The Department of Truth is designed to be read in publication order. Historical interludes and guest-artist issues expand earlier events, but their placement is part of the series’ gradual disclosure of information. A first reading should therefore preserve the numbered sequence rather than reorganize every flashback into an invented chronology.
Numbered issues establish the intended release sequence.
Flashbacks clarify earlier periods without always supplying exact dates.
Publisher records list #38 as released and #39 as solicited as of August 23, 2026.
Publication order
Begin with The Department of Truth #1 and continue through the numbered series in ascending order. Issue #0 was published in 2025 as a special historical entry; its later release means it should not replace issue #1 as the opening chapter for a first-time reader.
The main numbered run has reached issue #38. Issue #39 is solicited for October 28, 2026 and should remain marked as forthcoming until the publisher records its release. Publication schedules can change.
Collected editions
The trade paperbacks provide the most direct collected sequence. Volumes 1 through 6 are published, and Volume 7 is listed by Image Comics for August 26, 2026. The Wild Fictions hardcover collects historical material in a format distinct from the numbered trade sequence.
The Complete Conspiracy deluxe hardcovers collect larger portions of the run. Volume 1 was published in 2023. Volume 2 followed in June 2026. The issue list printed for each edition is more reliable than inferring contents from the deluxe volume number alone.
Chronological notes
The series contains stories set before Cole Turner’s recruitment, including material about the Department’s earlier operations and institutional history. These stories are best read where they were published because later revelations change how earlier events are understood. A strict internal chronology would also require assigning exact positions to events the text dates only approximately.
Issue #0 is similarly best treated as a publication-era special after the issues that preceded its release. Moving it to the beginning would reveal context that the original opening deliberately withholds.
References
- Image Comics series pageOfficial issue and collected-edition dates; accessed August 23, 2026.