The 'Nam #34

Two soldiers lean against a U.S. Army vehicle as a fiery jungle sunset blazes behind them — one red-haired and heavily laden with bandoliers, the other cool and deliberate in camouflage fatigues and a green cap, casually lighting a cigarette. Jim Lee's cover art captures a quiet, tension-laced moment between the action, with a darkened figure slumped in the foreground hinting at the cost of whatever just unfolded. Doug Murray and Wayne Vansant's "Phoenix" continues Marvel's ground-level Vietnam series in September 1989 with the gritty, human focus that made The 'Nam stand apart from the superhero fare of its era.