More than a decade after the original run of MIND MGMT concluded, Matt Kindt is reintroducing readers to his unique world of perilous paranoia, bizarre brain puzzles, and macabre mysteries in the new comic book series MIND MGMT: New & Improved! Written and illustrated by Kindt (who handled the "pencils, ink, paint, lettering, and design" on the new series), MIND MGMT: New & Improved #1 will hit shelves this June (with the issue's final order cutoff coming on Monday, April 27th), and Daily Dead had the pleasure of catching up with Kindt in a new Q&A feature to discuss his return to the brain-bending world of MIND MGMT, including creating a story that is accessible to both longtime readers and newcomers alike, bringing his Flux House banner to Oni Press for a promising new partnership, the solution-centric approach to his new series, and how he hopes MIND MGMT: New & Improved is the "best-smelling comic book in the marketplace."
You can read our full Q&A with Matt Kindt below, and we also have a look at preview pages and the extensive cover art gallery for MIND MGMT: New & Improved #1. To keep up to date on the new MIND MGMT comic book series and other exciting releases, be sure to visit:
Thank you for taking the time to answer questions for us, Matt, and congratulations on MIND MGMT: New & Improved! When did you initially come up with the idea for this new story that takes place in your MIND MGMT universe?
Matt Kindt: I remember being at NYCC maybe six or seven years ago and a guy came up and was telling me that he enjoyed Mind MGMT and was really nice about it. He was making me feel good and uncomfortable at the same time because it’s hard to take compliments, you know? It feels good, but also by accepting it, it also feels like you’re agreeing with this idea that what you did was great and then it feels kind of cocky and arrogant to agree with the person, but if you don’t, that seems rude, so I just say, "Thank you," and let them know that it means a lot to get that feedback because in comics, you work in isolation for hours and weeks at a time working on this thing and not knowing how it’s going to land or if people are going to respond to it, so I am genuinely thankful. After the stress of that initial social interaction is over… usually back at the hotel or maybe a couple days later it hits me, how nice everyone was and how complimentary the compliments were and it gives me a kind of nice feeling days later. The anxiety of the social interactions kind of delays the reaction to how amazing everyone was.
So anyway, this one guy says he really loves MIND MGMT, but he felt kind of dumb sometimes, reading it. Like he wasn’t getting it all. I kind of laughed with him and played it down… no, no, I layer a lot of stuff in and you don’t need to get it all to “get it” and that kind of thing. But later on… years later… like, last year… I realized… there’s the idea. How do you make MIND MGMT “new and improved”? We’ll dumb it down. Spoon-feed complex ideas into an easier format. We’ll use brighter colors. Less words. Better balloon placement. Continuity and backstory? Let’s just ditch it. I made up a new character called “The Eraser” who just makes everyone forget all that happened before so new readers can jump right in. None of that old stuff ever happened. Heck, it lets me forget about it! So now we have a nice breezy murder mystery procedural. People love those. It’s got a duo that may eventually fall in love… there’s some sexual tension… or is there? It’s a super-quick read. Designed for you to just consume and then forget about the minute you put it down until you get to the next issue… which is also designed for you to have forgotten the last issue so you can just keep swiping through issues like you’re doom-scrolling a social media feed… except this is literary and you’ll look cool by the pool while reading it!
How important was it for you to write a comic book story that was rewarding to longtime readers of MIND MGMT while also being accessible to new readers?
Matt Kindt: It was super important. Longtime MIND MGMT readers will know what’s going on here. They’re probably already numb to these techniques that new readers are going to be super susceptible to. So ideally they’ll just keep their mouths shut if they figure something out. I created this new character “The Eraser” (which I mentioned earlier) who will seem familiar to longtime readers. They’ll be like, "Oh—this is that same character and she’s up to her old tricks!" While new readers will just be like, "Who’s this creepy new character that makes people forget stuff?" But that’s all just a big trick. She’s the B-plot to make things seem “mysterious,” like there’s something bigger going on. Just cheap plot contrivances. This is really a love story. A murder mystery. That conspiracy stuff is played out, you know? Times are complicated, so it calls for a more stripped-down narrative. No one wants to be stressing out over continuity and looking for old books that might be out of print or over-priced on e-bay.
The paranoia that’s prevalent within the pages of MIND MGMT: New & Improved is as timely now as ever before. When you’re writing this series, do you find yourself influenced by what’s going on in the world or inspired by any other fictional stories on the page or screen?
