Guest Review - The Classics - MIND MGMT #1

   Back with another Guest Review is Lyle Tucker (and I can attest, he's an excellent artist), with a look at a series that first appeared just two years ago - MIND MGMT:

   I'm something of a frustrated writer and artist (Ha! Aren't we all?). I can draw pretty pictures with a rather advanced style. I'm more of a pin-up artist than anything (not the cheesecake kind, usually superheroes, barbarians or sci-fi). But I'm not very good at telling a story. As a kid I worked on perfecting style over substance. Unfortunately, I succeeded.

   So, when I read a comic like MIND MGMT, where the artist obviously has very little stylistic ability yet the work is nonetheless dynamic and effectively told, I am both excited and ticked off. Dammit, this is what I wish I could do.

   MIND MGMT is the brainchild of Matt Kindt. He writes and draws the series, and this first issue is a wonderful piece of hookery. Despite an extremely crude style of drawing, his composition work can at times be breathtaking (damn him!).

   On the inside front and back covers we're given an extremely truncated but necessary summary of the origin of the shadowy organization known as MIND MGMT. It is believed to have begun in 1914, where mind-manipulator Leopold Lojka is recruited in a bid to stop The Black Hand's assassination of Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which became the catalyst for WWI. Needless to say, they failed to stop the fateful bullet (through no fault of their own), but they did recognize that future success depended upon greater organization.

   In the story proper, we're introduced to present-day Meru, author of a successful True Crime book two years in the past, who is running out of time concerning her publisher's patience for drumming up her next work. Apparently for quite a while now she has been pursuing the story behind what is known as “Flight 815: The Amnesia Flight.” This was an incident where in mid-flight everyone aboard the plane, staff included, experienced total and complete amnesia. The pilot had to be talked down, as he had forgotten how to work an airplane.

   In the course of the story, it becomes clear that Meru herself is experiencing bizarre lapses in memory. She proceeds forward in a dream-like state, unsure of her every move but guided by a strong sense that The Truth is out there and she is inexorably being drawn to it. People are being killed to the left and right of her as she threads her way to the heart of this mystery, where every step could set her squarely on a metaphorical or literal landmine.

   Kindt clearly is having fun with his creation - each page is shown as being a document of MIND MGMT, printed up on their trademarked Mind Paper, and bearing a standard MIND MGMT industry tip, such as: If injuries are sustained in the field, follow the steps of 1. Pain Management 2. Healing Acceleration 3. Safehouse Exit. Your body is evidence. Do not leave it in the field.

   Luckily for us, Kindt gained access to these files and the truth about MIND MGMT can be told.

Grade: A

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