Department of Truth, Absolute Martian Manhunter & The Goddamn Tragedy | Ludicrous Speed Reviews 5/28/25!
Heckatron journeys into the Psychosphere!
When the Listenerd known as Heckatron (AKA Mike, one of our oldest customers turned pals) started posting written reviews on the THN Discord, there was only one thing to do: conscript him into our army of Love Slaves and work him for content! And since we had a perfectly good title laying around, that means the Ludicrous Speed Reviews have been reborn!!! This week, Mike shares his thoughts on the latest issues of Department of Truth, Absolute Martian Manhunter, and The Goddamn Tragedy. Prepare yourselves, ladies and gentlemen, because Heckatron is a loose cannon that plays by his own rules and, more importantly, his own rating system. LUDICROUS SPEED… GO!!!!!
Be sure to check out our other written reviews for more!
*HECKATRON’S PICK OF THE WEEK!*
Department of Truth #30
Image Comics
Written by James Tynion IV
Art by Martin Simmonds
Solicit: Fact: Martin Barker is the most dangerous man in America. Fact: Martin Barker is always two steps ahead of his opponents. Fact: As the Department of Truth makes a desperate play to preserve its existence, Martin Barker is about to change the face of the country forever.
Review: Partially because of its spotty release schedule, DoT has felt like a slow moving train wreck lately. The disclosure arc is heating to some kind of cataclysmic finale that can’t not change the status quo, but like most Tynion books, who knows where we’re going or to what end, but the journey has been a delight and this issue is no exception.
Tynion has danced around the current administration before, but making it more explicit is bloodcurdling, and Martin Simmonds art sells the horror in his obscured-in-abstraction style. The lines of good and bad in this book have never been clear cut but I don’t know the horrors the DoT can and have wrought upon the world have ever been more horrifying. It’s not because of anything that happens, explicitly, but the issue felt like a prescient threat and a promise because of * waves arms wildly around at reality * all of this…
Was lee ever really the right curator of the DoT’s power or is his gambit to defy Cole and Ruby’s plan to save the DoT show him to be as careless and power hungry as it seems? What is a status quo in a world where nothing is real and everything is possible.? Can this book ever truly end satisfactorily or is it all potential energy? Maybe we’ll see (hopefully) next month!
Rating: 8 DEEP STATE PAWNS OUT OF 10
Absolute Martian Manhunter #3
DC Comics
Written by Deniz Camp
Art by Javier Rodriguez
Solicit: JOURNEY THROUGH THE PSYCHOSPHERE! It’s a trip through the psychosphere of Middleton as newly-minted partners John Jones and the Martian follow the trail of whoever — or whatever — is responsible for the surprising, destructive behavior of people all across the city — and the world!
Review: This issue is the most comic book-y of this magnificent series yet, and it’s nothing short of exceptional. Camp’s White Martian is an apocalyptic nightmare that is in line with the equally nightmarish, schizophrenic attack of our titular hero, and I’m so excited that we’re not doing another issue dilly-dallying with more existential dread and maybe John is crazy, but maybe he’s not (come on, for real) and getting to a conflict on the scale appropriate for this hyperbolic line of Absolute books, but retains its whimsical, mad-cap, psyllociban-fueled sensibilities. Camp refuses to beat the allegations of being the most daring writer at the Big Two, and let’s thank our lucky stars we’re here to experience it.
Rating: 8 SEEMINGLY-RANDOM FIRES OUT OF 10
The Goddamn Tragedy #1
Oni Press
Written by Chris Condon
Art by Shawn Kuruneru
Solicit: IN THESE WOODS, FEAR EVERYTHING—EVEN EACH OTHER! From breakout writer Chris Condon (Ultimate Wolverine, That Texas Blood) and rising star Shawn Kuruneru (Fishflies) comes a vicious and vengeful account of one of the Old West’s darkest episodes from those that lived to tell it in a lavishly painted, entirely self-contained 48-page graphic novella! Ellen Janson is here to set the record straight about the highly publicized, oft-sensationalized journey her family undertook in 1846. Ellen sets out with her mother, Irena, and her father, Leo, on the treacherous road west in search of a better life. But when her father chooses to split off from the party, taking an untested shortcut through the mountains, can their small family survive the elements, the wildlife—and each other? Or will their journey become nothing more than another goddamn tragedy?
Review: I was a huge fan of That Texas Blood, and especially the old-timey spinoff, The Ennfield Gang Massacre for its exploration of how history is a story told by the winners. I was similarly excited for The Goddamned Tragedy to explore similar themes, and I was ready to llove the ambiguous ghost-story framing, but it was ultimately a far lesser version of the astounding emotional journey in The Ennfield Gang Massacre. I still think Condon soars when writing in this old-west period (a broad, nebulous time, I know), but this one? This wasn’t it. Skip it and go read That Texas Blood.
Rating: 5 DISAPPOINTED HISTORY NERDS OUT OF 10
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