Matt Kindt: Well… I spent about 20 years reading everything Philip K. Dick wrote…so that might explain a little bit of my inspiration. I also spent the first 40 years of my life purposefully not owning a video game machine because I knew my personality and if I’d had one in the house, I’d be addicted to video games and not have the time it would take to write and draw comics as a second job until it finally became a full-time job. So now I have a PS5 and every once in a while I have to just delete a game I’m in the middle of because it’s too addictive. I have to go cold turkey on it. And I look around now and see everyone I know with a little game machine in their pocket—addicted to whatever is on it and it’s alarming. Nothing we're going through now hasn’t been predicted a hundred different ways in speculative sci-fi for generations. But I’m a toxically optimistic person, so I want to provide solutions rather than just hold a mirror up to what everyone already clearly sees. This comic is the solution. It’s printed on paper. It was written with ink from a fountain pen in a notebook. It takes time to read. It exists in space. It will take a while to read if you read everything in it. Just reading this comic is gonna make your life better… even if it’s just for 20 minutes or so. But I can guarantee you, for 20 minutes every month MIND MGMT: New & Improved will be new… and it will improve.
From the first draft to the final version, approximately how long does it take to write and illustrate an issue of MIND MGMT: New & Improved?
Matt Kindt: I’m pre-writing in my head constantly, so I can’t be exactly sure how long it takes from beginning to end. I’ll often write an entire issue at a time in my head and then write it down so the “first draft” is actually just copying this story down on paper from my head. How long did that pre-writing take? I’m not sure… plenty of hot showers and going to bed thinking about it and waking up thinking about it and imagining dialogue. So I can’t answer all of that time, but physically it takes me about a week to write four issues (I write them all at once)… and then two weeks to pencil, ink, paint, and letter an issue. That includes designs and all the other elements that get layered into it. It doesn’t include these crazy prose pieces I’m writing for the back inside cover or the covers… but add a few days for that as well. So that many days plus 53 years (my age)… of practice.
Ultimately, what do you hope readers take away from MIND MGMT: New & Improved?
Matt Kindt: I hope they think it’s the best-smelling comic book in the marketplace. We spent a lot of time picking out the paper it's printed on. It’s a very specific kind of newsprint that exudes a scent that is both nostalgic and forward-looking with a deep note of pulp and some high notes of paranoia.
How many issues of MIND MGMT: New & Improved do you currently have planned?
Matt Kindt: I have four finished and four more scripted and the plan is to go as long as I can sustain it—I’m doing everything on this one, writing, pencils, ink, paint, lettering, and design. I have about two years planned, so if I make it that far let’s talk again and I can tell you what went wrong or we can talk about the next 12 issues…
What has it been like to work with the team at Oni Press, and what is it about their publishing house in particular that made it the perfect home to launch your Flux House imprint?
Matt Kindt: I’d initially planned to just take Flux House fully independent and publish and distribute myself. But between me getting the rights back for my books and me pulling the trigger, Oni made me an offer and it was coming from Oni Press President & Publisher Hunter Gorinson, who I’ve known for years, and from Polarity CEO Dave Steward (who lives in St. Louis, where I live)… and it seemed to make sense. St. Louis has an amazing comics community—there are a lot of us here. I’ve shared the studio with Brian Hurtt for over ten years, and we’re working on a new monthly book (Ft. Psycho) that debuts the month after MIND MGMT #1. So I loved that there was a St. Louis connection here and knowing Hunter Gorinson’s skill set and getting the chance to work with the legendary editor Sierra Hahn was too much to turn down. It just seemed meant to be.
They came to me with some amazing ideas on how to get the word out regarding MIND MGMT… billboards and a toll-free phone number and crazy foil dual-purpose blind bags with stories on them… I could tell they were ready to do everything it takes to take this single-level marketing plan into a multi-level marketing plan designed to insert MIND MGMT into every part of your life and subconscious.
On Free Comic Book Day, Oni Press will release the MIND MGMT / Fort Psycho FCBD 2026 Special. Can you give us a tease of what awaits readers within the pages of this anticipated FCBD special?
Matt Kindt: Two exclusive and all-new stories. One is MIND MGMT and it’s a great little tour of the new MIND MGMT studio, hosted by our new main character “The Eraser,” who will explain how you can become an agent and all the benefits that await you. That’s half the book and the other half is a short story that ties in to Fort Psycho, which I’m writing for Brian Hurtt, who’s doing a TON of amazing art. Every page is packed with action… it’s sort of a Watchmen for G.I. Joe as a series, and this half-comic is a pretty good introduction into what we’re doing… plus a lot of explosions.
What advice would you give to comic book writers and artists who are just getting started?
Matt Kindt: Enjoy making comics. Make comics you would want to read. Don’t worry about getting published or making money right away. Worry about loving what you’re doing. Worry about making the coolest thing you can possibly make… and be ready for a marathon. It’s definitely not a sprint.
With MIND MGMT: New & Improved #1 hitting comic shop shelves this June, what other projects do you have coming up at Flux House that you can tease for our readers? Do you have other plans for more stories set within the world of MIND MGMT?
