Mind MGMT #23
Written by Matt Kindt
Artwork by Matt Kindt
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: June 25, 2014
Cover Price: $3.99

Issue 23 of Mind MGMT is here to remind you — we are all forgetful sometimes — that this is a series about many things, but focused on Meru; she is the main character, and don’t you forget again.

Unlike when the monk was able to see her as a majestic warrior, the reminder is done differently this time, but the effect is similar. It is easy to get caught up in the other aspects of Matt Kindt‘s fascinating, lovely series about miserable people with fantastic and unique mental powers. Powers that contribute to their misery and woe. So a gentle, or ferocious, reminder is needed at times.

The current arc, “The Magician,” may not be my favorite — that would be “The Manager,” easy — but it takes care of many of the plebeian tasks of story-telling: advancing the plot. It says a lot about the series that the action and resolutions are perhaps my least favorite part of reading it. For my money, my rather perfect Mind MGMT issue would be a collection of all the bonus single issue stories about different agents in the field, and their powers. I don’t mean to say that this arc has been a drag; a lot of it has just seemed perfunctory. Kindt still makes it blossom in the way I appreciate with the introduction of the magician, who does what I would have assumed every regular person would do with their powers over perception: appear younger and more attractive.

Telling you that it all blows up in her face could be seen as a spoiler, I suppose, but at this point the result should be expected. As much as Kindt enjoys the multitudinous ways in which people could develop psychic powers, he seems to take equal joy in showing how they backfire and inhibit the owner of the powers from a quality life. Lyme couldn’t trust the emotions around him as honest; Duncan Jones can never have a truly authentic experience because he can read all the minds; and etc. Sometimes it seems as if Emma, the girl who can communicate with animals, is the only one who found a pleasurable existence.

A note about the artwork: like just about everything, it either works for you, or it doesn’t. But Matt Kindt’s loose, watercolored paintings seem to be somewhat divisive amongst comics readers. I rather like his style a lot for this book, as it fits the content so well. There’s a hazy, dream-like quality to it that augments the heady (sorry) storyline revolving around deception and suggestion.

Anyways, this issue wraps up some lingering questions regarding The Eraser, and demarcates clear sides in all this. One of the few questions regarding the main thrust of the book remaining is: how will Meru stage her counter-attack? I hope and believe there are more questions coming.