Mind MGMT #1

by Matt Kindt

I've been anticipating this new series since I first heard about it, and Matt Kindt definitely does not disappoint with this debut issue that raises all sorts of interesting questions.

Mind MGMT opens with a dream sequence, which I feel is probably foreshadowing something, but it's not yet clear what that may be.  It then moves to a flashback set two years prior, where an aircraft full of people suddenly suffer almost total amnesia.  They are able to land the craft without incident, but the 120 people who come off the plane never regain any of their memories from before.

We then are introduced to our main character, Meru, a writer of true-crime books, who has not written anything for two years.  She is supposedly working on a book about the Amnesia Flight, and the mystery of Henry Lyme, a passenger who boarded the flight but was never seen again.  The thing is, Meru is broke, and her agent is running out of patience with her.  He does send her to Mexico to investigate something strange that is happening there that may or may not be related to the topic of her book, and that's where the comic takes another change.

You see, Kindt is a master of writing stories with an espionage angle, such as his terrific Super Spy and even his 3 Story, and with the inclusion of a sudden fight in a bar in Mexico, and the introduction of CIA Agent Falls, it's clear that this comic is going to move into that territory.

As to what Mind MGMT is, Kindt is keeping things pretty close to the vest right now.  There is a two page 'memo' from 1980 about a man named Duncan Jones who has the ability to predict the future, and a short strip on the inside covers about how a man named Leopold Lojka was able to use 'mind-managing' abilities to protect the Archduke Ferdinand from the Black Hand's first assassination attempt.  Kindt layers his story, and creates detailed back stories, and I can't wait to watch how all of this is going to unfold.

I really like Kindt's art, which is almost always displayed on yellowed pages.  His sense of design pervades this comic, right down to the fake ad on the back cover selling 'Mindjuice' gum which is apparently 1/6th of a puzzle that will unlock some on-line material after the first six issues of the series are published.

This is a very creative and unique new series, that really deserves to be checked out.  Also, look for the hilarious letter from a young Jeff Lemire on the letters page.  Highly recommended.