U.S.Agent: American Zealot

U.S.Agent (2020) #1-5

by Christopher J. Priest, Georges Jeanty (Artist)

The super-soldier you love to hate! John Walker, the one-time Captain America and former U.S.Agent, has been stripped of his official status and is now operating as an independent government contractor protecting covert interests. Now, Walker’s latest security detail draws him into a conflict between a small town and the corporate giant trying to destroy it. Along the way, Walker acquires a new partner and new enemy — while being haunted by ghosts from his past and confronting challenges to his future. But when he abandons his assigned mission and heads to Washington to confront the politicians who engineered his firing, a ruthless and enigmatic new U.S.Agent arrives to take over — and is willing to destroy anything and anyone who gets in his way!

COLLECTING: U.S.Agent (2020) 1-5

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Fiction

112 pages, Paperback

Published June 22, 2021

About the author

Formerly (before 1993) known as James or Jim Owsley.

Christopher James Priest is a critically acclaimed novelist and comic book writer. Priest is the first African-American writer and editor for Marvel and DC Comics. His groundbreaking Black Panther series was lauded by Entertainment Weekly and The Village Voice and will serve as the basis for the 2018 Marvel Cinematic Universe adaption.

Besides Black Panther, Priest has written comics for Conan, Steel, Green Lantern, The Crew and edited The Amazing Spider-Man. He also co-created Quantum & Woody along with Mark Bright and co-founded Milestone Media.

After a decade long hiatus he is currently writing comic books again and recently concluded a stint writing the comic book Deathstroke (2016-2019).

In addition to being a writer, Christopher J. Priest is also a baptist minister.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so much better than I was expecting it to be. I’m not a big fan of John Walker; he’s a good foil for Steve Rogers and thorn-in-the-side for the Avengers but I really wasn’t that interested in him having his own book.

Priest did a great job of this series, though, showing the complexities of the politics involved without ever totally vilifying or canonising either side. This will come as no surprise to anyone who read his seminal Black Panther run.

It was great to see Georges Jeanty drawing for Marvel again, too, although I’m not convinced Karl Story is his best inker.

There’s plenty of action here and the pace doesn’t let up for a minute. I really liked this one but it’s probably best avoided for all you folks who ‘don’t like politics in your comicbooks’.

[Petergiaquinta · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to admit I got a little excited when I saw Christopher Priest's name on the cover of this U.S.Agent volume.

After all, Priest has a keen eye for skewering the absurdities at the core of American society, particularly those related to race and politics, and his ’90s run on Black Panther is legendary. So who better to take on the reactionary numbskull John Walker, a sort of anti-matter, through-the-looking-glass evil twin of Steve Rogers? Priest was the first African-American writer for Marvel (and still one of the few in the industry), and I was really looking forward to seeing what he would do with U.S.Agent against the backdrop of MAGA, George Floyd, and Covid-19.

Based on my recent read of Priest's ground breaking '90s work on Black Panther (I’ve also recently read a team-up Priest wrote as James Owlsey back in the ‘80s, dropping Wolverine and Spider-man into Cold War East Berlin), I was eager to see what he would do with the figure of John Walker, U.S.Agent. For those of you unfamiliar with Walker, picture what Captain America might have been like if the super-soldier project that created him had been administered by the inept, neo-fascist Trump regime instead of FDR. (Yeah, yeah, I know, True Believers, cool your jets; Walker is a product of the Reagan years, but Priest is writing in 2020.) So, in case you've never heard of him or haven’t seen his recent incarnation in the Disney Plus series Falcon and the Winter Soldier, John Walker is a rather troubled take on the American super soldier with some self-esteem issues and a skewed sense of patriotism. Working in the shadow of Captain America, Walker's not all that bright, and while he may want to do well, he's sadly ineffective, jingoistic, and unhinged. Sound familiar? Christopher Priest could really go to town on this American anti-superhero douchebag, and at first the story does everything I was hoping for. But that didn't last long.

American Zealot starts off in media res, I suppose you could say, and then the narrative is told in a frenetic series of flashbacks with changing perspectives, much like Priest does in his earlier Black Panther work. It’s effective and funny and draws the reader in as a collection of small-town folk from Ephraim, West Virginia, are interviewed, and they piece together a familiar small-town America story: the coal mine shut down; unemployment skyrocketed; the local economy withered; Ephraim began to die; then Amazon came to town, bought the land, and built a major installation there (“Virago” in the comic, lololo), complete with airfield. Hopes were raised; however, the new company invested nothing into the lifeblood of Ephraim and, to add insult to injury, the facility was granted tax-exempt status by the government. That all sounds kind of familiar too.

