‘U.S.Agent #5’ (review)

Written by Christopher Priest
Art by Georges Jeanty
Published by Marvel Comics

I really wish this miniseries were longer than five issues.

Because it feels like there was more story to tell, with interesting characters, and yet I was lost on some of the pages.

Who is April Manning?

He’s a bit of a wild card, a Black man with conservative politics who appears to have turned society’s anti-blackness upon himself.

A heart-wrenching flashback proves as much, when his explanation of police brutality twists into a survivors’ guilt.

Manning aka The Saint aka the new U.S.Agent sees himself as someone who defied all odds and had to work twice as hard as John Walker to attain the mantle.

What is Kate Walker’s deal?

Ultimately, did we just stop at “she’s gone crazy” without hearing from her what the deal is and why she’s unleashing S.H.I.E.L.D. secrets?

All this happens while, yes, there’s still a giant blue dragon-like kaiju running rampant, a side effect of the government’s secret super-soldier serum experiments, John says in passing.

But what happens to the kaiju? Last we see it, the monster crashed into the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier and then is falling toward Ephraim, West Virginia. The helicarrier crashes for sure, but what happens after that?

The interviews with the townspeople continue, but for what? This time we get one, Stubbs Tate, who is telling us what happened after the end of the previous issue. But he tells the story out of order, and frames some of the story as what he supposes had happened.

Kate has orchestrated the release of the kaiju and manipulated Manning to help her gain access to the classified site, but to what end? I think the script does more show than tell, giving us a handful of panels amid the fighting.

John says it was the fuel cell-induced psychosis for why Kate hatched this scheme, but his handler still says otherwise.

I wish I could tell you more of what the scheme was about, but I can’t.

I’m sorry, I just didn’t get this book or how it was supposed to come together for John Walker’s characterization as a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll.

Ephraim appears to be destroyed, we never got a sense of who was interviewing the townsfolk (presumably S.H.I.E.L.D.?), and I don’t remember Kate’s motivations beyond what John said they might be in relation to the family’s tragedy regarding military service and empty self-sacrifice.

This felt like a bunch of interesting concepts thrown together that ultimately meant not a lot.