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.
This month’s cover features a man in a war zone listening to a record by the Musician. The album artwork features the riot from the cover of issue eight. Astute reader Joe Darrow alerted me to the similarity to the Clash album London Calling, seen below. That’s something I never would’ve caught on my own. Thanks Joe!
Also, the cover to issue 8 had a frame around it which I originally thought was glass. This cover reveals it was actually the plastic over the album cover. This issue has some white horizontal lines around the edges, which is a nod to it being on an old television screen in the background of next months’s cover.
The Main Story
Last month’s issue ended with Meru & Co being caught in an explosion at Dusty’s house (the Musician). Issue nine opens with Lyme explaining how Duncan taught him to unconsciously modify his surrounding to prevent his death. This technique allowed him to survive his breakdown in Zanzibar and at least three suicide attempts afterward. It also helped the gang survive the explosion.
Dusty’s first line of the book casts suspicion on him, because the first thing he says after recovering is “I guess I’m in.” No one had told him why they were there. There was also no time for him to be told off panel. Naturally, he might’ve assumed the two former agents and the new redhead showed up to recruit him for something, but I’ll get to other reasons not to trust him soon.
As the group flees, Stane the sniper attacks them at their vehicle. He misses Lyme again, twice, at point blank range. Stane is terribly upset at this, but now we have an explanation: Lyme is instinctivly altering Stane’s perception to protect his own life. While Stane is busy being surprised by this, Meru’s mysterious gun appears again and she uses it to shoot Stane in the left eye. When Meru shot an immortal in the right eye back in issue six, I considered it maybe, maybe possible she got lucky. This dispels any doubt there’s more to it. Was she trained somewhere? Is it a natural talent? Is she a supernatural princess with amnesia who seeks the truth?
This action comes with some narration from Meru. She mentions surviving her first shooting yesterday, and how she’s noticing inconsistencies in her memory as she spends time with Lyme. This seems like a really strange thing to think during a fire fight, and for her to think of the two things at once at all indicates her memory isn’t wiped as clearly as previously hinted. The phrase “When I shoot my first man in the eye…” also seems like an overly narrow description. Does she remember doing it before, as hinted with the flashback on page seven, or is she just not surprised by her good aim?
Meru’s actions cause Dusty to see her in some Arabian-themed garb while holding a sword. This is in a gorgeous splash page whose edges are torn, revealing a virgin copy of page four behind it. The image is very similar to page eleven in issue three, when the Chinese man saw Meru as a sword-wielding princess in Chinese robes and makeup.
The group takes off to locate Dusty’s half of the map to Shangri-La, and the blood from Stane’s head wound looks like the red flowers previously seen on the cover of issue six and the back cover of issue zero. The other half of the map is hidden on a wall beneath/inside the Sphinx. The “map”, which is just a mix of lines and arches, looks very similar to the half Perrier already had. Dusty says he and Perrier never deciphered it, and Lyme seems unable to now. Meru, on the other hand, sees the longitude and latitude very easily. As they leave, Meru thinks to herself how safe she feels with Lyme, like he’s a father she never had. I’m putting this throwaway line in my “Reasons I think Meru is Lyme’s daughter” folder.
Continued belowWhen they have dinner, Meru thinks to ask Dusty when he got his last mission from MIND MGMT. He tells her a “a few months ago”, and acts surprised when they tell him MIND MGMT disbanded two years ago. Don’t forget, right before his house blew up, Dusty told them his life has been boring since the great disbanding. The gang can be forgiven for not remember because, hey, the house they were in exploded about a second after he said it. This is reason number two to find Dusty suspicious.
Meru reflects how her current situation reminds her of her favorite author, PK Verve. Verve is the villain from Kindt’s last OGN, “Revolver”, and is the dead husband in the book excerpts running along the pages in this arc.
