Up till now The Department of Truth has been a fantastic and interesting journey into the heart of the crazy concept of truth. As a philosophy student, the truth has always been a topic I’ve been interested in, in many ways it feels so close, and in many others it feels like it will never be close enough. All this to say the exploration and discussions this comic has presented. This issue, which brings us the continuation of the hunt for Bigfoot is not different.
This issue has a lot of this with the whole discussion about the origin of the Bigfoot myth, talking about the discovery of the gorilla, the legend of the yeti, and the first signs of Bigfoot. I found all this extremely interesting, and I felt it managed to continue the themes of the book. The truth is not as absolute as people tend to present it, it is built on top of years of history and culture.
But just as in the past issue, my favorite things of this number were the emotional aspects. This issue continues to show us excerpts of the journal of a Bigfoot hunter, telling us about his need to believe in something bigger than himself, the ways “his hobby” destroyed his life, and his guilt and regret. But before I get into the story I got to talk about how amazing the design for this diary page is.
At first, like in the previous issue, the pages look worn down and have some drawings to accompany the story, but now along with the drawings there seems to be a circular pattern that becomes more and more prevalent as the story continues, reaching the point where it’s even difficult to read the text. I find it amazing that even in parts where the comic seems more like prose, the visuals still play a big part in telling the story, showing just how consuming the obsession of the hunter was.
As for the story, well let’s just say that I expected a lot of things from this book, but I didn’t expect a tragedy. I’ve always loved a good obsession story, but I gotta admit this one truly broke my heart. The diary pages are so honest and the fact that we get to see the end of this person’s hunt and see him just break down and realize he can finally live his life, no matter how broken the hunt has left it. The fact that the issue ends with his final remarks confessing the love for his family and the guilt he feels for not being able to show them the impossible might be one of the strongest moments in comics I have read this year.
As a (wannabe) philosopher I love to read a comic that explores the complexities and deeper aspects of the funny thing we call truth, but as a reader I just love to see comics that aren’t afraid to deep dive into the human experience.