The Hero No One Needs or Wants
U.S. Agent Issues #1–2
John Walker, aka U.S. Agent, was created in the 80’s. First he was Superpatriot, a Reganesque counterpart to Marvel’s Captain America who took over for the Captain in a controversial storyline that had at least one dear friend of mine drop the series for good out of disgust. Walker didn’t perform or cope well at all, and he gave up the shield little over a year later. Without writer and co-creator Mark Guenwald guiding the character, U.S. Agent since has mostly been a whipping boy and punchline for both the writers and audience over the last three decades. That might change with the new limited series by writer Priest and artists Georges Jeanty and Karl Story. Maybe not by much, but I appreciate the difference two issues in.
With Trump being the latest but surely not last product of the Regan era, 2020 was the perfect time for U.S. Agent to make a comeback. Add in Agent’s background as a showman turned very flawed hero to pallet swapped Captain America clone (excluding his time in a costume that seemed like a Judge Dredd pallet swap). Mix in the fact that many of Trump’s base have also pallet swapped red white and blue for mostly black like Agent, and you have a…
