Ruby’s encountering a reptilian. The voice in her ear tells her it isn’t real. That doesn’t make it any less dangerous, though. Thankfully, Ruby is used to dealing with this sort of thing. She’s an agent of The Department of Truth as the series enters its fifth issue. Writer James Tynion IV takes the series into deeper shadows with the aid of artist Martin Simmonds. The lead character Cole Turner treads more deeply into the convolutions of a reality that is coming apart. Tynion’s dialogue maintains its crisp, witty drama captured in the visual by occasionally striking Simmonds visuals. 

Cole is dealing with serious issues. He’s never felt terribly good about all the mystery. Now they’ve told him to kill. And now he’s killed. He’s in the Department of Truth, so it’s okay, right? So why does he feel so bad about it? And why does the mysterious organization known as Black Hat want to talk to him? And why do they sound so rational? So many questions have so many answers in a world in which belief quite literally creates truth and lives are on the line in so many ways. Given the opportunity to talk to the opposition, Cole is about to find a little bit more about himself and the organization he works for. 

Having lowered his main character into a very deep pit of horror, Tynion guides him through a bit of mystery. The big, violent event at the end of the issue fades into the background as Cole considers the implications of what’s going on in a meeting with the big enemy that just might not be as big a threat to the world as the organization he’s working for. Tynion’s working with the overlapping mysteries are dizzyingly provocative as they play with current events and popular consciousness in a very clever way. 

Simmonds delivers the drama to the page quite well in this issue. Shadows cascade across the page, and there are so many deliciously dark surreal images illustrating some of what’s being discussed in the story. It’s too bad the action doesn’t hit the page with as much force. Ruby’s encountering a reptilian at the beginning of the issue, and the aggressive energy of the story has a chance to open the issue with a splash. Still, Simmonds doesn’t give it the punch it deserves. Given how compellingly weird the drama is, the lack of action isn’t exactly a problem. There’s power in the nightmare of the horror that Simmonds is bringing to the page.

Tynion and Simmonds are doing a really good job of pacing the story. Investigations into the unknown and shadowy government secrets can be really, really difficult to keep fresh from one episode to the next without over-rendering a moment and answering too many questions. The creative team has reached the fifth issue of this series without making progression feel too slow OR too fast. It’s a really well-balanced approach that has served the series quite well so far. 

Grade: A