Matt Kindt: Fort Psycho is the next big thing! Please check that out! And here’s what I would ask… buy two copies of issue 1… one for you and one for a friend of yours that doesn’t read comics and gift it to ’em. And then set up a “comic book night” and put some records on, have a friend or two over, make some coffee and sit and read comics. Hang out and read ’em. Everybody bring a stack if they have some and share ’em around. We do it at the studio and there’s nothing like having a set night to sit and read comics with friends. And if you do it… and you want a comic-book-night-special-guest, let me know and I’ll pop in on a Zoom.
And don’t forget to call the hotline:
912-646-3646
Thank you very much for your time, Matt!
Matt Kindt: Thank you! Appreciate the thoughtful questions!
And I remember what I said to that friend who quoted me back just now… it was [name redacted] at NYCC, and he said I’d said, “Life is finite. Don’t waste your time drawing characters you don’t own.” I’m sure I said it… but I won’t say his name just in case it hurts his chances of getting paid work… haha—it’s hard out there!
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From the Press Release: Oni Press – the multiple Eisner and Harvey Award-winning publisher of groundbreaking comics and graphic novels since 1997 – and Flux House are proud to reveal your first look inside of MIND MGMT: NEW & IMPROVED #1 – the FIRST ISSUE of an all-new, entirely self-contained entry point into the genre-bending, Eisner Award-nominated series that Entertainment Weekly calls “one of the most experimental and fascinating books in mainstream comics.” Sit back, relax, and feel your pulse steadily escalate to dangerous levels of over-adrenalized anxiety as New York Times best-selling creator and multiple Eisner Award-nominated cartoonist Matt Kindt returns to the scene of his definitive statement on the art of psychic espionage.
Ten years ago, the extra-governmental agency known as Mind Management exploded in a barrage of bullets and brain matter. Those that survived have gone underground – forging new lives with unremarkable identities and falsified pasts to obfuscate the strange abilities that once made them highly prized assets in the global war for psychic control. Now, two investigators – Detective Delphi and Detective Swan – have found themselves at the center of an unexpected puzzle. Here: A man poisoned in a coffee shop with a sophisticated neurotoxin. There: A supposed suicide victim run over by a train … with his arms found in a trashcan five miles from the tracks. Their connection: Someone is killing former Mind Management agents in improbable and arcane ways … Seemingly impossible crimes committed by a faceless killer capable of evading even the most pervasive digital surveillance. What secret are they killing to protect? Who will be next? Has Mind Management returned? Did it ever go away? You are paranoid … but are you paranoid enough?
“If you have followed Matt Kindt’s work at any point over his wide-ranging, 20-plus year career, you have undoubtedly seen slivers of his genius embedded in everything from blockbusters like BRZRKR to brain-bending mysteries like DEPT. H and GILT FRAME. But even with a litany of hits, awards, and accolades behind him, I dare say that MIND MGMT is the best and most powerful example of Matt’s relentlessly innovative, hyper-powered creativity as both a writer and cartoonist – and, with his new series at Oni, you’ll soon see why,” said Oni Press President & Publisher Hunter Gorinson. “A perfect introduction for first-time readers and a concentrated dose of retroactive obsession for longtime fans, you’ll soon see why MIND MGMT: NEW & IMPROVED is the perfect opening salvo for the new Flux House line at Oni Press.”
The first series to be released under Kindt’s acclaimed FLUX HOUSE banner at Oni Press, MIND MGMT: NEW & IMPROVED marks Kindt’s first ongoing return to the world of MIND MGMT since the original series’ conclusion in 2015. Readers with a strong enough pineal fortitude can take an experimental test dose of FLUX HOUSE’s mind-altering effects on Free Comic Book Day 2026 as Oni Press prepares to release the MIND MGMT / FORT PSYCHO FCBD 2026 SPECIAL, which will feature TWO, ALL-NEW STORIES torn from the pages of Kindt's first two shrapnel-laced new series under the FLUX HOUSE banner at On Press: MIND MGMT: NEW & IMPROVED #1 in June, and FORT PSYCHO #1 with co-creator/artist Brian Hurtt (The Sixth Gun) in August.
MIND MGMT: NEW & IMPROVED #1 will arrive in comic shops in June 2026.
MORE INSTRUCTIONS TO FOLLOW.
For more updates on Oni Press, visit them on Bluesky, Facebook, and Instagram.
MIND MGMT: NEW & IMPROVED #1
Written by MATT KINDT
Art & Cover by MATT KINDT
COMING IN JUNE!
MIND MGMT: New & Improved #1 Preview Pages
MIND MGMT: New & Improved #1 Cover Art Gallery
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Managing Editor of Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Managing Editor of Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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