In the wake of growing popular interest in NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, cartoonist Matt Kindt, author of the 2013 graphic novel series MIND MGMT, has created MIND MGMT: The Artifact, a sequel or spin-off story based on the original work in the form of an NFT. It is available for purchase by auction at Open Sea, a digital marketplace for NFTs and other cryptocurrency collectibles. The auction will end March 31. All proceeds from the sale will go to an environmental charity in an effort to offset some of the environmental impacts of the blockchain technology that supports NFTs.
“I wanted to create an original MIND MGMT comic book narrative that would explore the nature of belief and the value of ideas and their intangible nature as a way of exploring the idea of NFTs," Kind said. "The best way to explore this idea was for the actual story – the MIND MGMT narrative – to become what it is about.” Kindt has also created a statement in the form of a comics strip that discusses the conceptual foundation and creation of the work, which is posted at the end of this story.
MIND MGMT is the story of a journalist searching for an answer to the mystery behind a commercial flight where every passenger onboard loses their memories. The journalist eventually discovers a vast and secret government program that can alter the way people perceive reality.
Kindt claims that MIND MGMT: The Artifact is the first comics story created (published?) as a one-of-a-kind NFT. He calls the new story an “experiment” and said that it will not be published in any other format. Whoever purchases the MIND MGMT NFT can reveal the story, although Kindt retains copyright.
MIND MGMT: The Artifact goes to auction in the wake of growing popular interest by fans and collectors in NFTs created as unique, high value artifacts for presentation and for sale in the art world and in the collectible sports and trading cards marketplace. Interest in NFT soared after the digital artist Mike Winkelman, aka Beeple, sold his NFT work, Everydays: the First 5000 Days, a unique collage made of 5,000 individual jpeg images, for about $69 million earlier this month.
An NFT (non-fungible token) is essentially data stored on a blockchain network, which is a digital ledger that marks and authenticates a unique digital item. Unlike most cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, or digital files in general, NFT’s are not interchangeable; they are unique and not fungible. The potential use of blockchain and cryptocurrency technology in book publishing has been explored by the Book Industry Study Group.
“I have no intention of ever publishing MIND MGMT: The Artifact in a traditional way,” said Kindt. “The highest bidder for the auction will determine what happens next. Will they share it online? Will they read it with family and friends? Will it be erased? Does the value of an idea come from the owning of it? Or the sharing of it? That’s up to the one who possesses it. I don’t entirely know what happens next, except that a percentage of the proceeds is going directly to an environmental agency to offset the impact that generating an NFT has on the environment.”
