Friday, May 6, 2016

The Vietnam War, considered in comics

It is said by various observers of American culture that Vietnam was a breaking point in the old guard of ideals.  By sending troops to die in a conflict that was not universally approved of meant the whole culture would change. For decades following World War 2 many comic books were made by people in the comics world that could be said to be lauding the accomplishments of the Allies and, in general, the victories of the same.  The events and battles of World War 2 were mostly uncontroversial, at least with the end results being agreed upon, along with most of the motives for the battles.  But the events of Vietnam both in terms of the individuals serving, whichever side they were fighting upon, and in terms of the politics and governments of the armies fighting, were not clean, so called black and white events.  Comic books about the war were few before the comic The Nam came out in 1987, aside from the occasional comic set in the war or as a flashback, but once the Nam came out, it opened the door to telling the story of the war.





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