In response, the disillusioned townsfolk decide to blow up the facility’s power plant, except there’s one big problem. This isn’t an Amazon/Virago facility at all. It’s a top-secret SHIELD installation built over the mine where something quite terrible is being contained by the government, and now the containment field has been damaged which leads to John Walker being reactivated by some government flunky who's been playing video games all day at his dead-end office job. One bad thing leads to another, and none of it is really worth talking about here. But as one of the townsfolk says, “Our town got wrecked first by corporate greed…then by our own government hiding that thing just outside of town.” And then John Walker shows up, and things get even worse.

Priest’s biting satire of small-town stupidity, rapacious American capitalism, overbearing government inefficiency, and free-flowing bigotry of all shapes and sizes ends with a lot of violence and absolutely nothing changing for the better in Ephraim. Some of it’s for laughs and some of it is quite serious, but by setting the story in this small West Virginia coal mining town, Priest shows how painfully prescient he can be here where he has one of his characters say, “The system is set up so that a handful of hicks in the middle of nowhere can hold the rest of the country hostage. That has to end.” You listening, Joe Manchin?

It also has me wondering a bit about what’s going on beneath the major Amazon facility built in my own town.

However, despite the potential Priest shows in American Zealot and the promise with which it opens, the storyline fizzles and the volume ends with a resounding thud. There are some good moments here, and the way super soldier April Manning transforms from a nerdy tech capitalist Steve Urkel/Jobs to a Jim Brown style blaxploitation leading man complete with soul brother 'stache is pretty humorous, but like with everything else in this volume, it goes absolutely nowhere meaningful or interesting.

I also don’t want to give it all away here, but what we eventually discover is going on in this abandoned coal mine turned into secret SHIELD facility is just stupid beyond comprehension. So I don’t know if Priest ran out of steam or didn't like where things were going, but once he got all the balls up in the air, he couldn’t figure out what to do with them, and it all collapses into major dumbness, which could have been the name of another super soldier introduced into this story if it had gone on any longer. I finished the book feeling like I’d been set up and duped, just like those good folks of Ephraim, West Virginia.

[Blindzider · Rating 2 out of 5]

Obviously this was an attempt to capitalize on the success of the character in Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

However, for anyone new to the character, this doesn't do a very good job of endearing him to the readers. He comes across as a little bit of an idiot, not the smartest hero, just sort of fumbling through the situation. Walker only wants to help, so he's pure in that aspect, but he's a flawed Steve Rogers. He knows what is right to do but can't seem to figure out how to go about it without getting himself into a situation and one that he can't get out of.

The structure of this series is a little odd, constantly jumping back and forth very abruptly, following three or four characters simultaneously, a couple of whom are brand new. It's a lot to take in and there isn't a lot of characterization.

Priest is seemingly knowledgable about many things, or at least did some research, throwing out facts, specs, or ideas that required in-story explanation or an editorial caption to explain (which has generally been done away with for many years, at least in Marvel Comics.). Priest also makes commentary on racism, fascism, corporate greed and a few other things.

The art is pretty good though, maybe slightly better than average, with some even stronger cover art. The cover art sort of tricks you, showcasing a strong and powerful figure, but the story just doesn't deliver, leaving the reader disappointed.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hoo boy, kind of a confused/confusing mess that treats its title character with complete contempt from the word go without ever taking the time for showing or telling why.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cool look into John, the U.S. Semi-Racist warrior of "justice" maybe?

So John is having no luck as always. Thrown into multiple situations where he's booed by people, pushed around by the goverment, used as a symbol, and also arguing with his sister over political things because...well...he's John.

This was pretty fun in all. A little disjointed, but that's just Priest for you. Some crazy cool fight scenes and nice twist in a otherwise okay ending of a plot. I think it's a decent read if you're a Cap fan or somehow a John fan, or like Priest writing, which I do.

A 3 out of 5.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The bones of a fun story are apparent in American Zealot, but the storytelling method obscures the fun. US Agent is in small town America to stop a mysterious SHIELD project from being unleashed. At odds with him are his sister, a new US Agent named "The Saint," and US Agent's old government handler. Oh, and a pizza delivery guy who might be more than he appears, but is mostly just weird comic relief.

American Zealot might be a stronger read if you know US Agent's backstory, including who his sister is, why he was canned from the role, and what's been going on with SHIELD. The book might also be a stronger read if the dialogue wasn't broken into one sentence chunks and often coming from off-screen. It's never quite clear who is talking to who and too much of the time it's pointless quips anyway.

