Comrades (Man from UNCLE zine)

Zine
Title:	Comrades
Publisher:	Del Floria's Press & Samizdat Press
Editor(s):	Sasha Sokolnikov
Date(s):	1988 – 1992
Series?:	Yes
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Man from UNCLE
Language:	English
External Links:	publisher here a 1992 flyer for all three issues, click to enlarge
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Comrades is a slash Man from UNCLE anthology. The title appears in both English and Russian on the cover. The Russian is Товарищ (Tovarisch).

General Reactions and Reviews

[Lynn W.]
These zines are from the late 80s to early 90s. The strongest impression I take away from them is of humor. There is some nice angst in the Comrades, but it's the humor I adore.

Issue 1

Comrades 1 was published in January 1988 and contains 148 pages. The zine has one fan-drawn cartoon (not credited) as well as several non-credited black and white drawings of unicorns.

front cover of issue #1 with title in Russian Товарищ followed by its English translation

back cover of issue #1, perhaps a nod to The Professionals and the hatstand?

Summary from the publisher: "Contains the 1989 Fan Q Award Winner for Best Man from U.N.C.L.E. Short Story. With tacky cartoons by Sokolnikov and Tesla, and stories by fandoms best-known slash writers and Fan Q winners and nominees. With an all-text cover in English and Russian of terms that in this era of glasnost have found their way into American usage. This sneaky bit of camouflage results in a zine with the appearance of a doctoral thesis--maybe yours?--which means you don't have to panic when you leave it out and your mother-in-law shows up unexpectedly."

[From the commentary on AIDS]: Some people may feel that a letter of serious commentary has no place in a zine like this. You bought this zine (or it was given to you by a friend or you bootlegged a copy or whatever) for entertainment, not to be lectured at.

Tough, babies. It's a mean old world out there, and we don't always get what we want or even what we paid for.

COMRADES contains stories dealing with homosexuality. These stories are fantasies; as such, they can ignore a lot of what goes on in the real world. Hence, you will find no mention of AIDS. AIDS is just too nasty a bug-a-boo (and I do not intend that as a pun) to have to deal with in a story. It brings up all sorts of problems with plotting if you are dealing with a story set in the 1980's, as opposed to the relative sexual safety of 1960-70's. Wake up people: it's not safe out there anymore. This zine is make-believe; AIDS is not. AIDS can kill you.

If you get it, you will die. No one has yet survived contracting it. So if you are having sex with anyone, (aside from what you know is a safe, totally monogamous relationship) TAKE PRECAUTIONS. Remember, when you make love with a person, you are having sex with everyone that person has ever had sex with.

[much snipped about sexual safety tips and general health tips]

Some of the language or terms in this commentary may have shocked or offended some readers, but AIDS is not something than can always be spoken about in a genteel manner. AIDS is not a genteel disease. It is important that information be clear and completely understood, not veiled in half-understood phrases.

Now it's time to get on to the stories, where people can share and love without fear of dying because of it. I hope this editorial hasn't put too much of a downer on the zine, but it's something I feel strongly about, and thought needed to be said.

I hope every reader will take this letter to heart. All I can add is: have fun but take care.

• Commentary, A Letter from the Publisher, discusses AIDs and gives information about safe and unsafe sex (3)
• Test Your English Skills by Sasha Sokolnikov ("Nyet, tovarich, a G-string is not a weapon used by G-men, nor is fellatio an opera by Mozart.") (NOTE: This fanwork was submitted without attribution, re-titled, and printed in Southern Comfort #5.5 in May 1990. The editor of that zine. See that issue, as well as the zine's editor's explanation/apology in issue #6.5.) (5)
• Not On My Time, You Don't! by Dominique ("Solo thought his new partner would hold up better to torture than this.") (6)
• Waterloo (Winner 1989 Fan Q Award: Best MFU Short Story) by Zach Nitzyekov ("Captured, blindfolded, raped. Where is Napoleon when you need him?") (reprinted in UNCLE Gold #3) (15)
• Checkmate, End Game (sequel to "Waterloo") by Zach Nitzyekov ("Still waters run deep and can be full of dangerous surprises.") (reprinted in UNCLE Gold #3) (25)
• Summer's Night by Dominique ("It's only a game, but it's one that Napoleon seems to always lose.") (30)
• The Tuesday Mirror Affair by Sasha Sokolnikov ("Children of the night--feh!") (37)
• Another Day in the Life Affair ("Oh, those nasty Thrushies and their threats of long, lingering torture. Illya's heard it before and it's only empty promises.") (38)
• Saturday in the Country by Alexi Tesla (1989 Fan Q nominee author) ("A summer day, a fast motorcycle, and Solo in all that black leather.") (39)
• Prelude by Eros (author of "City of Byzantium," 1989 Fan Q nominee for Best Novella) ("Illya was drunk. It shouldn't have happened, but it did. Now the only atonement can be separation from Solo--permanently.") (52)
• Postscript (sequel to "Prelude") by Eros ("Kuryakin's lifetime of self-punishment is cut short after only 15 years.") (55)
• Confessions: by Norman Kent ("Illya is leaving U.N.C.L.E. New York and won't say why.") (61)
• Another Day in the Backrooms of Vanya's by Sasha Sokolnikov ("The secret side of the Tsar of Seventh Avenue.") (74)
• A Clear Spring as Sanctuary (Unicorn Universe) by Zach Nitzyekov ("You're a what?") (reprinted in UNCLE Gold #3) (76)
• Life's Blood by Zach Nitzyekov ("Illya's secret saved Napoleon's life. Now the tables are turned, but Solo has no magic to save his friend.") (91)
• Lest We Forget by Alexi Tesla (Fan Q nominee author) ("The sounds of a slamming door and a 9mm round being fired can be interchangeable.") (100)
• The Toto I Don't Think We're In Kansas Any More Affair ("When you've got a time machine, you just gotta go somewhere!") (120)
• Dirty Parts: The Men from U.N.C.L.E. Visit a Space Station Affair by Sasha Sokolnikov ("Napoleon began pulling off his clothes. Illya rushed for the airlock--his only means of escape.") (122)
• The U.N.C.L.E. Inter-Office Bulletin Board ("Post official memos only. A sort of graffiti board.") (123)
• Forest Night by Eros (Fan Q nominee author) ("The moonlight can make you crazy--or mad, depending on your terminology.") (125)
• Birthday Surprise by Clotilda Willard ("It's another miserable birthday for Illya, because the one thing he wants, he can never have.") (132)

