Mind Mgmt: New & Improved #3 Review
Writer, Artist, Colorist, Letterer & Cover Artist: Matt
Kindt
Variant Cover Artists: Raúl Allén & Marcos Sánchez;
David Lapham & Nick Filardi; Patricia Martín
Editors: Sierra Hahn & Joelena Despard
Publisher: Oni Press
Price: $4.99 US
Release Date: August 26, 2026
Mind Mgmt Agent Jon Swon is struggling to hold it together.
So, as they investigate mysterious deaths together, Agent Delphi keeps an eye
on him. She suggests Jon practice his scent therapy. When he starts screaming
in his motel room, Delphi rushes to his aid. And when Jon asks for help, she
uses her training to calm him.
As the agents travel from one inexplicable case to another,
both keep secrets from their superiors. They wonder: Is someone targeting Mind
Mgmt agents? And if so, could Jon Swon and Delphi be next on the killer's list?
Let’s grab our suggestible paper badges, leap into Mind Mgmt: New &
Improved #3, and see!
Story
As Jon Swon lies on his bed, he remembers his training. His
superiors ordered him to keep his eyes closed while inhaling different scents.
Eventually, he learned to craft custom scent mixes based on his emotions and
memories. Jon carries these around with him as he and Agent Delphi investigate
crimes. They are his investigative tools, helping him detect clues and awaken
memories in witnesses.
In Mind Mgmt: New & Improved #3, Jon is deep into his
meditative state when he senses something amiss. He opens his eyes to find
strangers in his room. When they reach for him, scattering his candles and
other scent devices, Delphi rushes to his aid. Frightened, Jon throws vials of
scent at them and hits them. Yet Delphi urges him to remain calm. As they race
to the car, she soothes their attackers with eye and hand signals. Delphi also
tells Jon who their attackers are and where their superiors want them to go
next.
After the action-packed info, Matt Kindt switches the
location to Mont Blanc in the French Alps. As Jon Swon and Delphi investigate
another mystery, they meet a trio of agents with a very different view on death
from their attackers in Phoenix, Arizona. Despite working for the same
government department, the two teams don’t get along. But then, they’re not
supposed to.
Despite their great calling, distrust runs rampant among
Mind Mgmt agents. Their superiors operate the government department like a
secret society. Agents are paired together. They aren't supposed to coordinate
with other cells. So, Jon Swon is troubled when the other agents arrive and
want to pool information. Worse, the strangers' team configuration doesn't square
with what Jon was told. Still, his meditation has recently unlocked forgotten
memories of his training. While he relies on Delphi to keep him from falling
apart, Jon hopes that these memories will help him make sense of the bizarre
accidents and murders threatening the agency's future in Mind Mgmt: New &
Improved #3.
Art
After a black square, the camera reveals Jon with his eyes
closed as he inhales plumes of scent from vials. When he awakens, older if not
wiser, another scent fills his nostrils. As the camera tilts, the door frame
and a side table distort the perspective while the strangers fill his bedroom.
While the invaders dress in garb evoking nightcaps and
pajamas, Jon stumbles away in his practical tank top, boxers, and socks.
Delphi, dressed in alluring night attire, helps him when he falls. Circles of
white highlight her blue facial and hand communication as she and Jon flee for
their lives.
As Matt Kindt paints his hand-drawn art, the grainy paper
reveals how the watercolors have dried. Amid the black night, orange light
fills the room and motel exterior as Jon and Delphi escape. The lighting evokes
the robes Delphi wore during her training, while the yellow vial Jon throws at
his attackers in Phoenix links with Delphi’s jacket in France. As the two teams
meet in Mont Blanc beneath an orange-and-yellow sky, a potential clue, written
in blue, links with Delphi's calming signals in the white circles. Sadly, both
evoke the images that fill Jon’s mind, forcing him to rely on his scent therapy
and Delphi’s calming techniques in Mind Mgmt: New & Improved #3.
Small, lowercase black handwritten letters fill white
dialogue balloons, while blue letters translate Delphi’s signals. Offscreen
dialogue fills colored balloons in Jon’s memories and colored boxes in France.
Sound effects accompany an event, emphasizing one witness’s assertion, and
perhaps validating his concerns about their employer. Thanks to Oni Press and
Superfan Promotions for providing a review copy.
Final Thoughts
Delphi believes in the importance of her agency’s mission.
So far, their investigations provide more questions than answers. Yet as she
and Jon Swon investigate another mysterious death, Jon begins to remember his
training, while Delphi is troubled by a memory she can never forget in Mind
Mgmt: New & Improved #3.
Rating: 9/10
For more cover options see Mind Mgmt: New & Improved #3 Cover Preview.
