War is hell, but it can also generate some nice covers – The ‘Nam

I can remember seeing ads for The ‘Nam back in the day, and I recall that it never really drew my interest.  I loved G.I. Joe, but I had no interest in the “real world” environment of Vietnam.  If I wanted “in country” lore, all I had to do was sneak into the attic, open up my father’s old Army trunk, and pull out the uniforms, the pictures and the medals.  Comics stayed in the fantasy realm.

But I’ve grown up and grown older, so I can now appreciate these sorts of things more.  So recently I picked up a big chunk of early The ‘Nam issues.  I really haven’t had the chance to read through them, but I was struck by the quality of some of the covers, and thought I’d share them with folks who may be as unfamiliar with the title as I’ve been.  We’ll start off with the first issue – I like the way North and South Vietnam bisect the cover:

Issue #9 does a nice job of capturing the wide-eyed innocence of kids sent to war:

I like the stark contrast of color with #13:

With #15 all I can think of is Eric Cartman railing against “stupid hippies”:

Issue #24 gives us an alternate take on an iconic image:

I was reminded of a classic issue of the 80’s G.I. Joe comic with issue #26.  Larry Hama was the driving force behind the comic book Joes and he also edited The ‘Nam, so maybe that’s where the copycat thing comes into play.  Here’s both:

And lastly, #31 gives us something I think anyone reading this blog can appreciate:

There’s some nice stuff here, I think.