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The 'Nam
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The 'Nam
The 'Nam is a war comic book series detailing the U.S. war in Vietnam from the perspective of active-duty soldiers involved in the conflict. It was initially written by Doug Murray, illustrated by Michael Golden and edited by Larry Hama, and was published by Marvel Comics for seven years beginning in 1986, which was intended to roughly parallel the analogous events of the period of major American military involvement in Vietnam from 1965 to 1973.
The comic was initially structured as the narrative of a fictional soldier, Private First Class Edward Marks (but sometimes following other characters), as he experiences real events that occurred during the conflict. Each issue of the comic occurs one month after the previous issue, detailing events that occurred approximately 20 years prior to the publication date.
The events depicted are sometimes famous ones, such as the Tet Offensive of 1968, and sometimes more personal ones, depicting the interaction between soldiers or between soldiers and the local populace of Vietnam, or between soldiers and their families, friends and others in the United States.
Some of the stories are typical of those in war comics of any era, such as the interaction with a callous officer or a description of combat, while others are unique to Vietnam, such as the experience of soldiers on leave bearing the personal burden of animosity from civilians opposed to the war. Issue #8 introduced the character of Frank Verzyl, the Tunnel Rat, who appeared again briefly in #26.
Vietnam War veteran Larry Hama contacted fellow vet Doug Murray in 1984 about doing a Vietnam War series for his black-and-white magazine, Savage Tales Vol. 2. Hama teamed Murray up with artist Michael Golden and together they created "The 5th to the 1st", which was well received.
In 1986, Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter approached Hama with a mock-up of a comic book cover that was, as Hama remembers, "a color copy of the artwork from a G.I. Joe cover, one that showed an Infantryman in camo face paint peering through dense jungle foliage. A logo had been pasted over the art that read: THE 'NAM." Shooter told Hama to come up with a book to go along with the cover and produce it. Hama suggested that Murray put together a proposal for a regular comic book about the Vietnam War. Hama specified that the series would play out in real time, such that no one character would remain in the series for longer than 12 issues (since during the Vietnam War soldiers returned home after the completion of a 364-day tour of duty), and that it should be as realistic as possible. Murray has stated that having the series take place in real time was a joint decision between him and Hama. He said, "[l]iterally everybody had a calendar that kept track of how long they had to go in-country. I really wanted a way to kind of reflect that in the comic book." Though he chose Murray and Golden for the series in part because of their having done "The 5th to the 1st", Hama has denied that The 'Nam itself in any way sprang from "The 5th to the 1st", and mentioned that he did not think Shooter was even aware of those stories.
Golden was planning to work on Batman for DC Comics when Hama pitched him the concept for the comic book. Golden had grown tired of drawing superheroes and was looking to do something different: "Being part of that generation, I wanted to do this." Murray was surprised when Shooter greenlit the series, but felt that he "wanted to try different experiments in different subgenres". Even then, Murray figured that it might last for 12 issues, but it sold quite well, with the first issue outselling X-Men the month it came out. The series had a publicity coup when The Washington Post did a big write-up on the first issue's release, which was picked up by other newspapers across the country; it was rare that the mainstream press gave significant recognition to doings in the comic book industry.
Murray wanted to work on a Comics Code-approved series in order to reach a broader audience. He said, "I wanted a way to at least tell a part of the story to the kids and maybe get other people to talk about it as well." However, because of the Code, he was not able to address things like drug use or include swearing. Hama and Murray wanted to ignore politics and focus on the war from the average foot soldier's point of view. Murray said that the comic was "a pretty accurate view of the way the average soldier looked at the war. It was outside ordinary experience. The world was elsewhere."
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The 'Nam
The 'Nam is a war comic book series detailing the U.S. war in Vietnam from the perspective of active-duty soldiers involved in the conflict. It was initially written by Doug Murray, illustrated by Michael Golden and edited by Larry Hama, and was published by Marvel Comics for seven years beginning in 1986, which was intended to roughly parallel the analogous events of the period of major American military involvement in Vietnam from 1965 to 1973.
The comic was initially structured as the narrative of a fictional soldier, Private First Class Edward Marks (but sometimes following other characters), as he experiences real events that occurred during the conflict. Each issue of the comic occurs one month after the previous issue, detailing events that occurred approximately 20 years prior to the publication date.
The events depicted are sometimes famous ones, such as the Tet Offensive of 1968, and sometimes more personal ones, depicting the interaction between soldiers or between soldiers and the local populace of Vietnam, or between soldiers and their families, friends and others in the United States.
Some of the stories are typical of those in war comics of any era, such as the interaction with a callous officer or a description of combat, while others are unique to Vietnam, such as the experience of soldiers on leave bearing the personal burden of animosity from civilians opposed to the war. Issue #8 introduced the character of Frank Verzyl, the Tunnel Rat, who appeared again briefly in #26.
Vietnam War veteran Larry Hama contacted fellow vet Doug Murray in 1984 about doing a Vietnam War series for his black-and-white magazine, Savage Tales Vol. 2. Hama teamed Murray up with artist Michael Golden and together they created "The 5th to the 1st", which was well received.
In 1986, Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter approached Hama with a mock-up of a comic book cover that was, as Hama remembers, "a color copy of the artwork from a G.I. Joe cover, one that showed an Infantryman in camo face paint peering through dense jungle foliage. A logo had been pasted over the art that read: THE 'NAM." Shooter told Hama to come up with a book to go along with the cover and produce it. Hama suggested that Murray put together a proposal for a regular comic book about the Vietnam War. Hama specified that the series would play out in real time, such that no one character would remain in the series for longer than 12 issues (since during the Vietnam War soldiers returned home after the completion of a 364-day tour of duty), and that it should be as realistic as possible. Murray has stated that having the series take place in real time was a joint decision between him and Hama. He said, "[l]iterally everybody had a calendar that kept track of how long they had to go in-country. I really wanted a way to kind of reflect that in the comic book." Though he chose Murray and Golden for the series in part because of their having done "The 5th to the 1st", Hama has denied that The 'Nam itself in any way sprang from "The 5th to the 1st", and mentioned that he did not think Shooter was even aware of those stories.
Golden was planning to work on Batman for DC Comics when Hama pitched him the concept for the comic book. Golden had grown tired of drawing superheroes and was looking to do something different: "Being part of that generation, I wanted to do this." Murray was surprised when Shooter greenlit the series, but felt that he "wanted to try different experiments in different subgenres". Even then, Murray figured that it might last for 12 issues, but it sold quite well, with the first issue outselling X-Men the month it came out. The series had a publicity coup when The Washington Post did a big write-up on the first issue's release, which was picked up by other newspapers across the country; it was rare that the mainstream press gave significant recognition to doings in the comic book industry.
Murray wanted to work on a Comics Code-approved series in order to reach a broader audience. He said, "I wanted a way to at least tell a part of the story to the kids and maybe get other people to talk about it as well." However, because of the Code, he was not able to address things like drug use or include swearing. Hama and Murray wanted to ignore politics and focus on the war from the average foot soldier's point of view. Murray said that the comic was "a pretty accurate view of the way the average soldier looked at the war. It was outside ordinary experience. The world was elsewhere."