The art in American Zealot is good, but that can't make up for a truly confusing story. I couldn't tell you what actually happened when all the pieces came together. Interspersed interviews with the hick locals doesn't help explain the complex state of affairs. The ending claims US Agent will return, but I won't be.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 5 out of 5]

O Agente Americano estreou no MCU na série Soldado Invernal e Falcão e a Marvel Comics resolveu capitalizar em cima deste fato trazendo mais uma minissérie estrelada por John Walker, o Agente Americano original. Para essa tarefa, escolheram os veteranos quadrinistas negros Christopher Priest e Georges Jeanty, que trouxeram uma trama política, longe dos grandes centros, numa cidade recheada de rednecks (no Brasil escolheram o termo "capiau") ignorantes, eleitores de Donald Trump - uma alusão que serve também para os eleitores de Bolsonaro nas grotas do Brasil. Priest e Jeanty trabalham um trama divertida, cheia de crítica politica, mas que absove o leitor de tal forma, que é possível ter simpatia pelo Agente Americano. Tambem trazem novos personagens para interagir com o protagonista da história e essa interação é o cerne da história. O personagem Estrela Negra, antigo Bucky de Walker, também está presente na trama. Ao finalizar a história o leitor fica com muita vontade de saber mais sobre o futuro e, claro, o passado de John Walker o Agente Americano, que agora não tem mais nenhuma ligação com o governo estadunidense. Ótima HQ!

[Marcus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but very confusing

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collects U.S.Agent (2020) issues #1-5

In the 1990s, I was reading both "West Coast Avengers" and "Force Works," and U.S. Agent was a member of both of those teams. Because of this childhood connection to the character, I really wanted to like this miniseries, but unfortunately, it was just OK.

[Keegan Schueler · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Walker is a cool character and this story he basically gets trashed on by everyone but he keeps pushing through.

[Garrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Defintiely a USAgent story for the time we're living in. Racism and ideology mix together in the worst way as everyone percieves everyone else as The Other, and takes steps to preserve what they see as crucial. Art in this compelling, and while the voices sometimes seem caricatured, it's easy to hear them also as real people. These are real arguments that I've heard people make. Christopher Priest's tales are never simplistic, and this one is no exception, with words, names and motivations that don't fully come together until almost right at the end, and also managing to bring some of the silly stuff in the Marvel U to the table and make it relevant and smart.

[J.M. Giovine · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a mess of a mini-series. I was eager to see what a “USAgent” modern series could be like, but the result, I must say, was not that satisfying. I’m not that familiar with the character of John Walker, aside from his introduction in the late 80s, only to gain the title of “Captain America” for a while, until he became “USAgent” later on. The idea behind his alter ego is that, from being a replacement of Cap’s, he then became a tool for the government, like an alternative officer that doesn’t share Cap’s rightful ideas, but also, Walker’s character is being described as someone who’s willing to do the right thing. So, in essence, he’s Captain America’s anti-hero version. Now, the main issue regarding “American Zealot”, is that we’re witnessing a “freelancer version” of the USAgent. Walker no longer owns the title, but he is still working under contracts, and he’s been called to investigate the destruction of a fake facility in a town from West Virginia, called Ephraim, whose inhabitants are mostly rednecks who cherish and praises Captain America, so Walker’s presence is received with reverence, to say the least. However, Walker will soon be involved in a plot manufactured by the people he used to work for, as well as his long-lost sister, and the new “USAgent”, who it seems is the first of his kind in the field. Oh, and there’s like a random Chinese- born in America- who seems to know a thing or two about martial arts and might be more important than Walker thinks.
As I said, “mess” is the proper word to describe this. Priest’s screenplay is fun but, at the same time, feels all over the place, with a structure that made me think he tried to mimic Garth Ennis, since tonally this feels quite inconsistent, trying to be a commentary, a satirical action story, and an irreverent political comedy, but never really achieving it. There are good ideas in this, and a part of me would’ve wanted to see them unfold properly in a much better worked script. Priest’s take on John Walker is almost a parody, and I had a lot of trouble taking him seriously as a protagonist in this. He seems to be the kind of modern-day character that, because of his roots and what he believes in, cannot by any chance be the kind of protagonist with a certain imposing respect, and every single side-character needs to be smarter, cleverer, stronger, and well, righteous. There is a lot of mockery toward rednecks, and Walker being one of them, so obviously Priest decided to grant the rest of the characters with a gender and racial variety, from his Asian friend, to his sister, and her husband, at one point the series turns into a sort of “Black people’s pride” speech because of the current USAgent having an agenda against “Battlestar” and, well, I don’t know, suddenly Walker became the least interesting character and, truth is, he can be as interesting as other anti-heroes, like Punisher, or even Winter Soldier, is just that writing isn’t doing any favors to him.
The art department matches the writing-quality, and Georges Jeanty’s pencils are severely affected by the contrast with the cover-work, which was done by Marco Checchetto, and the thing is, Checchetto is one of the best current artists working in Marvel at the time. I’d say, maybe with his artwork in the interiors the story could’ve improved, but it would’ve turned out to be another mediocre story with the art salvaging it. I guess I prefer that instead of an equally mediocre story and art, especially in a mini-series, since a long run has the opportunity to improve eventually. I don’t know, there was something in here that could’ve been a decent, or even good story; a definitive take on the character of Walker, something in the lines of what previous Captain America stories have achieved, hell, I mentioned how Priest tried to mimic Ennis’ style, well, Ennis could’ve given this a better treatment story wise, I’m sure of that, the guy is a master at depicting and exploring anti-heroes. I think the only reason “Falcon & the Winter Soldier” series felt like a better experience was because of the art, but in terms of story, I’m placing these two titles in a similar pedestal. Not a horrible story by any means but its Marvel at its dullest all over again.

