A Marvel crossover event launched in late 2000 unfortunately took over sixteen years to catch my eye--even though its story carried considerable implications for galactic peace and was written by Kurt Busiek, who at the time was injecting The Avengers with new life and vigor. The three-issue series, stuffed as it is with a truckload of diverse characters, groups, and aliens, as well as a number of subplots, would showcase Busiek's ability to manage so many variables while dealing in such a host of characters and striving to give each their due rather than simply including them as "window dressing."
But it's one character in particular who stands out in this series, someone whom Busiek gives preferential treatment to and raises his profile substantially--and it's probably the last character you were expecting to take center stage.
Yes, John Walker, the USAgent, a character originally thrust into the spotlight when he was selected as a replacement for Captain America when Cap resigned the role due to new government demands on his activities. Cap would eventually expose the duplicity of the government commission that handed him his walking papers, followed by Walker convincing him to reclaim his shield and uniform--and from there, Walker would eventually join the west coast franchise of the Avengers as well as segueing to its spinoff, Force Works. But aside from his fervent patriotism and his tendency to rub people the wrong way, the Agent didn't enjoy much visibility or attention as a character in his own right--a situation not helped by his adoption of the uniform of "the Captain," the costumed identity Cap operated under while Walker was acting as Captain America.
With the generous exposure in the series' introduction showing him in action, we're of course given ample opportunity to sample the "new" USAgent--but it remains to be seen if Busiek can make this man into a new character that will hold our attention, to say nothing of grooming him to anchor the entire series. In terms of the latter, his journey starts with a summons to Washington by Val Cooper, who chairs the Commission on Superhuman Activities and informs Walker of the Commission's plans for the facility formerly known as the Vault--the high-tech prison designed to incarcerate super-beings, recently destroyed (in a massive breakout facilitated by the U-Foes). Instead of rebuilding, installations of enhanced security wings in existing penitentiaries across the country are set up--followed by the establishment of an oversight team to oversee all aspects of super-powered crime and imprisonment. To lead that team, Cooper already knows a man who's well qualified for the job--but he has reservations.
Cooper has clearly sweetened this deal considerably, giving Walker enormous discretion and latitude in exercising his new authority. It's a position that will play a large part in the Agent's interactions with other high-profile characters in this series.
Which brings us back to the Agent's confrontation of Piledriver*, who isn't at all happy with his brush with the law, but who's headed to a prison cell nonetheless.
*Piledriver, along with the rest of the "Wrecking Crew," had his power reclaimed by Loki, who doesn't seem like the type to relent. What gives?
But as we'll see, the Commission's new initiative on prison arrangements makes for a fitting introduction to this series--because the alien Kree have their own ideas about incarceration, plans which will put our entire world under lock and key.
Continued »»»