This is some exciting news! Marvel announced today a new U.S. Agent mini-series to debut in November, written by Christopher Priest and drawn by Stefano Landini. I’ve been a big fan of the character as of late, specifically because of a Matthew Rosenberg-penned Force Works comic from a couple months ago.

U.S. Agent is such a rough and tumble character for such a rough and tumble era of America.

That’s what has me excited. Captain America has a lot of measures he needs to meet to be Captain America. But we are in a really shitty period of American history right now. And perhaps what we need is a really shitty version of Captain America to tell this story.

Here’s Priest describing the comic:

“‘American Zealot’ is a morality play told in five acts. John Walker has been fired. Or he quit. Depends on who’s telling the story. Now finding his way as a civilian government contractor, Walker is making more money and taking more risks as he can now venture into places sanctioned agents can’t always follow,” Priest began. “However, with limited official access to intelligence data, the now-former USAgent’s missions can and often do lead him into blind alleys he’ll need to MacGyver himself out of.”

He added, “I was thrilled to be invited back to Captain America until I realized it was this guy, Cap’s scowling, emotionally damaged misfit cousin. Cousin America. But USAGENT presents an exciting writer’s challenge to explore the myriad expressions and aspirations of the American dream, how that dream is fulfilled or not, through the eyes and voices of a nation often at war with itself. John Walker is a man often at war with HIMself, so Marvel knows no better a protagonist for this journey, this stumble, this Parkour carom through the many visions of the greatest nation on Earth.”

It sounds really cool to me!

And U.S. Agent is getting a new costume as well.

Looks great! This sounds like a really fun comic. And I like the idea of Marvel putting out these quickie 5-issue mini-series to test the waters for some of their characters. We don’t need a bunch of new ongoing comics that we know are going to get cancelled within a year. Tell some quick, contained stories and tell them well.

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