MIND MGMT Volume 1

In another medium, Mind MGMT would be referred to as a High Concept story. What if the US government had a secret program with weaponized mind control specialists?

In its particulars, Mind MGMT is the story of Meru, a true crime writer who investigates a curious incident involving a commercial flight whose passengers all show signs of amnesia. Her investigation throws her into a spy story with psychics, immortal assassins, and former government operatives.

Given the widespread praise that this series has received in the single issue format, I was underwhelmed by this collection of the first six issues. The plotting is remarkably simple for such a convoluted tale: Maru travels to exotic location; escapes confrontation with assassins, then receives lengthy exposition. There are a few problems with this. First, Kindt gives too much telling without enough showing. We receive detailed backstory and answers to questions that have never been asked. Second, there’s no time to develop tension or for the reader to ask questions that are later answered. We’re given the answers without the questions ever being raised. This means that there is no payoff in the answers, since we aren’t invested. Also, we have no real investment in any of the characters in the story. Our protagonist, Meru, seems to be sympathetic primarily because she is the protagonist. Otherwise Meru is as much of a mystery as anything else in this story.

Quick mention must be made of the art choices in Mind MGMT. Kindt uses a rough watercolor style that is more common in more personal comics. It is a bit surprising to see it used with this type of storytelling, & some readers may find it a bit jarring.

The most striking thing about Matt Kindt’s Mind MGMT is the art style, done with loose pen and watercolor sketches. It’s like nothing I’ve seen before in a graphic novel, and definitely gives the book a unique flavor. I will admit, however, that although the art is interesting, it isn’t entirely to my personal taste. I like that Kindt did something original with his style, but I had a hard time accepting the art as a stylistic choice instead of something that just felt a bit amateurish. A variant cover by Gilbert Hernandez included at the end of the book made me wish for a version of this story told using Hernandez’ clear, bold style instead.

As for the book’s story, it focuses on an investigative journalist named Meru who is trying to write a follow-up to her bestselling first book after two years with no success and dwindling funds. When she hears a recap of a story about a strange “amnesia flight” where all the passengers lost – and never regained – their memories, Meru calls her agent and suggests it as the topic of her second book. Her agent is skeptical, but agrees to fund a trip to Mexico for Meru to investigate a possibly connected event and try to track down a missing member of the amnesia flight, a man named Henry Lyme.

Throughout the book, an unnamed stranger dispassionately narrated Meru’s adventures, claiming she is following a series of “breadcrumbs” left behind to point her in the right direction. Everything Meru does seems pre-ordained, and she finds herself unable to escape ever-present feelings of déjà vu, or the CIA agents and unkillable couple who follow her every move. Each chapter of the book includes a case file on an individual with supernatural powers recruited by a mysterious agency called Mind Management. The more Meru uncovers, the more it becomes clear that Mind Management is the source of it all. All of this strangeness converges in a meeting between Meru and the man named Henry Lyme.

Although the story is full of interesting concepts, it feels like the tone of the narration keeps everything at arm’s length. Character development is minimal, and the dialogue is all very one-note. Henry Lyme’s story is the most interesting part of the book, but in the end I didn’t get very invested because the characters felt like tools of the plot and not real human beings. This is the first volume of an ongoing series, but I’m not sure where the story might go from here; the book wraps up enough that this could serve as a standalone story.

Overall, I thought the book was a decent enough read, but I don’t plan on reading further volumes of this series.