Posted in: Comics | Tagged: dark horse, Frankenstein Underground, matt kindt, mike mignola, mind mgmt

My Weekly Dose Of Metaphysics From Mind MGMT #35 And Frankenstein Underground #5

I'm aware that everyone's reading experience is different, especially when it comes to comics. We're looking for different things in some ways, though we also have a lot in common with what we think makes for an entertaining story. But for me, when a comic I've spent some time on manages to present a page that makes me stop and reread it a few times, that's usually a sign of success.

Two books this week made me stop and consider, planting thoughts that made my mind itch a little, and for that I'm grateful. They were Mind MGMT #35 and Frankenstein Underground #5, both from Dark Horse Comics. Now Mind MGMT #35 is the last "official" issue in the series, since the absolute last issue will be called "New MGMT #1". And Frankenstein Underground #5 is the last in the five issue mini-series. So, I'd expect some closure and high notes in those issues, but actually the creators on these comics manage to squeeze in some big ideas despite the need for big conflict and spectacle, and that's doubly impressive. I mean, they could've kept my attention with the explosions (both have them) but they bothered to stop and think about the metaphysical side of things, too. The whole meaning of life type picture. Thank you Matt Kindt and thank you Mike Mignola, Ben Stenbeck, and Dave Stewart for that experience.

I'm going to attempt to be only mid-spoilery in explaining the passages I'm talking about, so I'm going to leave out context as much as possible. [**But if you want to know nothing about these two comics, you shouldn't continue reading past this point].

In Mind MGMT #35, we have  Meru's thoughts while in the new Mind MGMT headquarters, the scene of a last great struggle, and she's thinking:

My life was always falling apart.

The disintegration was my constant state of being.

This is how I've felt…

…since I can remember…

Everything falls apart eventually.

The difference is…

…what you end up doing with the pieces.

I think Matt Kindt might have missed his calling as the composer of rock ballad lyrics, because that one probably could have gone platinum. Maybe like one of his agents, he's just slipping it into the public consciousness while no one's looking. Anyway, that's one of the most humanly rewarding speeches I've ever read in comics, and delivering at issue #35, when the chips are down, makes Kindt a kind of hero in my book.

Not to be outdone, there's Frankenstein Underground, which I already declared had "dropped the mic" on literary writing in issue #2 (but clearly I should've expected more was coming) which made my eyes actually tear up, or at least get all prickly. In that series, Frankenstein's monster has gone on long and terrible journeys, often at the mercenary hands of abusive people, only to find himself facing an ancient evil at the end, and wondering why. Why him? I also want to tell readers that this issue explains the entire cosmology of the Mignolaverse in a single issue! That's not to say it hasn't been explained elsewhere, but here we have an honest to goodness creation myth summed up for us! Thanks Mike. That was a great move.

Beyond that, though, there's Frankenstein's Monster's speech encountering a being of light. The conversation goes like this:

FM: What reason could there be for any of this? It's all madness.

FM: Or was I right before, and I'm in hell.

Being: You must not lose hope.

FM: When did I ever HAVE hope?

Being: Your life has meaning.

FM: I am a monster drowning in a sea of monsters.

Being: You are so close now…

And then he basically has to remember the entire history of the Earth in order to save the world, so this being is right, he's very close, but he's also very full of doubt, which is what reaches me the most as a reader. This monster has never seen anything but mistreatment and the worst of humanity until now, and now he has to decide if he has it in him to make a statement against it and for something else. No pressure, right?

So much for comics being a purely light-hearted and entertaining experience. I'll take mine with a side of deep soul-searching dialogue, please. It has been a good week for comics.

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