Review: MIND MGMT Vol. 3- The Home Maker

Quick Summary

Pros: Newly introduced characters add to the already interesting world of this comic. Portions of the main storyline are compelling. The artwork is improving and is very creative in a few places.

Cons: The main storyline is not as interesting as it was previously. The artwork is still lackluster.

Overall: The battle between clandestine forces of questionable morality continue in this volume. Here, readers are introduced to a variety of new individuals with backstories and powers that make for some great reading. However, the main narrative hits a small speed bump and makes some choices that cause its quality level to slightly drop. Luckily, the positives heavily outweigh the negatives and ensure that this is still a series worth reading. Anyone who enjoyed the previous volumes should not stop now.

Story

MIND MGMT Vol. 3: The Home Maker, by Matt Kindt, is an exciting and imaginative book but is not quite as instantly captivating as its predecessors. It introduces a few more former members of MIND MGMT that are just as unique as the ones who have already been introduced. These new agents drive forward the main source of interest in this particular book, as their backstories and current paths are riveting. However, Maru’s story not as good as before and makes some strange narrative choices in a few places. Overall, this is still an entertaining volume and does well in showcasing the unique world of MIND MGMT, it simply isn’t quite as good as the rest of the series.

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The Home Maker spends most of its time detailing the backgrounds behind the Eraser, the Homemaker, and a young girl named Ella Jean. Each one of these backstories highlights a different consequence generated by the secretive and malicious actions of MIND MGMT. The Eraser’s story shows how the personal lives of agents can ruin the personal lives of civilians, the Homemaker’s story shows how shadow wars can create unintended casualties, and Ella Jean’s story shows how innocent people can be forced into joining a war that compromises their morals. Watching each of these histories unfold is an exciting process filled with twists, keeping the reader in a satisfying state of suspense the entire time.

Each of these backgrounds also showcases Kindt’s ability to create compelling and unique characters. The Eraser, the Homemaker, and Ella are all people with deep personal histories and a wide range of emotions regarding what they have done and what they are doing. This level of character complexity makes them more interesting and makes following their progressing more rewarding.

The rest of The Home Maker returns to the narrative surrounding Maru and Lyme. In some places, this narrative is just as interesting as it was in previous volumes. This can be seen when Lyme flashes back to his history with Maru and his near attempt at suicide. It can also be seen when Maru reflects on her past before meeting Lyme.

However, in other places, this narrative reaches some of its weakest points yet. Most of this weakness is derived from Maru’s character progression, which takes a nosedive in a few places. Despite abandoning Lyme in the previous volume and resolving to make a difference on her own, Maru completely abandons this new mission almost immediately and returns to Lyme the next time she sees him. Though this return has potential to work out in future volumes, especially since there seems to be a shift in the power dynamic, it is not justified within the context of this volume and comes out of nowhere. Hopefully, some solid stories in the next volume will justify the strange narrative choices in this volume.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The Home Maker sees some of the most creative visual output in the MIND MGMT series thus far. In this volume, Matt Kindt gets creative in the usage of splash pages and even includes an extendable trifold image. These splash pages help crystallize a feeling or emotion that the previous pages were building up to. There is even an instance, toward the end of the book, where a splash page features a completely different art style, one that reflects the events of the story through the eyes of a child. Seeing creative moments like these help improve the visual quality of the book as a whole.

However, The Home Maker still has some of the visual negatives that have become characteristic of this series. The most significant negative here is the lack of distinct faces, which creates confusion when trying to identify individual characters. There were more than a few moments where I was temporarily lost because I couldn’t tell which character I was looking at. The artistic quality of this series is defiantly improving but it still isn’t quite where it needs to be yet.

Continuity

MIND MGMT Vol. 3: The Home Maker continues the story from MIND MGMT Vol. 2: The Futurist (Review).

The story here continues in MIND MGMT Vol. 4: The Magician (Review).