Spoilers for Infinite Frontier Secret Files #5 ahead!
The DC Universe has its own version of the Men in Black, and this agency just greatly expanded its focus. The Department of Extranormal Operations, or the DEO, is a government organization tasked with monitoring and regulating metahuman activity in the DC Universe, but in the DC Digital First Infinite Frontier Secret Files #5, the agency has moved beyond metahumans, and into the larger multiverse. The issue is on sale now through digital outlets.
The DEO first appeared in 1998’s Batman #550 and was created by writer Dan Curtis Johnson and artist J.H. Williams III; two noteworthy members are its director Mister Bones and field agent Cameron Chase, who headlined her own title shortly after the DEO’s introduction. Amanda Waller has also been affiliated with the DEO at times. The agency has a great deal of leeway in carrying out its mission - at times suspending due process and holding prisoners indefinitely. The agency has access to classified, advanced technology as well, making them DC’s equivalent of the Men in Black, another government agency (in a different universe) handling similar cases. But now, with Infinite Frontier in full swing, the agency has set its sights on the Multiverse.
Throughout the issue, Director Bones is interrogating Captain Boomerang, who was mutated into a brutish monster during Dark Nights Death Metal, and Bones is trying to figure out how. In his search for answers, Bones detains Boomerang at a DEO facility; when Boomerang protests and asks to be let go, Bones informs him that they have the authority to hold him prisoner as long as necessary. He then subjects Boomerang to a number of tests, and when one triggers his mutation, Bones lures Boomerang to the mysterious Room L23, where he manages to subdue Boomerang and seemingly reverse his mutation.
While Bones’ struggle with Boomerang is the story’s central focus, another takeaway comes mid-way through when Bones tells Boomerang that the DEO’s mission has “always been one of protection,” starting with metahumans and aliens, and now the agency is dealing with threats from the multiverse. Boomerang represents such a threat. The tactics Bones uses, such as indefinite detention, as well as the advanced technology, puts the DEO in league with the Men in Black. Whereas the Men in Black were solely supervising and protecting against extraterrestrials (at least in the movies), the DEO has a much larger scope. There is also a decided difference in tone: Men in Black had a fun, light-hearted feel that was at odds with the agency’s mission, something the DEO lacks. Readers cannot help but wonder how Bones and the DEO will react to the existence of the Omniverse?
The Department of Extranormal Affairs is the DC equivalent of the Men in Black, but now working on a much grander scale: the Multiverse. Infinite Frontier: Secret Files #5 is written by Stephanie Phillips from a story by Phillips and Joshua Williamson, art by Phil Hester, inks by Ande Parks, colors by Nick Filardi, and letters by Tom Napolitano.