[Ivan Lex · Rating 1 out of 5]

I will be very brief with this, USA is probably the most boring comic I have read this year, I know that making a good story with a character as uncharismatic as John Walker is extremely difficult and that is reflected in this book, there was simply impossible to found something interesting or shocking here... what's more, I don't know why the hell I bought this hahaha ...



The part of the new U.S. Agent was a little better, but… I still don't think this book is worth reading for just that.

[Hilary "Fox" · Rating 2 out of 5]

US Agent is an incredibly interesting character. He's a flawed Steve Rogers, the man who wants to do the right thing but often has zero clue about how exactly to do it. This time is no different. He's called into a small mining town that's in trouble as a joke, and he does the best with what little he has. He comes off as dumber than he should be, but with his heart in the right place. That's US Agent I guess.

The comic is dealing with a lot of important issues that I would love to see dug into. SHIELD is taking advantage of this small no-name town, and the people have had enough of it. There are issues of race and poverty dug into, as well as issues with military jurisdiction and how mega-corporations work against the interest of the people. All of this is great, and it's unfortunately made nearly unreadable due to formatting.

The story jumps from character to character with next to no indication that it's doing so and many of the characters are totally new and never even introduced. It's... difficult to make sense of it and at times made me think that maybe pages were missing. If the formatting was cleared up this would be a pretty solid comic, even with it doing John Walker dirty here and there.

As it is, it was just so confusing. :(

[Alex Sarll]

Because pretty much anyone making their MCU debut gets a miniseries - though given that bloody boat got almost as much screen time as John Walker, I'm surprised it hasn't had one yet. The reason I read this, though, is the writer - Priest. Responsible for the definitive Black Panther run, many of whose tricks - from little tells like caption panels, to big thematic stuff like race and economics as engines for superhero stories - he uses again here. If not with such success; it's as if the muscles are stiff, and the non-linear structure which felt ingenious there is too often just choppy here. And Jeanty's art is likewise a long way from his best, which doesn't help. Still, in amongst the unnecessary confusion, there's some lovely bits and pieces, from the idea of a not-Amazon distribution hub as the perfect cover for a black ops facility, to the running joke about Walker's sub-par shield(s). At the heart of it all, the depressingly plausible notion that even a character brought in to replace Steve Rogers when Rogers no longer felt he could represent what America had become, and often played as a boneheaded jingoist, is now uneasy with the state of the modern USA.

[Anirudh Kharvi · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 really, but who's complaining?

One thing I have to say about Priest is that he's really, really smart about political discussions. No weakening any one side to make his preferred side win, no straw men, just people with flaws and flawed ideologies bickering, and it's amazing.

John Walker is pretty much what you'd expect a right-leaning soldier from the South to be. Not a caricature, because that's too easy. In some sense, he's the voice for the disillusioned right-wing working class, race no bar.

And on the other end, we have Saint/April Manning. And I love the whole radicalization metaphor presented through him and Walker's sister. It's not about politics — it's more often than not, personal. Personal trauma, substance abuse, etc.

That being said, it feels like I have to know what's going on at that moment in other titles to get an idea of what's going in the background. Like Kaijus. Then there's the whole crazy non-linear storytelling — takes getting used to.

