Comments on: 365 Reasons to Love Comics #150

By: juno

juno — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 04:04:46 +0000

‘The Nam’ was,for me,the best thing Marvel ever did.I grew up on the classics.Spidey,the Hulk & Fantastic Four but in those days,all we ever got over here in the UK was reprinted US uncoloured stuff.
I never took all that well to superheroes but remember the feeling of following up on each adventure as the edition was published each month.
When the ‘Vietnam era’ started & the movies,books & other media were launched,I revisited my love for Marvel & ‘The Nam’ was the best Id read.
Its realism astounded me (given its compliance to the ‘comics code’)& it remains readable to this day.

Shame that other stuff like ‘The Nam’ hasnt been tried out about other conflicts…

By: Jahnke

Jahnke — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 04:25:15 +0000

I read Savage Tales during its brief run and remember The Nam from its appearances there but never read the comic. I always thought it was an odd duck on the shelves even then and in retrospect, it seems even more bizarre that Marvel would have given it the go ahead. I kind of regret not reading it when I had the chance.

By: davelevine

davelevine — Thu, 31 May 2007 22:45:54 +0000

There is one trade of the ‘Nam. I recently found it at my LCS, for cover price $5.95. What a steal! I never read it when it was first released. One look at the Michael Golden artwork and I had to buy it. Unlike many artists Golden seems to be aware of the material the art would be printed on. In places his work reminds me of Harvey Kurtzman’s on much older war books for EC.

The trade collects just the first 4 issues. Also included is an intro by Doug Murray and a glossary of military jargon.

By: ComicBookReader

ComicBookReader — Thu, 31 May 2007 21:06:10 +0000

Did Marvel ever release trades of The ‘Nam?

I remember picking up the first few issues as a kid because I was also reading the Marvel GI Joe series at the time (indeed, that was probably the biggest “war comic” at the time). I remember that many of the Joe characters like Snake Eyes were given Vietnam backgrounds/experience.

By: The Mad Monkey

The Mad Monkey — Thu, 31 May 2007 17:22:14 +0000

Yes, most of the world wants the bling before anything else. All I’m talking about is what my customers (at the time) wanted, no matter how hard I tried to steer them towards something of real value and not speculation. My comment was merely an observation of what the comic buying atmosphere was like at the time. But, from what I’ve seen, not much has changed since then.

By: The Kirbydotter

The Kirbydotter — Thu, 31 May 2007 14:54:47 +0000

I remember buying a few od the early issues.
It had some interesting elements (realistic lingo and terminology was a plus for one), the fact that creators were veterans (mostly) meant you could trust them for credibility.

I never found Doug Murray to be an effective plotter and scripter. He often fails to get me hooked into his stories. I was surprised that is was so even in NAM, where he should have been the best man for the job since he had all the experience and background to make it work. I love his work as a comic book/pulp journalist/essayist, he is probably the best in the medium in this aspect.

Micheal Golden was the reason I picked up the title in the first place. I knew he was a veteran and thought that it would be a love project for him. He probably did a great job, but the poor printing quality smudged his work and made me very frustrated to see great art spoiled that way.

This should have been a great comic, one of the top title of the war genre of comics, but it wasn’t.

The same can also be said of another Marvel title that came out not long after NAM titled SEMPER FI. Again, great artists like the young Kuberts brothers and veteran master John Severin, but not very well written stories.

Two titles I really wanted to like but couldn’t.

By: Andrew Collins

Andrew Collins — Thu, 31 May 2007 12:00:48 +0000

My only exposure to the ‘Nam comic came when I was 11 and my mom ordered me a “gift pack” of comics out of the Sears catalog that was basically just a bundle of randomally chosen Marvel comics. Issue #23, the one with the blonde on the cover pictured above, was included. I just remember thinking “What the heck is this? This isn’t a superhero comic! What a waste.” It actually turned out to not be that bad an issue, but it didn’t make me want to go back and read anymore of the series.

By: J To The AAP

J To The AAP — Thu, 31 May 2007 09:35:36 +0000

Sadly, that was my first real experience that most comic buyers want glitz and glamour rather than quality and substance.
*sigh*

I’m fairly certain that’s the case with not only comic buyers but with the majority of the population on this planet. Well, those that can afford glitz and glamour or quality anfd substance at least, the rest are busy surviving.
*sigh again*

By: The Mad Monkey

The Mad Monkey — Thu, 31 May 2007 07:20:58 +0000

I stopped reading The ‘Nam after Mike Golden left. It just didn’t have the same feel to it. I knew the end was near when Marvel tried to up the sales by adding The Punisher. As Tom Fitzpatrick (1st post) said, “a profound disappointment”.

Don Lomax did a very wonderful job with Vietnam Journal. It never really garnered the popularity of The ‘Nam, but, when I ran my comic shop (lo those many years ago), I always kept it in stock…even if it didn’t sell.
Sadly, that was my first real experience that most comic buyers want glitz and glamour rather than quality and substance.
*sigh*

By: ks

ks — Thu, 31 May 2007 05:20:29 +0000

The early issues were great, but I felt after Murray left the book that nobody else really knew what to do with it. Does anyone know why he left a title that was so obviously close to his heart?

By: thekamisama

thekamisama — Thu, 31 May 2007 04:22:16 +0000

For Scott.
Conner is correct.
In the eighties, the Spidey in the bottom corner was pretty standard on direct editions only. It had nothing to do with guest appearances at all. Marvel artists were notorious for writing and drawing things in the corner boxes for years however (a good bit of googling can find some rather offensive work by John Byrne in some of the box space on his original art) They knew that the boxes would be covered by UPC codes or clip art.

I think it wasn’t until the late 80′s/early 90′s that you started seeing guys like Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, and Erik Larsen drawing extra cover related goodies in the boxes.

By: bird

bird — Thu, 31 May 2007 02:55:57 +0000

i have a few copies of vietnam journal and it was basically the same thing without the comics code. if i remember right it had swearing, gore, nudity and was published by apple comics.

i haven’t re-read either the nam or vietnam journal books recently but i thought the nam was much better.

By: Conor E

Conor E — Thu, 31 May 2007 02:53:50 +0000

It’s means it’s a direct market version. See the UPC boxes on some of the other covers? Someone else could explain in in way more detail, but those barcodes were only used in newstand distribution, so direct market versions would just stick random art in there to fill space.

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 31 May 2007 02:48:48 +0000

Okay, I always thought the little pic of a hero’s face in the corner of a cover meant a tie-in or a guest-appearance or something. WTH is Spidey appearing on the cover of the Nam?

By: Tom Fitzpatrick

Tom Fitzpatrick — Thu, 31 May 2007 01:28:31 +0000

I remember this series when it came out. One comic shop retailer told me around that time that it was supposed to be a 8 year mini-series (96 issues).

For a book that was supposed to be based on real-life events, the fact that Frank Castle (the Punisher) was inter-woven into the series was a profound disappointment.

I believe another series that came out about this time was called the Vietnam Journal. Which was supposed to be a bit more realistic.