These three issues mark the beginning of Larry Hama’s run, and the first thing he does is introduce a new black character named “Rage.” It makes for some faintly interesting, albeit heavy-handed, race discussions between the Harlem hero and Captain America.
I’m not sure if comics are a medium that can really engage well in a complex social issue like race–at least not monthly comics. The X-Men did, in a way, but it took years of development and even then there were times when the books seemed preachy and didactic.
![](https://earthsmightiestblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/1st-Rage.png)
Anyway, Rage’s arguments are well made–even if his dialect is slanted.
Most of these issues are about Rage–developing his character and fighting drug dealers in Harlem. But there’s also a nuclear-based threat that brings the team to another dimension, and the government revokes The Avengers’ license-to-be-superheroes. The two storylines together are kind of telling: Larry Hama is a street-story writer, and now he’s on a cosmic team. The cosmic nature of The Avengers is at odds with the overall direction of Marvel, which is towards gritty, violent books. Is there a place for The Avengers in the early ’90s?
And Diamondback and Sersi fight over the right to flirt with Captain America, who seems to be over his relationship with Diamondback.
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Marvel had high hopes for this run–and launched it in conjunction with a new team on Avengers West Coast. The issues got a full cover feature in Marvel Age #93.
![](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/1/1b/Marvel_Age_Vol_1_93.jpg)
Hama is dressed like GI Joe, which is what he was then famous for, and Thomas is in a Dr. Strange cloak, because that was his other monthly series at the time.