Overall, would recommend. Like any good piece of art, there's no easy answers to these political ideas.

[OMNIBUS GOD · Rating 3 out of 5]

To kinda build some hype towards last years 'Falcon and the Winter Solider.' T.V. show, marvel got Christopher Priest to do a mini-series on John Walker, the U.S. Agent. Well in this story he is the FORMER U.S. Agent. He gets a called in as a "joke" to investigate something in a rural town. He's partnered by a pizza delivery guy who might be more than just a pizza delivery guy, sees his sister after a long time, and is confronted by the new U.S. Agent. The story felt a bit all over the place at times however Priest wraps it all up as the issues go on. I thought the dialogue in this read was solid and pretty funny too. It wasn't anything crazy story wise but Priest keeps the book entertaining for the most part. The artwork is done by Georges Jeanty (excluding issue #1 done by Matthew Rosenberg). I actually found the artwork to be fun! It wasn't anything that caught my attention too much at first but it for sure grew on me as I read on. Certainly got me interested to check out more of Jeanty's work. All in all it was a pretty fun read, nothing to go crazy about but was at least fun.

[Jiro Dreams of Suchy · Rating 3 out of 5]

So many good ideas - smaller scale story focusing on B and C marvel characters in a unique setting and plotted like a crime documentary. Really enjoyed some of the moral debates from both sides and made me think.

The bad is such a comic cliche that this story doesn’t REALLY make sense without a few other stories and comic tie ins.

Had this been a standalone story about John Walker coming to terms with HIS America and dealing with bureaucracy AND superpowers- this would be one of my favorites but instead it tries to tie in to a larger narrative from the marvel world.

Let John Walker explore the American countryside but without needing anything outside of the comic issues collected! 🇺🇸

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Walker is not an easy character to like, purposely. Christopher Priest does a decent job of humanizing him. Priest's political books are almost always good and the themes resonate here but the overall plot is kind of bananas. Its also filled with multiple big reveals that were meaningless due to them being characters never before seen. There was some interesting family drama, excellent fight scenes, & surprising comedy but there were a ton of weird choices, Morrie being one of the biggest. Jeanty's art was very good, especially the new USAgent designs. Overall, certainly not something I expect to reread anytime soon but entertaining enough.

[Andrei · Rating 1 out of 5]

Came into this book knowing only vaguely that John Walker was some sort of a douchebag anti-hero type who replaced Cap for a while in the 80s and then went on to do his own thing as US Agent, and seeing the depiction of this character in the Falcon & Winter Soldier TV show.

I'm not sure what else I was supposed to know or have read about him, but this plot was absolute nonsense. Moreover, the way this story is written is just confusing - there's a lot of weird & unnecessary time jumps in the main plot, characters that show up out of the blue with no explanation about who they are or why they're relevant, flashbacks that don't add anything of note, interview-style narration in redneck language and I could go on. Avoid this comic, unless you want to read everything US Agent-related.

[Miga Avalos · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really was hoping I'd end up liking the book. I found a weird fascination to Walker ever since Falcon and the winter soldier and I ended up reading his tenure as captain america and ended up liking it. It was fascinating to see a man be captain america who realllllly shouldn't be. But I didn't end up liking this book. The storytelling was....choppy and confusing. Characters appeared and did not end up contributing to the story.

[Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't how you reintroduce a character to people after years of questionable use. It's pretty obvious they were jumping onto the opportunity that the Disney+ show provided. This seems pretty slapped together at the last minute.

Hopefully they can amend things in future stories. I don't know how many anti-heroes Marvel needs that aren't really likeable.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this. Maybe it's just me but I dont get Christopher Priest. I thought this was a mess of a story that bounced all over the place. I like the character but this was not good.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid comic. Art did the job.

Falls into similar tropes that collected editions of mini series have too easily.
Family member in strife - check. Someone else using the heroes name - check.
This last one I find particularly annoying. Find something new to write about.

[bwain_twauma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of potential but in the end it didn't really do it for me. I also think there's a lot of nuance in this story that's probably gonna fly above the average comic book fan's head. Big fan of Priest but this one was just OK 🤷‍♂️

[Eye-ra · Rating 2 out of 5]

The overall plot was… okay I guess but it felt like a jumbled disconnected mess of players and motives.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found my divided as I like the Priest style but found it driving to hard in e message.


I want to see what’s next…for Morrie!

[Megan Farve · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’d give it 2.5 stars. It felt like a hot mess to me.

[Jodie]

DNF'd

[belle · Rating 3 out of 5]

girl ok