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Minding MIND MGMT: Issue #7

By | January 29th, 2013
Posted in Annotations | 4 Comments

Welcome back to Minding Mind MGMT, the monthly column focused on the Dark Horse series “Mind MGMT” from Matt Kindt. Why a special column instead of a regular review? Because each issue is crammed with story, requiring no less than two reads to fully absorb everything Kindt packs into it. Each month, we try to piece together the clues Kindt is hiding throughout the book, and speculate on what may happen next. This is a spoiler-heavy column, so turn back now if you don’t want major plot details revealed.

Banner courtesy of Tim Daniel
The cover
This month’s cover is a parody of old “Uncle Sam wants YOU!” posters, with Brinks, the Ad Man, filling in for Uncle Sam. The flag in the background is the original American flag with thirteen stars, though at least five of them have been replaced with eyes. Does this indicate the agency’s been around longer than its apparant origin in the 1920s? It’s also possible the eye/star pattern was less obvious when they had to be shrunk to fit 50 on the field. Also worth noting, the flag has blue stripes instead of red. Significant, or choice of pallet?

Main story
The new story arc opens with the same question from issue one: Ever have a dream that was like a story? This time, it’s Meru dreaming of Lyme, rescuing her in Zanzibar, thinking about how sounds affect the way people sleep. Specifically, the sounds of a mail delivery rouse her. It’s not clear how much time has passed since issue six, but it has been at least a day – Meru’s wearing different clothes. She opens the letter she’s received, then realizes it’s Sunday, and she shouldn’t be getting any mail.

She rushes down the stairs to catch whoever delivered it, with a vague memory of sending herself a letter from China. Of course, the one she’s thinking of was intercepted by Duncan last issue. She pulls a gun on the delivery man, and wonders where it came from. That’s a good question, because she clearly didn’t have it in her hand when she was chasing him, and she’s only wearing shorts and a tee. Is this the same gun which mysteriously appeared between issues five and six?

Using improbable investigative skills, Meru follows the chain backwards to its source. The next-to-last stop on her trip is a man with a bowler hat and cane. His description, along with his odd face, seems too distinct not to be significant. He seems like a great candidate to see in a future Second Floor or Mind Memo.

Is Lyme helping her to persuade these people, or is this (one of) Meru’s abilities? Her insight and determination have been commented on by others in-story, so it seems like a safe bet this is some facet of Meru’s MIND MGMT talents. Her complete lack of awareness of her skills seems too apathetic, leading one to wonder if she was trained as an agent and then made to forget, like the Bear in issue zero.

The large panel in New York is filled with messages, all warning people to keep moving. “Don’t Stop!” “Keep going!” “Defeat” Relentless effort to no avail” “Better go home. Listen to your [fear? feelings?]” Perhaps most interesting is “The Sheild will stop you.” The shield in question is blue and white striped, like the flag on the cover. Likewise, most of Brinks’ art inside the building is blue and white. Is this due to the special ink used, or is it more symbolic?

Also in the large panel is our first sight of Lyme in this issue. He’s off to the right, with a bandage on his face. He didn’t have a wound when we saw him last, so he’s had some kind of trouble in the meantime. He shows up three more times on the page, following Meru, and then again in the elevator while Meru talks to Rico Stane, the Sniper from the Mind Memo in issue six. He’s tried to kill Lyme at least twice before, so it’s natural for Lyme to hang back now.

When they finally meet, Brinks is incredulous Meru made it past his ad defenses. Of course, this isn’t the first time Meru’s been shown to be imperious to MIND MGMT hiding techniques. Her first novel was about her putting together pieces she shouldn’t see, and she was the first non-agent to enter the cantina she visited in issue one. In the final panel on the page, Meru reaches for her gun, but it isn’t in her pocket. Apparently, her gun disappears just as strangely as it appears. Meru demands to know about Mind Management, and it looks like Brinks is having a hard time not telling her. We know Lyme is right outside. He could be making Brinks cooperate, but by now it seems unlikely anyone but Meru is behind it.

Continued below

Brinks reveals how he was recruited, studied by the monks, and used his talents to incite violence. He’s not the original Ad Man seen in the Mind Memo in issue 3, and he mentions there being multiple ones over the years. All the examples of his work seen in the flashback are blue, more evidence the special inks used in his ads is a blue dye. Unlike Lyme’s history, which was highly controled by MIND MGMT, Brinks mentions having multiple friends outside the agency. Brinks wraps up his story by talking about how he hasn’t thought of this in years, like he’d “forgotten about them.” The next panel shows Meru thinking about this, with smoke from Zanibar billowing behind her. Between the next two panels is a shot of her as a child in Zanzibar. Remember that, because it’s going to come up again soon.

Brinks also mentions talks about trying to find a lover, but how he couldn’t trust anyone’s reactions because he could never be sure if they were genuine, or something he inspired. Sounds familiar, right? Same thing happened to Lyme right before he snapped. Then he tells her the letter he sent was an assassination letter, one which would’ve killed her had she read it. He was ordered to send it by the Eraser, an agent who’s trying to reform MIND MGMT, and speculates Meru is either an enemy, or is being recruited. Remember that, because it’s going to come up again soon.

