I know quite a few people who rave about this series, but this is the only issue I've ever owned. I am pretty darned happy with it, too. Why is it a hidden gem? Well, let's start with the lovely John Romita cover. It's may be odd to see three key Avengers bursting through a map of Southeast Asia, but it sure is cool. This issue comes across as a quasi-What If? as the soldiers imagine what the war would be like if superheroes had been involved. It is all quite light hearted, or as light hearted as a book about Vietnam can get. What I really like however, is how the same soldiers absolutely skewer the John Wayne-starring Green Berets. They take that film to task and some of the panels are recreations of scenes from the movie. All in all, this is a bit of an oddity and one I think you'd be happy to have in your collection.Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Hidden Gems: The 'Nam #41
I know quite a few people who rave about this series, but this is the only issue I've ever owned. I am pretty darned happy with it, too. Why is it a hidden gem? Well, let's start with the lovely John Romita cover. It's may be odd to see three key Avengers bursting through a map of Southeast Asia, but it sure is cool. This issue comes across as a quasi-What If? as the soldiers imagine what the war would be like if superheroes had been involved. It is all quite light hearted, or as light hearted as a book about Vietnam can get. What I really like however, is how the same soldiers absolutely skewer the John Wayne-starring Green Berets. They take that film to task and some of the panels are recreations of scenes from the movie. All in all, this is a bit of an oddity and one I think you'd be happy to have in your collection.
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Marvel tried everything to generate interest in the series, from the super-heroes in #41 to an arc starring Frank Castle (the Punisher). None of it worked. By the 1980's, comic book fans only wanted superhero series, and fans of other genres did not read comics.
The 'Nam was one of the best war comics ever published, and it may have been the only really good war comic published by Marvel. Sgt. Fury, Combat Kelly, and their respective squads were just superheroes who wore fatigues instead of spandex.
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