Creation

Cole Turner first appeared in The Department of Truth #1 by James Tynion IV and Martin Simmonds.

Major Story Arcs

Satanic Panic

In the 1980s, America was subjected to a mass hysteria called the "Satanic Panic." People believed that their were satanic cults across the country that was using children as ritual sacrifices, although it wasn't true. Cole went to one school that received accusations. When his parents received a letter from the school with an official statement, they sat him down and interrogated him about it. He apparently made accusations of abuse during this questioning, but as an adult, he does not remember making those accusations nor the events he was accusing the school of. What he did remember was the Star-Faced Man, a cannibalistic demonic man with a pentagram carved on his face.

Cole's official questioning transcript and recording were given to Department of Truth agent Hawk Harrison. Hawk took Cole's initial Star-Face Man sketch and made it even more grotesque. He started sneaky it into Cole's Saturday Morning Cartoons so that a month or so later, Cole could redraw it. This character would be replicated and shown to other kids centered around satanic panics.

Joining the Department of Truth

Cole was an agent for the FBI. He worked as a teacher at Quantico, as well as an analyst covering right wing internet conspiracy theories. While doing field research on Flat Earthers, he attended a convention run by the Boulet brothers, billionaire right wing nutjobs. They identified Cole and hoped they finally found a true believer within the FBI who could be on their side. Cole was invited on a private plane trip to witness the ice wall edge of the world.

Cole played along so he could witness the reaction when they were proven wrong, however, Cole was shocked to see the edge of the world. As they stepped out on to the ice, they were confronted by an armed woman named Ruby. She gunned down every person except Cole, who she secured and brought back to the Department of Truth. It is explained to Cole that if enough people believe in something it will manifest as true, and the Department of Truth is a covert government agency that ensures conspiracy theories do not gain enough traction to alter reality.

After joining he is allowed to ask any questions he wants. He only asks about the Star-Faced Man. While none of the agents know about him specifically, he does find evidence in the satanic panic files. As a show of loyalty, he was forced to kill two Washington Post writers who were given intel on the Department of Truth by a rival organization, Black Hat.

First Bigfoot Hunt

As part of his field agent training, Cole was taken on a Bigfoot hunt with Hawk and another field agent, Darla. They informed him on the rules regarding wild fictions. In the beginning, the Department didn't know how tulpas worked and were hunting sasquatches just to stop a panic. The Jerry Crew footprints and the Paterson-Gimlin film were all real hoaxes that helped develop the thought-forms. They pushed the tales of the African wild men (which ended up being gorillas), Nepalese Yeti stories, and Native American lore from culture to lies, which is where the fictions come from. Sasquatches were categorized as a class three "wild fiction," the most dangerous class.

Because they do not quite exist, they are hard to look at and weird to be around. Photographic evidence ends up as a blur. They give off light strong enough to possibly give a witness a sunburn. Witnesses are also prone to nausea and even seizures. Agents hunting sasquatches are often mistaken for true believers by other true believers. When those believers get too close, the Department will consider eliminating them to stop the spread of the belief. Hawk had contacts in Hollywood that helped keep Bigfoot as a joke.

Unbeknownst to them, a true believer named Evan had sneaked up behind them. He followed them and heard everything they said. Evan believed they would kill him so he took out his rifle and considered taking them out first. He was interrupted by the Bigfoot the field agents were hunting. Before Evan was attacked, Darla was able to shoot and kill the Bigfoot. Hawk convinced Evan that he finally knows the truth and can finally give up the chase, which Evan agreed to. Hawk required Cole and Darla to not report it to Director Lee.

Return to Milwaukee

After botching the Ruby Ridge operation, Hawk Harrison became disillusioned with the Department of Truth and joined the rival organization, Black Hat. They were interested in turning Cole, so after the Bigfoot hunt, Hawk went rogue and took him back to his childhood neighborhood to relive his satanic panic experiences. Hawk didn't even bother lying to Cole about his allegiance. They thought he would be more susceptible if they brought him to the hidden underground room where Cole had claimed his teachers were eating babies, which now existed.

Hawk admitted to Cole that he pushed his version of the Star-Faced Man into existence. He had even set up a television appearance where they were going to push Cole and his homegrown monster, however, Hawk was attacked by the Star-Faced Man the night before. The Star-Faced Man was flickering and half formed, but it still took Hawk an hour to kill him. Sensing his power, Hawk killed the Star-Faced Man campaign. Star-Faced Man still manifested. He was taken by the Black Hat but was no longer useful. Martin Barker, the head of Black Hat, had an offer for Cole. He was to empty a gun into Star-Faced Man, ending both of their problems. If he refused, Hawk was instructed to feed him to the tulpa.

Hawk offered him a third option. Cole could take the gun, shoot Hawk in the shoulder, and bring the Star-Faced Man back to the Department of Truth to try and pull Black Hat secrets from it. Hawk had already got a message to Ruby to come save Cole. Hawk also revealed that he was disillusioned with both groups and was training Cole to replace him at the DOT. He believed Director Lee was a tulpa. Lee Harvey Oswald was both an agent of the Department of Truth and an idea of an assassin that represented every fear of shadow government actions. Hawk feared Jack Ruby killed the wrong one.

White Hat

Cole’s work at the DOT was starting to weigh on him, and Matty, his husband, was beginning to notice. After they found the dead body of Lee’s counterpart at the Ministry of Lies, Cole was sent to Fort Knox with Ruby. They were to check on all the files that the Ministry of Lies kept there, where they were safe from any reality warping thanks to the belief that Fort Knox was the most secure place on Earth. Unfortunately, it was completely cleared out by the Russians and handed over to Black Hat.

All that was left was a video from the head of the Ministry mocking Lee and a hidden message from Hawk telling Cole that Black Hat got to Matty. With their files being dumped on the internet and causing all old conspiracies to come back, Cole suggested a radical new strategy to Lee: tell the truth using Matty as their mouthpiece. So Lee told Matty everything. His run in with Babalon, the Kennedy Assassination, the Moon Landing. Everything. He decides to go directly to the White House and inform the President about the Department of Truth for the first time since Nixon.

With the help of the current administration, Lee was able to get back control of DOT. Most of the old analysts were fired: including Cole. He and Matty were forced to go underground, but first they freed the Star Faced Man and took him with them before the DOT could take advantage. Doc, Hunky, and Frank were also fired, and they secreted away some files to an off-grid cabin that belonged to Doc. It became their new hiding place. There, they planned their next move. They determined they need to tell three stories. The story of Lee and the Department, the story of Barker and Black Hat, and the story of Cole and White Hat, which they have decided to name themselves.