MIND MGMT Volume Three: The Home Maker
Created, Written & Illustrated by Matt Kindt
Dark Horse Books
This collection introduces another major player: a Russian organization like Mind Management, code named "Zero" because its true name was never discovered. The title home maker Megan was one of their sleeper agents, who was also recruited and trained by Mind Management. So the running vertical text in most of the page margins this time is the MATRYOSHKAS FIELD GUIDE, printed in red instead of the blue of the MIND MGMT FIELD GUIDE.
The Russian organization is portrayed as being even more amoral and manipulative than Mind Management (if such a thing is even possible), but the unintended fallout of the truce between the opposing organizations is the sleeper agents out in the field. All of them are living a borrowed life while waiting for the signal to be reawakened. When Megan is awoken her whole neighborhood pays a horrific price, which Kindt vividly depicts using a four-page foldout splash page, a big visual moment in a series full of small visual moments.
In the end the two opposing groups of agents are brought to a standstill by Meru, who finally demonstrates her power: the ability to neutralize all of the other powers around her, no matter how strong. She throws her lot in with Lyme's group, but now she is the one in charge.
As usual the story is full of small imaginative details. The marginal texts also include parts of MIND MANAGEMENT: A Novel; a novel by science fiction writer Philip K. Verve (a clear nod to Philip K. Dick); and a children's book. While reading this collection I was struck by both the creativity and the amount of work involved in such small details. Kindt has crafted a rich world, which grows richer with each new story line. The marginal text may look like a parlor trick at first, but he uses it to immerse the reader more fully.
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