Tuesday, December 25, 2012

THE 'NAM GRAPHIC NOVEL VINTAGE MARVEL VIETNAM WAR MICHAEL GOLDEN US SOLDIER RARE

THE 'NAM GRAPHIC NOVEL Hard to find COLLECTOR'S ITEM! Product Description Don't worry about choosing sides, because this far into the heart of darkness things get pretty gray. Follow Private Ed Marks and his fellow soldiers through a jungle of blood, lies, betrayal, and valor. It's the war that defined a generation, where the heroes may not be super, but they're all too human. The 'Nam was an historical fiction series published in comic book form, detailing the U.S. War in Vietnam from the perspective of active-duty soldiers involved in the conflict. It was written by Doug Murray, illustrated by Michael Golden, edited by Larry Hama and published by Marvel Comics. The creators intended to roughly parallel the analogous events of the period of major American military involvement in Vietnam from 1966 to 1972. The comic is 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 tells a story that occurs one month after the previous issue. Vietnam War veteran Larry Hama (creator of the second incarnation of GI JOE in the eighties) contacted fellow vet Doug Murray in 1984 about doing a Vietnam War series for Marvel Comics. 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." Murray decided to do the comic book in real-time so that one issue equaled one month to convey the concept of short-time. He said, "Literally 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." The actions of the 23rd Infantry were based on fact. This did not mean that they were in every action depicted in the book - only that that historical event actually occurred. In addition, every issue featured a back-of-the-book glossary explaining the authentic lingo of the characters. During its run, The 'Nam was nominated for the Best New Series category of the 1987 Jack Kirby Awards. Marine Corps. veteran and former Newsweek editor William Broyles Jr. praised the comic for having, "a certain gritty reality," This comic book was never available to the mass market and was only sold in comic book specialty shops.