The 'Nam #3

Marvel's ground-level Vietnam War series continues with issue #3, cover-dated February 1987, and Michael Golden's painted-style cover image says everything about the tone: a candid group photograph of grinning U.S. soldiers — names like "Starks" visible among them — curls and blackens at the edges as real flames consume it from behind, the contrast between those carefree smiles and the encroaching fire quietly devastating. Doug Murray's story is titled "Three Day Pass," suggesting a rare window of relief from the front, and Golden's cover frames that fragile reprieve with an unease that lingers long after you've closed the book.