Michael has stolen a motorcycle. His dad has mounted the back of the thing. He’s agreed to take him the hell out of the immediate vicinity so long as he agrees not to kill anyone. Michael’s not doing a great job of that. His dad is on the back of the motorcycle with a gun drawn. The strange investigation continues in Immortal Sergeant #7. Writer Joe Kelly continues a very strange road trip with artist Ken Niimura. There’s a real strength to the crazy momentum of the series, but it would definitely benefit from being just a bit more defined in every way. 

Sarge was taken away. He wasn’t going to get put away or anything. He IS a retired police detective, and he DOES know how to talk to the police. They know he’s there to track down a cold case and...deal with him. Michael doesn’t want his father to kill, but it will take a lot of ingenuity to ensure that everything turns out alright. And there’s no question that there’s going to be danger. He will have to steal someone’s motorcycle just to get him away from any immediate threat. What’s he going to have to do next?

Kelly’s plot moves along quite quickly. It’s not a mindless action story that Kelly is putting to the page. There’s real thematic depth and intricacy to the plot. The racism inherent in police work is carefully sliced into with a rather deft narrative style that respects the complexity of institutionalized bigotry. Kelly contrasts the relatively respectable insanity of Sarge against the sinister darkness of racism with a badge. Sarge is scum, but he’s trying to finish out that one last job now that he’s retired. Michael is trying to pull him back from doing something truly tragic. It’s a compelling emotional dynamic.

Niimura’s style in the series continues to be problematic. The breezy kinetics of the crazy action on the page feel engaging enough. Niimura does manage to deliver some emotional complexity, but the minimalist style of the art lacks the kind of realistic complexity found in the script. While this is preferable to some of the truly nondescript, earthbound art cluttering up the page in similar suspense series with Image Comics, it lacks the kind of power that it could have. It’s deeply enjoyable to see just how much Niimura can bring across with just a few lines in an otherwise entirely white panel, but it doesn’t fit the complexity of Kelly’s script. 

The story seems cleverly crafted on so many levels. The art feels like...a rough thumbnail outline for the real art that Niimura isn’t ever going to deliver. And though the action and attitude feel really, really fun, the visuals are simply too empty to engage the reader in what really SHOULD be a much more immersive dramatic story. It’s a fun story, and the minimalism of Niimura’s art style IS a part of that fun, but it doesn’t suit the deeper drama of the story at all. 

Grade: C+