Who would you trust more to tell you the truth: someone sane or someone lost to madness? That’s something you need to ask yourself before stepping into issue #14 of Matt Kindt’s Dept.H. With every issue, we learn more and more about what could have or may not have happened that led to the murder of Henry, Mia’s father, who was also the leader of this expedition 6 miles underwater. At this point, it’s difficult to take anyone at their word, even our hero Mia who is greatly sleep deprived. Her memories of certain events have already proven to be wrong, or have they? For me, a great mystery isn’t about how story elements are woven together. It’s more like starting with a knot and taking your time to untangle it to figure out what’s happening, and you cross your fingers hoping that there is a single thread that makes sense. Matt Kindt has created quite the knot with Dept.H. It remains to be seen how all of it will unfurl, but each step is captivating, and so far that’s a win.

The other win, all writers take note, is that Kindt waits to reveal exposition when it’s important to the plot. Up until now, we’ve been stuck underwater with this crew, and so the events on the surface have remained largely a mystery, but with some revelations (that may or may not be completely true), we finally get a background story of why this expedition was needed in the first place. Kindt has waited until it was necessary to reveal story elements about a character to reveal exposition about the virus that seems to be affecting the world above and why this antidote that’s talked about might be as important as it is.

Sharlene Kindt continues to be a masterful colorist, accentuating Matt’s visual style in all the right ways.

I have no idea why you aren’t reading this book, if you’re not reading it.