There are times where certain subjects rise to the top of pop culture. Motifs suddenly become the flavor of the month, and ideas pop up in different places — similar concepts appearing from separate sources. Right now, for example, two of my new favorite comic series feature wildly differing takes on a few common themes: governmental intelligence, the supernatural, and the inner workings of the mind.
MIND MGMT by Matt Kindt (Dark Horse Comics)
I first encountered Matt Kindt’s work in 2001, when I ran across a book called Pistolwhip in my local comic shop. Flipping through the pages, I was entranced by the noir atmosphere, the period detail, and the rippling, liquid style of art. I bought it on the spot, and spent the evening reading and re-reading it; over the next few years, I followed Kindt as he published a number of other works and refined his distinctive approach to storytelling.
And now, he has launched his first monthly series. MIND MGMT is a full-color ongoing comic, a psychological espionage mystery, an inscrutable and enthralling tale of spies, conspiracy theories, mental manipulation, and a journalist trying to put together her latest book. The first issue was released this week, and I’m marveling at every detail of it: the muted pastel tones and willowy ink lines stretching across the cream-colored pages, the complex interwoven plotlines, the blue-toned text in the margins of each page that give detail agency policies (and also serve as a page numbering system), the additional vignettes that appear in the back of the issue and on the inside covers. It’s a rich reading experience, beautifully designed; a comic to admire, appreciate, and immerse yourself in.
The Secret History Of D.B. Cooper (Oni Press)
On November 24, 1971, a nondescript middle-aged man boarded a flight in Portland, Oregon, and proceeded to conduct a hijacking that puzzles the world to this day. The name he gave at the airport was Dan (or D.B.) Cooper. He disappeared off the plane in mid-flight, with $10,000 in ransom money, parachuting into history and oblivion. The mystery of his true identity, motives, and whereabouts remains unsolved.
This new series from Oni Press takes that enigmatic figure and imagines him as a single man in the midst of a vast mind-control conspiracy, an agent in the CIA mental-warfare division. The events detailed above are the jumping-off point, and feed into a tale that takes place on two fronts: the real world, and a psychotropic-drug fueled landscape of giant monsters and inexplicable characters. D.B. Cooper has the ability to inhabit both spheres simultaneously, and is using this power to conduct top-secret missions. Each form he encounters in his mind has a true-life counterpart; each action in the subconscious affects a related aspect of conscious reality, but leaves no physical trail.
Brian Churilla is the man behind the mayhem here, the creator/author/artist of the series, weaving together bits of history and wildly imaginative flights of fancy into one vast and fantastic story (as well as putting his own unique spin on the concept of a “sleeper agent”). His art deals in sharp lines and desaturated hues, and he’s equally adept at depicting mundane offices, deserted parking lots, Russian thinktanks, trenchcoat-clad spies, tentacled beasts, and sabretoothed monstrosities. It’s a bizarre blend of elements, but it somehow works perfectly. It’s a Cold War thriller with added supernatural elements; both a gritty espionage yarn and a deranged romp through the mental plane.
MIND MGMT and The Secret History Of D.B. Cooper are both full-color ongoing series, and are available from all good comic shops.