Lyme wants to use the map to go straight to Shangri-La, but Perrier is afraid to go without Duncan. She threatens to use her autowriting to get the truth from Lyme, but it’s not clear if she wants the truth about her sister, or about Lyme’s history with Duncan. As they talk, the camera pans out to show Dusty sleeping and Meru listening to one of his records. The last pages are a visual depiction of Dusty’s life and music. The lyrics are on page 22. In these pages, blue indicates Dusty’s abilities and/or people under his influence.
In the intro, Dusty is born in Beirut during a war. He picks up some sticks and plays music on a bucket. As he plays, the war stops. When his parents sell him to MIND MGMT, Dusty gets a treatment similar to young Henry Lyme in issue four. In one panel, he is saying goodbye to his dad and arriving at Shangri-La with a snap. He is trained and made into a pop sensation. MIND MGMT uses his music to bring peace to the Middle East, but Dusty quits. (Or is this when MIND MGMT disbanded?) He returns to work sometime later when the Eraser calls him, but this time he uses his music to incite violence. Dusty is shown here receiving his lyrics directly from The Eraser, so he must’ve been playing dumb when he asked where his orders were coming from a few pages earlier.
Premeditated
The excerpts this month cover Julianne’s life after returning from MIND MGMT training (speculation on my part) but before she murdered her family. She kept a journal, and through it she realized some of her memories are being erased. She believes her husband is responsible, but it could also be some other MIND MGMT agent who is able to erase memories. But who could it be, who could it be? Maybe…THE ERASER?! Perhaps Julianne is an undercover agent, one of the housewife five mentioned in issue six? Perhaps PK is nervous because Julianne’s comments about a parallel life sounds very similar to his ability to actually live a parallel life in another timeline?
Mind Memo
Ferral falls in love with he new girlfriend, with ominous narration about how he’d love her “No matter what happened” with a picture of the Eraser. As a final exercise, Ferral must break a mountain, and he appears successful. At the bottom of page 23, the gray box has moved, but a new letter appears. The code so far is 3RA, and I have no idea what it might mean.
The Second Floor
In a cosmic joke, a man named Lance Links is able to see “links” between historical events and predict the future. MIND MGMT tested on him, trying to enhance his abilities with drugs. He became a junkie, and was abandoned by the management.
The Letter Column
If you didn’t know, the first issue is being reprinted in a couple weeks for a buck. If you missed it the first time around, lucky you! If you already have it, might I humbly suggest you buy a copy or two anyway and give them to someone who hasn’t tried the series yet?
Also, Henry Lyme is named after a Graham Greene character. Graham Greene, for those who don’t know, is a mystery novelist who wrote the screenplay for The Third Man. One of the main characters is Harry Lime, a shadowy figure who isn’t what he appears.
The Back Cover
The first letters of the track listings spells out “I am MIND MGMT.” The small print on the bottom reveals Dusty’s last name to be Carbine. So, the guy who brought peace to a desert region is named “Dirty gun.” Nice. Also, spreading peace and love is encouraged.
The Morse Code
When translated, the panels spell out “DONTMTTRUSTLTWME”. My first attempt to make sense of this led to “Don’t mttr u stl tw me”, which I thought could mean “Don’t matter you still ?? me.” After sleeping on it and taking a second look, I realized it was “DONTMTTRUSTLTWME. So there’s the last and greatest reason not to trust Dusty.
Odds and Ends
The only reason I spotted the Morse code is because of this interview.
Duncan Jones, the Futurist, shares a name with Duncan Jones, the director of Moon and Source Code. If you haven’t seen either of them, they’re well worth the time.
Bill Falls, the CIA agent from the first arc, is named and modeled after Kindt’s friend Bill Falls.
Minding MIND MGMT will be back in a couple weeks with an analysis of the reprint of issue one, since the column hasn’t covered the issue yet.
If you caught something I missed from this month’s issue, please let me know in the comments or by email. I’m sure I didn’t catch everything.
Previous issues: #0 #3 #4 #5 #6 DHP #19 #7 #8
Previous interviews: Matt Kindt Brendan Wright
