The 'Nam (Marvel's Finest) [Paperback]

Doug Murray (Author), Michael Golden (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Marvel Entertainment Group; Comic edition (May 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785107185
• ISBN-13: 978-0785107187
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,933,651 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good stories, but not a good collection, July 10, 2000

By 

Babytoxie (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The 'Nam (Marvel's Finest) (Paperback)

I loved reading THE 'NAM comics in high school. A great series on an individual's experiences in the Vietnam war, and the story is told in real-time, so you can follow Ed Marks through his tour of duty in 12 issues. Writer Doug Murray is a vet, so he knows his subject. Artist Michael Golden did a fantastic job, almost cartoony, but with much realism and focus on the technical aspects.

Those 12 issues were a great story-arc and would have been perfect for this collection; however, here Marvel Comics only includes the first FOUR issues, resulting in a severely incomplete story... and at $14.95 for the book, four stories is a rip-off. Also, the pages were not recolored for this collection, using the same horrible "dot-tones" as you see in the Sunday funnies.

The cover touts the logo "Marvel's Finest", but this collection doesn't make the point.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Overpriced edition; Series needs an "Essential" offering!, May 17, 2005

By 

Jason Dickson "Needs More Money" (Maryville, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The 'Nam (Marvel's Finest) (Paperback)

There is no better Marvel series that deserves to be one of the first 1980s titles collected in the "phone book-style" Essential format. The story is brilliantly told in a very realistic, hard-hitting style. Michael Golden's pencils were also magnificent!

But while this may be an acceptable collection if you want to introduce yourself (or a loved one) to Marvel's groundbreaking war comic, which ran for 7 years from 1986 to 1993, the price is ridiculous.

$15 for a 96-page collected volume? You gotta be kidding me! This was actually the third printing of this book, the first was $4.95 and the 2nd cost $6.95. Slapping a "Marvel's Finest" logo on a nice, new cover did not justify the price hike. But at least they put it back in print.

(You can easily pick up Near-Mint, first-printing copies of the first 5 or 6 issues for the same price at your local or online comic shop!)

Well here we are 5 years later, and this series *demands* a new re-release! Marvel, please release "The Essential 'Nam" and make it at least 2 volumes! That would cover the first half of the series, and trust me, there are a lot of Vietnam vets who would appreciate it!

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A comic book ahead of its time..., April 19, 2004

By 

Cubist (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The 'Nam (Marvel's Finest) (Paperback)

I can remember when this title came out in the '80s right at the height of renewed interest in the Viet Nam War. Along with Oliver Stone's movie, Platoon and the TV series Tour of Duty, there was the comic book, The 'Nam.

Written by actual Viet vet Doug Murray and beautifully illustrated (for the first 13 or so issues) by Michael Golden, this series followed the one year tour of duty of PFC Ed Marks. Murray dedicated one issue to one month of Mark's tour and crammed in all kinds of period speak and slang that the troops used while in country. This gives the stories and the characters a real feeling of authenticity that was missing from war comics for a long time.

The 'Nam was one of those rare comics that wasn't afraid to address death (even major, beloved characters died during the series) in an unflinchingly honest and touching way or present unlikable characters. It covered all sorts of aspects of the war, from going on R'n'R, to the death of a close friend to the dangerous jobs of Tunnel Rats. I am hard-pressed to think of any other comic exclusively dedicated to this war before The 'Nam or since.

Michael Golden's artwork is another thing that made The 'Nam so good. His stint was the finest work of the series and was never equaled after he left. Even though his style is a bit on the cartoonish side, he made it work perfectly by giving each character their own distinctive look that was important so that one could distinguish who was who in all those similar green uniforms. What I liked so much about his style of illustrating is the cinematic quality to it. I could easily see his artwork transformed into a movie as he employed all sorts of moody, atmospheric lighting techniques and colours that really brought the action on the page to life.

Sadly, this collection is a bit of a bust as it only collects the first four issues. Murray and Golden were a team for at least the first 12 (maybe 13?) of the series. They are definitely worth tracking down as this was one of the finest war comics ever published.