Comics Interview — Issue #053

Murray, a Vietnam veteran who served two tours (1968–69 and 1971), discusses the genesis and philosophy behind Marvel's The 'Nam, which he writes in "real time" starting from 1966. He explains why the series avoids glorifying war while also not making it a catharsis piece, relying on changing casts of realistic characters who can be killed off. Murray talks extensively about the social dimensions of the war, including the disproportionate drafting of minorities, the fragging of dangerous officers, and the disconnect between what veterans experienced and what the civilian public believed from TV coverage, and notes the book won an entertainment award from the veterans group BRAVO over Platoon.

Vansant, the incoming penciller on The 'Nam replacing Michael Golden starting with issue #14, discusses his background as a self-taught military history artist who worked at the Hyde Museum in Atlanta before breaking into comics through Savage Tales. He explains his attraction to realistic portrayals of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, citing novelist James Jones (The Thin Red Line) as a major influence, and describes the adrenaline rush of combat as something war stories must honestly address.

Sienkiewicz explains how Joyce Brabner recruited him to create the cover for Real War Stories, and how he chose a child's drawing style — inspired by the book Fire in the Sky, a collection of children's war drawings — rather than a conventional rendered image, to make the anti-war imagery more primal and powerful. Working on the project shifted his views considerably; he says he was previously ignorant of U.S. covert military involvement in Central America and is now far more skeptical.

Brabner edited Real War Stories for the CCCO and recruited top talent including Alan Moore, Brian Bolland, Denny O'Neil, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Steve Bissette. She describes the book as strictly non-fiction — no composite characters, no fictionalization — and recounts how two publishers got cold feet before Eclipse agreed to publish it. She reveals that Harvey Pekar wrote a story for the book that she rejected, and that her next project will be a comic about the Christic Institute's investigation into a CIA-linked secret team.

Merkle, Youth Outreach Program Director at CCCO and originator of the Real War Stories concept, describes her years working with Vietnam veterans in Cleveland high schools to counteract the Rambo/Top Gun glamorization of military service. She argues that military recruiters systematically mislead young people about job training and education benefits while obscuring the reality of ongoing U.S. interventions in Central America, and recounts a phone call from a 17-year-old who reconsidered enlisting after reading the book.

Feldman, staff attorney for CCCO, explains how Real War Stories became part of a First Amendment lawsuit in Atlanta: the Atlanta Peace Alliance had been fighting since 1983 for the right to provide students with alternative-to-military-service information in public schools, but the Atlanta school board barred them while still allowing military recruiters. The federal government subsequently intervened, arguing that allowing the Peace Alliance access to students would threaten national security by reducing enlistment.

Borax commends Eclipse Comics for publishing Real War Stories as a genuinely controversial title tackling the reality of war, contrasting it with publishers who take safe stands on uncontroversial issues like drug abuse, and urges readers — especially those of draft age — to seek it out.

Reader mail includes a letter from previous interviewee Darrell McNeil commenting on the Jeff MacNelly piece in issue #46, and a comedic letter from Gold Medal Productions responding to the Kelly Nichols interview.