The third arc in Mind MGMT concludes in this issue, and we see more of the collateral damage from the current conflict. Lyme, the Eraser, and Meru collide in the middle of a neighborhood that has turned into an apocalyptic nightmare because of the Management. While earlier storylines have showed the damage that rogue psychics can cause, this issue exposes the consequences of the current struggle over the future of the agency.

Instead of raving about the terrifyingly good art in this issue, I am going to rave about the fantastic layout. In this extra-sized issue, the layout starts out pretty normally for Mind MGMT, which is to say that the horror and paranoia bleed into the art until the pages feel like they are going to collapse. Then, the story starts to fracture. The middle third of the issue is ten double splash pages. These pages tie the different, little stories together until their sudden, but inevitable, convergence. The result is one of the more interesting examples of intercutting in comics I can think of.

The story in this issue doesn’t have the earth-shattering revelations that other issues in this series have had, but the comic wraps up the current arc in a satisfying way. This is more of a mid-season finale than the last two finales have been. The fallout from the events of the previous issues is explosive, but it feels like the chaos and destruction is a result of the conflict, not a part of it. The real long-term implications have more to do with the shifting allegiances and character motivations than resolving the larger conflict.

This is not to say that there is anything missing in this issue. This arc has been a series of fascinating one-shots that quietly built up a powder keg that is set off in this conclusion. The finale ties the individual issues up with the main story in a way that doesn’t minimize the importance of the story or of the character revelations. This is the only ending that this arc could have, and I loved it.

Five Vengeful Psychics out of Five