I liked the idea of this so much, my enthusiasm for what I wanted it to be carried me most of the way through the second book before I realized I wasn't actually into it.

I still like it in theory. A secret history of psychic spies and super-damaged people all around the world; action scenes interleaved with interviews and training manuals and reportage; loose watercolor art in the mode of several indie artists I like... could be cool. I think I just really don't like Matt Kindt's writing. The narration is terribly clunky and repetitive, it always has the same strained hard-boiled tone (Sentence fragment. And then another one. And another.), and there's a lot of it. The dialogue is flat and mostly expository. The textual fake background material isn't much fun to read because it's just... very badly written, in my opinion. I don't know, I've managed to enjoy plenty of other things whose prose isn't great, but this seems awfully padded out to me; the first two books easily could've been one. I'll probably keep picking it up to find out what happens. ( )

I was SO READY to drop this book in the first chapter because the artwork was off putting and not traditionally aesthetically pleasing at all but I ended up reading further and further and I'm so glad I did. Because this is an amazing, mind-bending story about memory and secret agencies and special powers and fate and reality and I am hooked. I am HOOKED. I read this book in one sitting - and it is not a small book. This is one series I don't regret starting. It's gonna be fun following all the breadcrumbs and figuring out things as they pop up. ( )

The most striking thing about Matt Kindt’s Mind MGMT is the art style, done with loose pen and watercolor sketches. It’s like nothing I’ve seen before in a graphic novel, and definitely gives the book a unique flavor. I will admit, however, that although the art is interesting, it isn’t entirely to my personal taste. I like that Kindt did something original with his style, but I had a hard time accepting the art as a stylistic choice instead of something that just felt a bit amateurish. A variant cover by Gilbert Hernandez included at the end of the book made me wish for a version of this story told using Hernandez’ clear, bold style instead.

As for the book’s story, it focuses on an investigative journalist named Meru who is trying to write a follow-up to her bestselling first book after two years with no success and dwindling funds. When she hears a recap of a story about a strange “amnesia flight” where all the passengers lost – and never regained – their memories, Meru calls her agent and suggests it as the topic of her second book. Her agent is skeptical, but agrees to fund a trip to Mexico for Meru to investigate a possibly connected event and try to track down a missing member of the amnesia flight, a man named Henry Lyme.

Throughout the book, an unnamed stranger dispassionately narrated Meru’s adventures, claiming she is following a series of “breadcrumbs” left behind to point her in the right direction. Everything Meru does seems pre-ordained, and she finds herself unable to escape ever-present feelings of déjà vu, or the CIA agents and unkillable couple who follow her every move. Each chapter of the book includes a case file on an individual with supernatural powers recruited by a mysterious agency called Mind Management. The more Meru uncovers, the more it becomes clear that Mind Management is the source of it all. All of this strangeness converges in a meeting between Meru and the man named Henry Lyme.

Although the story is full of interesting concepts, it feels like the tone of the narration keeps everything at arm’s length. Character development is minimal, and the dialogue is all very one-note. Henry Lyme’s story is the most interesting part of the book, but in the end I didn’t get very invested because the characters felt like tools of the plot and not real human beings. This is the first volume of an ongoing series, but I’m not sure where the story might go from here; the book wraps up enough that this could serve as a standalone story.

Overall, I thought the book was a decent enough read, but I don’t plan on reading further volumes of this series. ( )

The first time I read this I didn't really care for it. Revisiting it, I though it was brilliant. I don't want to give anything away, but this is a well-choreographed first step into what seem to be deep, dark waters. Kindt's art is perfectly matched to the story here, too - there's a certain sparseness to it that makes the kind of violence you'd see in an average Hollywood movie feel even more disturbing. Really enjoyed this, and looking forward to more. ( )

Really like the art in this. Sometimes the faces can get a bit same-y but it's just so rough, and pretty.

The mystery is really griping, and the story exciting, but I feel like some of the emotional punches are glossed over, until the end anyway, where the twist left me giddy. A comic that gets you wanting more for sure. ( )