When it comes to war comics, I’m partial to ones that have stories featuring the Vietnam War, and that should be a shock to no one since I did a podcast that covered The ‘Nam. But with the exception of old issues of that Marvel book, I don’t often come across Vietnam stories in the wild, even though I know there are well-regarded books from creators like Don Lomax (who finished out The ‘Nam alongside Wayne Vansant on the art). So if I see one and it looks interesting, I’ll grab it.

For this entry, I grabbed two comics, although one is actually more of a magazine than a comic book. The first was published by New England Comics Press in early 2001 and was called In Country Vietnam. This was issue #3 and was a black-and-white series that only ran for three issues. I was honestly only ever familiar with New England Comics via their ads in books that I used to buy when I was a teenager, so I was surprised that they were a publisher at one point. A little digging reveals that they were not only a publisher, but they published a number of comics featuring The Tick and those remain pretty valuable.

Anyway, In Country Vietnam #3 is a black and white comic written and drawn by Ron Ledwell, who did a number of war comics for New England Comics Press in the early 2000s. The summary of the story, from Comic Book Realm, is such:

The third issue of In-Country Vietnam provides fascinating coverage of the little-known “river wars” experienced by U.S. forces fighting in the marshes and rice paddies of Southeast Asia. Each bimonthly issue of In-Country Vietnam features exciting and realistic stories about America’s war in Southeast Asia.

The “river wars” got some play in an issue or two of The ‘Nam and are certainly featured in movies like Apocalypse Now. This comic was … well, I’m sure that someone would find it interesting, but I wasn’t a huge fan. Maybe it’s because I’d read so many comic books featuring the Vietnam War that I tend to be discerning, but this came off in places as the type of book that was created to show how “dark and gritty” a war comic could get. It’s also a bit more propagandistic than I prefer. Yes, I know that war comics will do that and you don’t necessarily want to “both sides” events where the villains are, say, Nazis, but there are times when the need to be “USA! USA!” forward and the creators’ zeal in using a particular slur for the Vietnamese are a little too forward and turned me off. The verdict on this is trash.

What didn’t turn me off was issue #53 of David Anthony Kraft’s Comics Interview. I’d owned a prior issue of this series before and have found it to be as interesting as old issues of Amazing Heroes that I have come across here and there (although I think I have sold many of those off). This issue has a huge spotlight on The ‘Nam, including interviews with creators Doug Murray and Wayne Vansant. It also has a lengthy feature on a book called Real War Stories that was interesting as well.

Comics Interview, like many of the comics magazines of its time (and like Back Issue and other magazines today), is dense, so it took a while for me to read the whole thing. But I really enjoyed it and wished that I had owned this book back when I was recording “In Country” because it offered real insight into the creative process behind the book during its post-Michael Golden era when it had to settle in for the long haul. These are behind-the-scenes stories that don’t often get repeated as often as, say, the ones about the book’s creation and its first year or so, but listening to Murray describe the inspirations behind the book and a then-younger Vansant talk about how he broke into comics and his own creative process was fascinating. I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing both creators and have met Wayne Vansant twice at the Baltimore Comic-Con. This book was a real treat, and the type of thing that is always so much fun to find when you’re a big fan of a particular title or character. The verdict on this? Keep.