Via CBR, Vault Comics have announced “Mindset,” a sci-fi thriller by writer Zack Kaplan (“Port of Earth”), artist John J. Pearson (“Blue in Green”), and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. The series follows an “introverted tech geek from Stanford,” who “accidentally discovers a form of mind control,” which he and his friends turn “into a meditation app to help users break their addiction to other manipulative technologies and platforms.”
Eventually, “after their rags-to-riches rise, a wake of murders and a series of mind games, their Mindset app replaces all rival social media and achieves a cult following of a billion users, and they must ask the question — are they helping people or controlling them?”
Kaplan comments, “The series is really about a dilemma I think we all feel today. How do we use devices, social media and apps to connect with each other and feel influential without allowing the technology to influence the very choices we make and thoughts we have? We believe the timing for the story couldn’t be more socially reverent, since we’ve increased our dependency more than ever on technology, but as Silicon Valley tightens its digital grip on our behavior, mind control exists right now.”
For more from Kaplan and Pearson, who promises the artwork will “be a tangible experience with the reader as an active participant, with us leading them through a story that they can revisit time and again,” head to CBR. “Mindset” #1 will be released June 6 with separate covers by Pearson and Martin Simmonds (“Department of Truths”).
In further Vault news today, Forbes magazine reports the publisher has secured an investment round led by activist investor Jeff Ubben. New financial backers include global talent agency UTA, and Metallica’s investment fund Black Squirrel Partners. Vault CEO and publisher Damian Wassel was described as saying “the investments will help Vault, which is privately held, expand its publishing efforts and build out a media pipeline for its IP. Terms of the round were not disclosed, although Wassel said the original founders will maintain a majority stake in the business.”
