Review – Mindfield #5


Do you know what I’ve always thought the CIA needs more of? Telepaths with military training of course! In Mindfield we get to discover what exactly that would be like. One of the things I was most impressed with is that even though I didn’t catch the first four issues of this title, I felt like I was able to jump right in at #5 and understand exactly what was going on. So why are telepaths necessary? Well, the war on terror is really a difficult one to fight. So many people are unknowns and without being able to see into their minds predicting their movements is VERY difficult. That is where the crack team in Mindfield comes in.

Brought to us by Aspen Comics, this title has a slightly different take on the superpowered government agent. Created by J.T. Krul with the art team of Alex Konat, Jon Bolerjack, John Starr and letters by Josh Reed we have a story about normal people becoming telepaths through government tinkering. I guess it isn’t COMPLETELY unique, but it does have a bit of a fresh feel to it. Perhaps it's the storylines in the rather modern war on terror or the varying characters on the team but I enjoyed this title even if it didn’t really wow me with anything I’d never seen before.

So we appear to have the ultimate threat that you can have in this world in Mindfield. Essentially, some disgruntled people have gotten their hands on a nuclear weapon and the detonation codes necessary to set it off. The crack telepathic team of CIA operatives in Mindfield are out to stop disaster. There is just one catch; apparently terrorists know how to train themselves into telepaths too! This is an unfortunate problem facing the team and it does have some immediate impact on finding the location of the bomb.

In addition to that this issue does a nice job showing just how trapped the team is by working for the CIA. Some people don’t seem to mind that much as they still get to complete their mission saving human lives. At least one member of the team is pissed off about it. Essentially, if they quit the CIA they will probably go crazy and their powers will overtake them. You’ll have to pick up the issue to find out why. We're also briefly introduced to one of the original test subjects from the program: a man now lost to his powers. At the end of the issue we get a look at his initial recruitment as well as the failures of previous candidates for the program.

I’m not sure what else to add to this. The artwork is crisp, the environments pretty dark for the most part giving a nice foreboding feeling. This issue did do a nice job connecting you immediately to the main characters through their discovery of the fact that the CIA essentially owns them – for now. It is a solid effort, nothing mind-blowing but definitely an enjoyable read. It definitely has a different spin on telepathic secret agents and if I’ve perked your interest check it out in stores.

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