Mind Hacker #1, Reviewed

How about a fourth wall abusing, meta experimenting kaleidoscope of entertainment with art as attention-grabbing as a well-placed zimmer frame to the shin? Then you’d definitely want Mind Hacker from the froodiest team of Luke James Halsall and Chris Manson.

As we all know in the ever-expanding world of comics, originality is a very scarce commodity. We also live in a world where reboots command a large number of pop culture resources with their seemingly never-ending money printing machine mentality of re-hashing fondly favoured franchises. So it is a state of true elation I find myself in having experienced Mind Hacker, a wonderfully bonkers tale of the lengths a cat doctor (not a vet, a doctor who is a cat) will go to, to avoid a mandatory computer training course. This is originality in a lane adjacent to Lex Lambs Trad Stories and I bloody love it.

So, let’s start with the art. Chris Manson presents wonderfully stylised art. It encapsulates this bonkers story so well. The bold colours evolve throughout this comic consistently enhancing this dynamic artwork that really pleases the eye. The quality of the delivery is fantastic with subtle details in places and bonk you over the head brashness in others. The polished aspects of so much of this art adds to its stylised elements that play with the absurdity of its subject matter. The disarming daftness blanketed in the cartoony expression makes extremely pleasing art.

The character designs are brilliantly bonkers - there's Dr Clive Eagles the anthropomorphic cat, the unearthly, superlunary, floating essence of Mr Jones consciousness as it follows Roy then there’s Doris, Clive's boss, a mummified demigod of ancient Egypt, Marisha the party gran and no neck Danny. They're all brilliant, the choices of detail and design are so pleasing. The standout moment for me comes from the descent into the internet. The art here, with its bold colours and imagery, takes on a psychedelic feature that I found arresting, the panel of the actual arrival inside the computer manages to fit the very essence of the internet into imagery chock full of mirthfulness. An absolute joy.

Right, excellent art dealt with, here's the story and it's, well... there's a plot that's easy enough to explain but the ride is probably akin to trying to catch a velvet, paisley covered Chesterfield sofa. Basically, the story follows Dr Clive Eagles, the (probably not) good doctor is a personality transplanter or Mind Hacker; his patient Mr Jones wants to no longer be pushy and confident so the Doc suggests augmenting him with a more nervous, socially awkward being. Fairly straightforward, then the creators of the comic themselves pop up to serve some exposition giving us our first diversion from standard storytelling. Throw in Dr Eagles boss Doris (the mummified demigod from ancient Egypt, but don’t dwell on that fact) whose revelation that the Docs missed the deadline for mandatory computer training cements the plot's parameters. So Doctor Eagles going to need a Baldrick adjacent (cunning) plan to get out of this because nobody likes mandatory training courses. Can the Information Diagnostic In Official Training (snigger inducing acronym) company help? Hopefully the top-notch staff members of this company, Marisha, of questionable life choices, and Danny, of questionable interests, are up to the task. An adventure of sorts ensues that, frankly, is absolutely absurd and actually is as brilliant as it is bonkers but fabulously fun. I really hope there’s more to come from these characters because the spirit of this comic is so very excellent.

For fans of Douglas Adams levels of sci-fi silliness, anthropomorphic cats, caffeine fume powered old ladies, avoiding mandatory work-based training, eye-catching art and sleepy aliens Mind Hacker makes an excellent choice. I’d recommend this comic highly, the Kickstarter for this gem was fully funded back in June so I was very late to the party. Although thankfully there's a great chance to get your hands on a copy at Thought Bubble comic art festival in November so attendees should keep an eye out for that. If you're not attending Thought Bubble hopefully there are other opportunities for purchase on the horizon. In the meantime don’t forget to check out Luke (@LJHalsall) and Chris (@ChrisLauManson) on their social media to keep an eye on these two creators, because the minds behind this comic are capable of very interesting things.

Review: 4/5