With the release of MIND MGMT: New & Improved #1 from Oni Press in June, we are delighted to be joined again by Matt Kindt. Matt is a Harvey Award-winning and New York Times best-selling writer and artist. His work includes MIND MGMT, BRZRKR (with Keanu Reeves), Bang!, Eniac, Revolver, 3 Story, Super Spy, 2 Sisters, Pistolwhip and Gilt Frame.
Hi Matt, it’s great to have you with us again. Can you tell us a bit about the history of Mind MGMT?
It started with a title. That’s all I had…I thought it sounded good. I could see the title in my imagination – in a plain font on a door. Then I started thinking – what kind of business is this? What would they be into? It really all sprung from there. A very corporate sounding kind of organization that was into mind control, media manipulation, and a secret history of the entire world hidden in a library in a seemingly fictional city in Tibet.
Who are Detective Delphi and Detective Swan?
They’re our new eyes and introduction into the world of MIND MGMT. This is an all new series and take on the original idea. I wanted to do a new series that sort of forgets the old one completely so 99% of the characters are new. There is no continuity to know or remember. In fact, it’s better if you’ve forgotten anything you may already know. I did this so it would be easy for new readers that maybe weren’t even reading comics when the first series came out and also so I could do something completely new with it and not repeat any of the old crazy stuff I’ve done in the past. It’s all new crazy stuff. I’m a different person now than I was when the old series came out and we live in a different world and I’m always competing with myself so I wanted to do something that felt both new and improved.
Can you tell us about the origins of MIND MGMT: New & Improved?
I thought it would be interesting to start this series out in a super familiar format. A detective duo trying to solve a murder mystery. A procedural. It’s a comfortable genre and there’s a guy and girl and maybe a budding romance/will-they-won’t-they vibe to it. I purposefully picked some of the most conventional kinds of set up devices I could to make it an easy on-boarding experience for all readers. It’s easy and a little fun and accessible. All of that so that it can slowly crumble around the edges and I can eventually pull the rug out from everyone. But let’s not talk about that. It’s a light breezy read. Take it to the beach!
You are creating all of the art for the Mind MGMT: New & Improved. What part of that process are you enjoying the most?
I enjoy it all. The real fun of writing and drawing a comic is that you never get burned out or bored. Just when you’re getting sick of drawing all day, it’s time to paint it. Then letter it. Then scan it in and design the cover. Then when I’m sick of all that, I get to just take my notebook and my pen and sit and write the next script…until I get sick of writing…then it’s back to drawing again. It’s a great creative cycle that constantly keeps me engaged and motivated.
In terms of plotting Mind MGMT: New & Improved, how much of the series have you plotted so far?
I have the first year all figured out. And another year after that. In some ways, I never stopped writing MIND MGMT. I never stop having story ideas for MIND MGMT. I literally have notebooks full of ideas for characters and plots and stories and new departments that are up to no good. I could do this series for the rest of my career really…but it’s probably not healthy to do that.
How long have you been working on Mind MGMT: New & Improved?
Since the first series ended. The ideas don’t just stop coming because I stop thinking about it. They happen all the time. I end up doing sort of secret cross-overs into the MIND MGMT universe with all of my books. They’re all connected. The reach of MIND MGMT is global and inter-dimensional so you can find their fingerprints on everything I do.
Can you tell us about the world in which Mind MGMT: New & Improved is set?
It’s our world exactly. The beauty of MIND MGMT is that you can’t prove they don’t exist any more than you can prove they do. They operate in the shadows and in our collective memory. I try not to do anything in the book that isn’t possible. Most of the character’s special “abilities” really just work because they believe they do or their victims do…not because they can really do anything a normal person couldn’t do.
How did OniPress get involved with Mind MGMT: New & Improved?
I’ve had a long relationship with Oni Press Publisher Hunter Gorinson from our days at Valiant, to Boom and Bad Idea and he’s one of the really good ones. He loves comics and wants to make the industry a better place. It also helps that Oni has a new owner that is St. Louis-based. St. Louis has an amazing comic book community of creators here and I think it’s a great place for creatives to live and work.
When we started talking about what should be my debut Oni book it really seemed like a no-brainer (pun) that it should be MIND MGMT.
The new series is subtitled ‘New & Improved.’ Is that because you feel you have grown as a creator?
All of that old stuff was a big lie. Propaganda. This new stuff. This is the stuff you want. It’s better art. Better story. Color is better. Lettering…even the covers. The Mind Manipulation techniques and technology have vastly improved since last I put pen to paper.
What can you tell us about Mind MGMT: New & Improved?
All of the hard edges have been sanded off. It’s more palatable in every way. The art is smoother. The proportions of the characters are slightly more correct. However, the paper it’s printed on is oddly the same. I’m not kidding. It’s got a kind of newspaper type of feel and smell to it. In fact, I encourage you to smell the paper. Flip through the book with your eyes closed and inhale the fume-uh…the nostalgic scent of the past made present. There’s a fun mass-murder mystery to solve and a killer on the loose who is literally the luckiest person alive. But the training it took to make him the luckiest person alive is…absolutely awful. You’ll see. Being the luckiest person alive is a miserable thing to be.
Any message for the ComicBuzz readers?
Thanks for reading! Most of these answers were absolutely the truth!
We would like to say a big thank you to Matt for chatting with us and wish him the best of luck for the release of MIND MGMT: New & Improved.
