Head Wounds: Sparrow

Partially conceived by actor Oscar Isaac, this propulsive but cluttered series opener piles on ripe genre elements but feels more like a pitch idea than an organic story. The world-weary narration of New Orleans cop Leo (“We’re just garbage people”) sets the tone for an overbaked plot about crooked police, political corruption, and homicidal ghosts. Leo’s got plenty of skeletons he wants to keep hidden, including an affair with the wife of a fellow officer, but sins of his past keep showing up as phantasms only he sees. His frazzled psyche takes another hit when a cop is shot to death, but every time Leo looks in the mirror, he envisions it’s him who has the bleeding head wound. In a Christmas Carol–like twist, Leo is told by a spirit that the only way out of his purgatory is to do what he has not done for awhile: “Your job.” Bayou mansions, a ghostly gang fight, and an Eyes Wide Shut–style shindig launch it all well over the top. The art by Eisner winner Christian Ward (the Invisible Kingdom series) is spooky, kinetic, and psychedelic, nearly making up for clunky dialogue by Buccelato (the Cannibal series). Though more goes wrong than right in this messy misfire, the creators at least erred on the side of much-too-much rather than not-enough. (Aug.)