MIND MGMT #33 (Dark Horse)

writer/artist: Matt Kindt

This is the point in any other story when plans are made, presented in their ideal execution, and then subsequently things horribly backfire.

One of the ways you know MIND MGMT has, ah, a mind of its own, has a distinctive voice to its narrative, Matt Kindt has a grasp of the rules he's laid down...is that the second part of that storytelling trope is likely not going to happen.  This is a story about characters who are cleaning up a mistake, not making new ones.  And so at this late stage, things go according to plan.  And victory will be achieved in a few issues?  We'll see.

One sign for optimism is that when Meru visits her foster parents for the first time in years, expecting the worst, actually has an experience that would otherwise have the term "nothing to write home about."  (Yes, the further ironies...)  Which is to say, if things go accord to plan, for duration of the series, all the craziness that Kindt has been exploring will be put to an end.  In an era dominated by intelligence agencies run amok, MIND MGMT is that rare fable: mistakes are rectified.  The end.

I came in late and haven't read the whole thing, but became obsessed and am reading the rest of it regardless.  It's definitely a different experience, reading one issue at a time.  I've never really had that experience before.  You read about that sort of thing all the time, when a comic book actually has a letters column, which of course this one does, and at a certain level it's hard to process.  Great for them, right?  They like the series!  They obsessively read everything that came before their discovery!  But what happens next?  Actually, that's a little of what this whole series is about.  At the beginning, Meru doesn't realize she's already involved.  And then can't help but continue to be involved.  And she was always involved.  She just didn't know it.

Yeah.  Sounds about right.