweigh any likelihood of the them being alive and well, citing theories that they were killed after they did their job as one example.
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* BrownNoteBeing: [[{{Tulpa}} Entities that manifest under shared belief]] instill an inherent sense of fear, dread and curiosity whenever a person sees them since they are these ideas made manifest, made only more and more real when encountered.
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* LizardFolk: Reptilians are real (or at least they are ''now') and are apparently a bitch to kill. Somehow, Black Hat kept one in its employ.
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* LizardFolk: Reptilians are real (or at least they are ''now') ''now'') and are apparently a bitch to kill. Somehow, Black Hat kept one in its employ.
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''The Department of Truth'' is a 2020 NewWeird {{Horror}}-{{Thriller}} writer by Creator/JamesTynionIV (''ComicBook/TheBackstagers'', ''ComicBook/TheNiceHouseOnTheLake'' and various ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' and ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague'' iterations) and illustrated by Martin Simmonds (''Blood-Stained Teeth'' and ''What's The Furthest Place From Here'').
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''The Department of Truth'' is a 2020 NewWeird {{Horror}}-{{Thriller}} writer written by Creator/JamesTynionIV (''ComicBook/TheBackstagers'', ''ComicBook/TheNiceHouseOnTheLake'' and various ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' and ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague'' iterations) and illustrated by Martin Simmonds (''Blood-Stained Teeth'' and ''What's The Furthest Place From Here'').
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''The Department of Truth'' is a 2020 NewWeird {{Horror}}-{{Thriller}} writer by James Tynion IV (''ComicBook/TheBackstagers'', ''ComicBook/TheNiceHouseOnTheLake'' and various ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' and ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague'' iterations) and illustrated by Martin Simmonds (''Blood-Stained Teeth'' and ''What's The Furthest Place From Here'').
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''The Department of Truth'' is a 2020 NewWeird {{Horror}}-{{Thriller}} writer by James Tynion IV Creator/JamesTynionIV (''ComicBook/TheBackstagers'', ''ComicBook/TheNiceHouseOnTheLake'' and various ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' and ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague'' iterations) and illustrated by Martin Simmonds (''Blood-Stained Teeth'' and ''What's The Furthest Place From Here'').
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''The Department of Truth'' is a 2020 NewWeird {{Horror}}-{{Thriller}} writter by James Tynion IV (''ComicBook/TheBackstagers'', ''ComicBook/TheNiceHouseOnTheLake'' and various ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' and ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague'' iterations) and illustrated by Martin Simmonds (''Blood-Stained Teeth'' and ''What's The Furthest Place From Here'').
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''The Department of Truth'' is a 2020 NewWeird {{Horror}}-{{Thriller}} writter writer by James Tynion IV (''ComicBook/TheBackstagers'', ''ComicBook/TheNiceHouseOnTheLake'' and various ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' and ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague'' iterations) and illustrated by Martin Simmonds (''Blood-Stained Teeth'' and ''What's The Furthest Place From Here'').
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''The Department of Truth'' is a 2020 NewWeird {{Horror}}-{{Thriller} writter by James Tynion IV (''ComicBook/TheBackstagers'', ''ComicBook/TheNiceHouseOnTheLake'' and various ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' and ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague'' iterations) and illustrated by Martin Simmonds (''Blood-Stained Teeth'' and ''What's The Furthest Place From Here'').
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''The Department of Truth'' is a 2020 NewWeird {{Horror}}-{{Thriller} {{Horror}}-{{Thriller}} writter by James Tynion IV (''ComicBook/TheBackstagers'', ''ComicBook/TheNiceHouseOnTheLake'' and various ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' and ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague'' iterations) and illustrated by Martin Simmonds (''Blood-Stained Teeth'' and ''What's The Furthest Place From Here'').
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_department_of_truth_1_32d1c76d5c.jpeg]]
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WhoShotJFK Where there people on the moon, [[MoonLandingHoax or was it directed on a set by Stanley Kubrick?]] Is the Earth [[FlatWorld flat]]? Are there [[SatanicPanic Satanists running the country]]?
With the proliferation of information, UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories have taken root in the minds of the modern era. Unfortunately for humanity, if enough people believe in something, it becomes true, and a lot of people believe in a lot of horrifying things. Luckily, the United States of America has the Department of Truth to prevent such things from becoming real.
Enter Cole Turner, an agent of the FBI who specializes in conspiracy theories that encounters something he couldn't unsee and gets the attention of the Department. Their leader -- Lee Harvey Oswald -- comes to him and offers him a position, and from there he enters a rabbit hole of conspiracy and intrigue the likes of which he could never have imagined.
''The Department of Truth'' is a 2020 NewWeird {{Horror}}-{{Thriller} writter by James Tynion IV (''ComicBook/TheBackstagers'', ''ComicBook/TheNiceHouseOnTheLake'' and various ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' and ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague'' iterations) and illustrated by Martin Simmonds (''Blood-Stained Teeth'' and ''What's The Furthest Place From Here'').
