When is a comic not just a comic? When it’s a Matt Kindt comic. The cartoonist behind books like Mind MGMT, Bang! and Apache Delivery Service is also known for transforming books into pieces of interactive performance art. Perhaps you’ve seen him burn or cut apart a book at a signing, or played with the stickers and cards in his HEK Treasury tome with Marie Enger and Bri Hurtt.
Kindt is preparing to ramp up that sense of play with his new Flux House imprint at Dark Horse. Similar to the boutique labels Dark Horse has lent creators like Karen Berger, Brian Michael Bendis and Kevin Smith, Flux House will be Kindt’s space to get weird, tell new stories in previously established worlds and give us more books that double as things to play with. The line launches this Wednesday with Mind MGMT Bootleg #1, which will mark the first time an outside artist has drawn Kindt’s creator-owned series.
Among Flux House’s other upcoming releases is a deluxe hardcover edition of Kindt’s espionage anthology Super Spy, coming in November. Originally published in 2007, Super Spy tells 52 short stories about the life of a spy during World War II that are meant to be read in any order you choose. The new edition includes Super Spy: The Lost Dossiers: a “secret spy activity book for grown-ups,” deleted scenes, standalone spy stories, sketchbook pages, 3-D comics, spy gadget diagrams, keys to unlock secret codes hidden throughout the original book, toys and stories for the reader to cut out and assemble, and other extras.
Check out a nine-page exclusive excerpt of the Super Spy deluxe hardcover, with additional details below.
From the press release:
From New York Times bestselling and Harvey Award-winning graphic novelist Matt Kindt comes this deluxe hardcover edition of the meta-spy thriller exploring the geography of espionage through interconnected short stories that can be read sequentially and out of order.
Super Spy is Pulp Fiction meets James Bond: 52 interwoven short stories about cyanide, pen-guns, heartbreak and betrayal. Each story follows the life of a spy during World War II. Spanning the globe from Spain to France and Germany, this book takes the reader on a tour of the everyday life of the spy. From the small lies and deceptions to the larger secrets that everyone hides, Super Spy reveals the nature of espionage and how an individual can be lost and also find redemption.
This deluxe edition also collects Super Spy: The Lost Dossiers: a “secret spy activity book for grown-ups,” deleted scenes, standalone spy stories, sketchbook pages, 3-D comics, spy gadget diagrams, keys to unlock secret codes hidden throughout the original book, toys and stories for you to cut out and assemble, and tons of extras from Matt Kindt.
Deluxe hardcover edition of the meta spy thriller!
Writer: Matt Kindt
Artist: Matt Kindt
Cover Artist: Matt Kindt
Genre: Fantasy, Crime, Action/Adventure
Publication Date: Nov. 30
Format: FC, 448 pages; HC, 7” x 10”
Price: $49.99
Age range: 14+
ISBN-10: 1-50673-311-5
ISBN-13: 978-1-50673-311-1
Dan Grote is the editor-in-chief of ComicsXF, having won the site by ritual combat. By day, he’s a newspaper editor, and by night, he’s … also an editor. He co-hosts WMQ&A: The ComicsXF Interview Podcast with Matt Lazorwitz. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, two kids and two miniature dachshunds, and his third, fictional son, Peter Winston Wisdom.
