Immortal Sergeant #6 Review

 

Writer: Joe Kelly

Artist & Cover Artist: Ken Niimura

Publisher: Image

Price: $3.99

Release Date: June 14, 2023

 

Thirty-five years ago, a judge let Aaron "Crusher" Birdsall walk after he killed a child. At least James Sergeant believes he murdered the girl. He’s kept her file and tiny shoe in his glovebox ever since. Now, on the eve of his retirement and with his son Michael at his side, he's tracking Crusher’s brother outside his jurisdiction. Is what he’s doing even legal? Let’s investigate Immortal Sergeant #6 and find out!

 

Story

Instead of attending his retirement dinner, James and Michael followed a bus into Mexico. Now they’re at another bus stop. James learns the bus will stop next in Atlanta. Michael worries James won’t stop until he kills Crusher. Michael's use of the F word in the Men's room provokes a tapping foot from the man in the next stall. His father suggests that he inherited his gay inclinations from his mother, who left him for a woman. In frustration, Michael grabs his car keys and runs to let Harold escape.

 

After last time's family drama involving Michael's mother and wife, Immortal Sergeant #6 focuses on James and Michael’s complicated relationship. Ensconced in his jurisdiction, James surrounded himself with others who understood and accepted his faults. Now he stands on Michael's turf. People see James from Michael's perspective. It’s an epic confrontation, and the tension doesn’t relent until Michael learns why James always made his birthdays a misery.

 

Art

Ken Niimura injects drama, trauma, and action in this thirty-seven-page Black-and-White Politically Incorrect cartoon. Dinosaurs tower over the unnamed bus stop. Michael’s billowy hair stands tall when he’s shocked. Like Mr. Fantastic, his face swells, and his arms lengthen when he strikes his father and runs. Movement lines accompany the action. Yet a stream of white gushes from Michael's bent silhouette to show he’s not as fit as he claims.

 

Uppercase words inhabit spherical and spiked dialogue balloons. Except for the lowest voices, the words are easy to read. Sound effects help us feel Michael slam into his father, hear James step in his son’s vomit, and shock us when Harold's bus roars away.

 

Final Thoughts

Immortal Sergeant #6 reminds us of the toll fighting crime places on families. It helps us understand why police stand by each other when their actions bend the rules or break the law. What wrongs might we do if we saw villains harm the innocent daily but couldn't intervene because of laws and regulations?

 

Rating 7/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Immortal Sergeant #5 Review

 

Writer: Joe Kelly

Artist & Cover Artist: Ken Niimura

Publisher: Image

Price: $3.99

Release Date: May 17, 2023

 

Michael's accompanying his estranged father, James Sergeant, on a road trip. His wife, Val, can’t understand why the mild-mannered internet game designer would help his uncouth, irascible father apprehend a suspect in a case so cold it’s icy. Is what they’re doing even legal? Let’s ignore police regulations, investigate Immortal Sergeant #5, and find out!

 

Hey, don’t taze me, Bro. I'm just the reviewer!

 

Story

The suspect: Aaron "Crusher" Birdsall. Drug dealer, scumbag, murderer. Accused of killing his child, the judge let him walk. After he left the court, James never saw him again. Aaron’s brother Harold likewise disappeared. That is until James spotted him in a bar in issue #3. James kept the victim's shoe in his glove box for 35 years. Suddenly, days before retirement, he's got a shot

 at justice for 1-year-old Lateisha.

 

Instead of attending his retirement dinner, James follows a bus into Mexico. While he doesn't want to admit it—even to himself—he wants his son by his side. Perhaps he hopes that this trip will bring them closer together. But the gulf between them will take a long time to cross. 

 

Racial profiling, cultural and gender stereotypes, white cops versus the black community: it’s all grist for the mill in Immortal Sergeant #5.

 

Art

Ken Niimura delivers a hard-hitting story that tackles broken families and politically incorrectness as a thirty-five-page Black-and-White cartoon. You can feel the tension rise when James shows Michael Lateisha’s shoe. You smile as Michael bonds with a sombrero-wearing clerk over his game. Fireworks enliven Michael's confrontation with his father over police ethics. Scenes at Michael's mother's house, where Rhoda tells Val why she divorced James, draw you in.

 

The uppercase words in spherical dialogue balloons are easy to read and follow. Music notes accompany alerts from Michael's phone. Lowered voices for smaller letters infrequently appear. Occasional sound effects enliven this offensive and controversial comic. As unsophisticated as the art (and the story's primary character), the lettering eases you through Immortal Sergeant #5.

 

Final Thoughts

This issue takes a bold and unapologetic look at how police relate to their families and the public. It tackles corruption within the American justice system and reminds us how the generation gap often becomes the Grand Canyon. There’s a lot wrong with James Sergeant, as the remnants of his family will readily attest. But there’s not a lot wrong with Immortal Sergeant #5.

 

Rating 8/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.