----
!!This comic has the following tropes
* AmbiguousSituation: The man who runs the Department of Truth says that he is Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who (allegedly) [[WhoShotJFK assassinated President John F. Kennedy]]. It is brought up multiple times whether or not he's the real Oswald, a belief-based manifestation or if this is just a codename, but a real answer is never given.
* AscendedFridgeHorror: The fic acts as a {{Deconstruction}} of the ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve trope; reality is portrayed as subjective and can retroactively change if enough people believe in a singular "fact". With conspiracy theories on the rise, the Department of Truth works to make sure that conspiracy theories don't take root because a lot of the conspiracy theories people believe in -- like [[LizardFolk Reptilians]] or pedophilic, cannibalistic Satanists controlling the world -- would be incredibly dangerous if they existed. The result is a fic that portrays modern-day American society as its own CosmicHorrorStory, where human belief can literally destroy the world if left unregulated.
* ConspiracyKitchenSink: Invoked and analyzed. In a world where [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve collective belief warps reality]], conspiracy theories manifest as real-life monsters, selective memories and other anomalous activity, things that only grown more and more dangerous the more sense they make to people. One of the Department of Truth's jobs is to decentralized conspiracies in a way so that not too many people can latch onto the same idea in a "too many cooks spoils the pot" kind of way. Oswald gives an example of various inane theories -- citing theories like Obama being from Kenya, that 9/11 was an inside job and everything [=QAnon=] ever says -- and asks Cole to put them all together. Cole is able to weave a linear, ongoing narrative based around these facts where the world is being controlled by a globalist Shadow Government, Obama is the Antichrist and the War on Terror was all a plot to destroy America, a "big picture" that the Department is trying to prevent.
* FlatWorld: Cole is brought in by the Department of Truth after he invited to a party of rich people who fly a plane to the end of the Earth, appearing as a giant wall of ice. Oswald explains that this is the result of the "Flat Earth" conspiracy in the middle of manifesting in reality.
* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: The Department of Truth is just the most recent in a long-line of agencies and organizations that know the true nature of the world -- that collective belief can retroactively reshape reality -- and strive to keep such things from spiraling out of control. This primarily applies to them investigating unusual activity and either killing everyone involved or de-centralizing conspiracy theorists to keep them harmless.
* HumanoidAbomination:
** One of the tell-tale signs that Black Hat is involved with something is a woman dressed all in all red and wears black sunglasses. She has large X's instead of eyes, and anyone who looks at her is overcome with an escalating sense of dread.
** The Star-Faced Man is a {{Tulpa}} manifestation of the SatanicPanic of the 70's and 80's, later reemerging with the rise of Pizza-Gate and [=QAnon=]. He appears in the nightmares of children as an inhuman entity with a pentagram over his face eating a baby, and his presence is nothing short of traumatizing for his victims. It was him who inspired Cole Turner to become a government investigator, having encountered him in his youth, and it's when he's offered to hunt down the Star-Faced Man does he agree to join the Department.
* LizardFolk: Reptilians are real (or at least they are ''now') and are apparently a bitch to kill. Somehow, Black Hat kept one in its employ.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: In Chapter 3, the parents of a kid who died in a school shooting are continuously harassed and threatened by fans of a ConspiracyTheorist who accuse their kid of being a crisis actor. While the talking head is never named, he sounds and looks an awful lot like Alex Jones from ''[=InfoWars=]''.
* SinisterSpyAgency: Black Hat is an organized agency similar to the Department of Truth that seem to be actively encouraging the propagation of conspiracies in order to change the world for their own nefarious purposes, even employing manifestations like Reptilians and the Star-Faced Man.
* StraightGay: Neither Cole Turner, nor his husband have any of the campier stereotypes of their sexuality on display.
* {{Tulpa}}: When Oswald explains to Cole how presumed truths like conspiracy theories can manifest as real if enough people believe in them, Cole cites the idea of a Tulpa as a comparison. Oswald proceeds to mock him for this.
* WhoShotJFK: The comic opens with Lee Harvey Oswald being taken into custody for assassinating the President. When he is questioned on whether or not he did it, he admits that he cannot properly remember if he did, a sign that people are already speculating on alternative truths.
----
%%[[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]
WhoShotJFK Where there people on the moon, [[MoonLandingHoax or was it directed on a set by Stanley Kubrick?]] Is the Earth [[FlatWorld flat]]? Are there [[SatanicPanic Satanists running the country]]?
With the proliferation of information, UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories have taken root in the minds of the modern era. Unfortunately for humanity, if enough people believe in something, it becomes true, and a lot of people believe in a lot of horrifying things. Luckily, the United States of America has the Department of Truth to prevent such things from becoming real.