About this time, Lyme bursts into the room, tackling Meru just as the Sniper tries to shoot her. The bullet hits Brinks instead, killing him. He’s about to take a second shot when Lyme forces him to relive all his sad memories at once, similar to how he handled the Fingerprint in the io9 strips last month. Lyme leads Meru out of the building, and everyone they pass is also crying. This page is also filled with messages to “Keep moving,” “Don’t enter,” “Leev now,” “Fly away,” Walk,” and “Keep going.” Also tucked into the left side, about halfway down, is “Dr When,” aka the Fingerprint. Has he returned to New York in the years since we last saw him, and will he pop up again?

Lyme and Meru drive toward Connecticut and an agent Lyme trusts. This is most likely Duncan, the futurist, given this arc is named after him. Lyme tells Meru…some…of what is going on. He convienietly leaves out the details of how he knows Meru, and who is erasing her memory. In fact, he flat out blames her amnesia on the Eraser, instead of himself. These pages are very different artistically from anything before them, because they’re filled with scenes from previous issues. While still Kindt’s artwork, something about them gives the scene a very different feel from the rest of the book. Remember this, because it’s going to come up again soon.

In the final panels, Meru asks if assassination letters are real. Lyme tells her they are, and asks why she’s asking. Meru reveals she did read what they sent her, and it was just a bad haiku.

Speculation!
Here’s what we know: Madame Rienne, the Eraser, can make people forget things and is trying to put MIND MGMT back together. She first appeared in the Second Floor of issue 5, where she could only make people forget something if they wanted to. Mysteriously, she visited a whistleblower who then couldn’t remember anything about MIND MGMT when asked. What other character have we seen remove memories from an involuntary subject? Lyme, the same guy the Second Floor in issue six told us not to trust. As seen in this issue, he’s clearly manipulating Meru by not telling her the whole truth about her memories.

When Brinks was talking about the Eraser making him forget his bad times in MIND MGMT, Meru has a flashback to Zanzibar. Given Meru’s apparant combat training and psychic abilities, it’s not far fetched to imagine her receiving some training as an agent between Zanzibar and writing her first book. If so, it’s easy to imagine her wanting Rienne to take away her memories. Brinks then muses about being asked to send the assassination letter because Meru is a danger – or because she’s being recruited. Why would he guess that? And why didn’t the letter kill Meru? Two possibilities: One, he knew the letter he sent wasn’t a real assassination letter, it was a decoy used to lure in Meru. Two, Lyme lied in issue five, and Meru is his daughter. If so, she would’ve inherited the ability to resist Lyme’s (and others) powers from her mom, Natalie!

Continued below

Premeditated
The Field Guide text has been replaced by text from ‘Premeditated: A True Crime Novel,’ which happens to be the title of Meru’s book. However, this is not about Jason Corridor, as seen in issue zero. Instead, it’s about Julianne Verve, who murdered her husband and two children. More interesting than the shared title, though, is her husband’s name: P. K. Verve. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, then you must not have read one of Kindt’s other great works, “Revolver” from Vertigo. P.K. was the villain in that story, and he wasn’t killed by his wife in 1973.

Beyond the name, the story seems fairly straightforward and unrelated to the current narrative. If anyone out there sees some connection I’m missing, please email me or post it in the comments. Don’t worry, I’ll give you credit.

The bottom story
In addition to all the regular extras included with each issue, this one came with another storyline told along the bottom of the first thirteen pages. It shows the history and background behind the assassination letters, and is narrated by Brinks or another Ad Man.

The background for the bottom story looks like faded, generic newsprint. I expected it to be the regular gibberish that passes for newspaper articles in comics, but decided to give it a closer inspection anyway. If you hold the book up to a mirror and look very closely, it’s real text. It appears to be structured like a dictionary, but the only words I could make out (and I could be wrong) were “Butler,” “Crawford,” and “O’Reilly.” I think I saw “Pennsylvania,” but I’m only 20% sure.

Mind Memo
Quick, who has an alliterative name and is also known as the Hulk? That’s right, Ferris Ferral! He was recruited by the same (looking) van that picked up Duncan in issue #1 / “DHP” #19. He was introduced to Shangri-la by the same man who helped Lyme. This memo isn’t dated, so it’s possible Ferris is close to the same age as Lyme. He is the MIND MGMT version of Karnak, the inhuman who’s able to see weaknesses.

The Second Floor
This month the second floor takes up all of the inner-front cover. It’s a retelling of the previous arc, framed by the monks in Shangri-la making sure they have the details correct. The only detail they seem to get wrong is the immortals. They describe their ultimate motivation as a mystery, but Lyme clearly said they were a splinter group trying to reform MIND MGMT. Either the monks don’t know that (unlikely), Lyme was guessing, or lying.

The Letter column
There’s a new name listed in the credits at the top of the letter page this month – Ian Tucker has replaced Shantel LaRocque as assistant editor. Congrats, Ian!

The back cover
The fake ads of the first arc are gone, replaced with a MIND MGMT questionaire for Brinks. While there’s nothing to it which really needs to be discussed or dissected, it’s definately a neat bonus and adds another layer of depth to the world Kindt is crafting.

Coming soon!
It’s early, but I’m hoping to have an interview with Kindt for the one year anniversary of issue one, and I need your help. If you have any questions about the series, the writer, or his other works, please email them to me at the address below.

In the meantime, please let me know if you spotted something I missed from this month’s issue. I know I didn’t catch it all.


//TAGS | Minding Mind MGMT

Drew Bradley

Drew Bradley is a long time comic reader whose past contributions to Multiversity include annotations for "MIND MGMT", the Small Press Spotlight, Lettering Week, and Variant Coverage. He currently writes about the history of comic comic industry. Feel free to email him about these things, or any other comic related topic.

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