Enter Cole Turner, an agent of the FBI who specializes in conspiracy theories that encounters something he couldn't unsee and gets the attention of the Department. Their leader -- Lee Harvey Oswald -- comes to him and offers him a position, and from there he enters a rabbit hole of conspiracy and intrigue the likes of which he could never have imagined.
''The Department of Truth'' is a 2020 NewWeird {{Horror}}-{{Thriller} writter by James Tynion IV (''ComicBook/TheBackstagers'', ''ComicBook/TheNiceHouseOnTheLake'' and various ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' and ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague'' iterations) and illustrated by Martin Simmonds (''Blood-Stained Teeth'' and ''What's The Furthest Place From Here'').
----
!!This comic has the following tropes
* AmbiguousSituation: The man who runs the Department of Truth says that he is Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who (allegedly) [[WhoShotJFK assassinated President John F. Kennedy]]. It is brought up multiple times whether or not he's the real Oswald, a belief-based manifestation or if this is just a codename, but a real answer is never given.
* AscendedFridgeHorror: The fic acts as a {{Deconstruction}} of the ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve trope; reality is portrayed as subjective and can retroactively change if enough people believe in a singular "fact". With conspiracy theories on the rise, the Department of Truth works to make sure that conspiracy theories don't take root because a lot of the conspiracy theories people believe in -- like [[LizardFolk Reptilians]] or pedophilic, cannibalistic Satanists controlling the world -- would be incredibly dangerous if they existed. The result is a fic that portrays modern-day American society as its own CosmicHorrorStory, where human belief can literally destroy the world if left unregulated.
* ConspiracyKitchenSink: Invoked and analyzed. In a world where [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve collective belief warps reality]], conspiracy theories manifest as real-life monsters, selective memories and other anomalous activity, things that only grown more and more dangerous the more sense they make to people. One of the Department of Truth's jobs is to decentralized conspiracies in a way so that not too many people can latch onto the same idea in a "too many cooks spoils the pot" kind of way. Oswald gives an example of various inane theories -- citing theories like Obama being from Kenya, that 9/11 was an inside job and everything [=QAnon=] ever says -- and asks Cole to put them all together. Cole is able to weave a linear, ongoing narrative based around these facts where the world is being controlled by a globalist Shadow Government, Obama is the Antichrist and the War on Terror was all a plot to destroy America, a "big picture" that the Department is trying to prevent.
* FlatWorld: Cole is brought in by the Department of Truth after he invited to a party of rich people who fly a plane to the end of the Earth, appearing as a giant wall of ice. Oswald explains that this is the result of the "Flat Earth" conspiracy in the middle of manifesting in reality.
* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: The Department of Truth is just the most recent in a long-line of agencies and organizations that know the true nature of the world -- that collective belief can retroactively reshape reality -- and strive to keep such things from spiraling out of control. This primarily applies to them investigating unusual activity and either killing everyone involved or de-centralizing conspiracy theorists to keep them harmless.
* HumanoidAbomination:
** One of the tell-tale signs that Black Hat is involved with something is a woman dressed all in all red and wears black sunglasses. She has large X's instead of eyes, and anyone who looks at her is overcome with an escalating sense of dread.
** The Star-Faced Man is a {{Tulpa}} manifestation of the SatanicPanic of the 70's and 80's, later reemerging with the rise of Pizza-Gate and [=QAnon=]. He appears in the nightmares of children as an inhuman entity with a pentagram over his face eating a baby, and his presence is nothing short of traumatizing for his victims. It was him who inspired Cole Turner to become a government investigator, having encountered him in his youth, and it's when he's offered to hunt down the Star-Faced Man does he agree to join the Department.
* LizardFolk: Reptilians are real (or at least they are ''now') and are apparently a bitch to kill. Somehow, Black Hat kept one in its employ.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: In Chapter 3, the parents of a kid who died in a school shooting are continuously harassed and threatened by fans of a ConspiracyTheorist who accuse their kid of being a crisis actor. While the talking head is never named, he sounds and looks an awful lot like Alex Jones from ''[=InfoWars=]''.
* SinisterSpyAgency: Black Hat is an organized agency similar to the Department of Truth that seem to be actively encouraging the propagation of conspiracies in order to change the world for their own nefarious purposes, even employing manifestations like Reptilians and the Star-Faced Man.
* StraightGay: Neither Cole Turner, nor his husband have any of the campier stereotypes of their sexuality on display.
* {{Tulpa}}: When Oswald explains to Cole how presumed truths like conspiracy theories can manifest as real if enough people believe in them, Cole cites the idea of a Tulpa as a comparison. Oswald proceeds to mock him for this.
* WhoShotJFK: The comic opens with Lee Harvey Oswald being taken into custody for assassinating the President. When he is questioned on whether or not he did it, he admits that he cannot properly remember if he did, a sign that people are already speculating on alternative truths.
----