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  inside issue #1, part of the "Inter-Office Bulletin Board," a more modern version of a graffiti wall

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  inside issue #1, a bit of crossdressing

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  inside issue #1, sample text

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 1

Old, old zine. Well, at least to me it is. Lots of interlocking stories. Lots of humor.

Commentary: AIDS (2): Exactly what it says. An essay on AIDS.

Test Your English Skills Kuryakin and Sokolnikov (4): Short giggler.

Not on My Time You Don't by Dominique (5): Early on in Napoleon and Illya's partnership, Illya breaks ranks during a THRUSH torture session. He doesn't give THRUSH the information they want, but he does disobey a direct order from Napoleon. The story isn't terribly distressing to me. There is some discussion of firing Illya and an attempted rape, but that's as wrenching as it gets. No romance between Napoleon and Illya in this story, but I believe the possibility is there. Not my favorite story, I much prefer the author's second story, Summer's Night. To my taste's, there's just some emotional intensity that is missing from this story.

Waterloo (13), Checkmate by Zach Nitzyekov (22): A duo of stories with a dark edge. Story one is the conflict. Story two is the resolution. The characterizations of Napoleon and Illya aren't the most flattering. This is not a bad thing. These are good stories. Napoleon is neither perfect hero or a buffon in this one. Illya isn't a infallible brain. He doesn't always make a the correct logic connections on the first try. The writer convinced me that her slightly cruel and brutal vision of the characters was possible.

Summer's Night by Dominique (27): I much prefer this story to 'Not on My Time...,' but then, my fic tastes are different. Twisted sexuality and power games in the N/I relationship can indeed be fun. Some may not like how Napoleon was portrayed, but I enjoyed it. Actually, I also enjoyed that she mixed a nice little character study of Napoleon into this fic. It gave the story a bit more meat then the usual PWP.

The Tuesday Mirror Affair (33), Another Day in the Life Affair by Sasha Sokolnikov (34): Short, short snippets. I thought they were good.

Saturday in the Country by Alexi Telsa (35): Since I don't quite get motorcycle sex, or sex in the countryside, I didn't get this story. It's not a bad story, it's actually an amusing story, but I prefer other stories that this author has written.

Prelude (47), Postscript by Eros (50): UNCLE writers love to play with the why of Napoleon and Ilya's 15 year separation. Eros plays with the idea that sex was involved in the breakup. In 3 pages, she destroys their friendship. In 5, she concludes the rift, and changes the relationship. It's fun, and sad at the same time.

Confessions by Norman Kent (56): This story didn't make much of an impression on me. Sorry, but I really don't have much to say about it.

Another Day in the Backrooms of Vanya's by Sasha Sokolnikov (58): What you think is happening in this story isn't what's happening.

A Clear Spring as Sanctuary (70), Life's Blood by Zach Nitzyekov (84): AU. Really, really AU. These stories have a more innocent tone then 'Waterloo' and 'Checkmate.' I swear, they're almost bouncy. Illya reveals a secret about his genetic heritage to Napoleon. Napoleon almost sustains mental whiplash trying to adapt to it. Once you accept the central conceit of the story, it rather work. The story was highly amusing in several spots, but I did prefer the earlier stories.

Lest We Forget by Alexi Tesla (92): In this story, the after effects of mental and physical torture are used to intensify the relationship between Ilya and Napoleon, and I think Alexi cheated. Too much of the mental damage was airbrushed over, and I want to call the device/chemical helper used to fix the problems a deus ex machina. I would have liked this story to be at least a couple of pages longer, and dealt a lot more with the tramua. The writing itself is good, but I just have problems with the plot.

The Toto I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore Affair (110), Dirty Parts by Sasha (112): More short shorts. They made me giggle.

The UNCLE Inter-Office Bulletin Board: This one caused full out laughter. It's another short, and this time told through notes on the UNCLE bulletin board. I howled the first time I read it. I still think it's one of the best short pieces in the zine.

Forest Night by Eros (115): Eros broke Napoleon for this story. Happily, she's the sort of writer who fixes her toys. The idea of the story is to give a mentally withdrawn Napoleon time to heal from a THRUSH torture session. Illya removes him from the distractions of NYC, and takes him camping. The story worked for me. It's my personal favorite.

Birthday Surprise by Clotilda Willard (121): The most romantic story in the zine. Illya wants normal relationships with the people around him, but requires Napoleon's prodding to obtain even a modicum of that. This story could have become to sweet for me to read, but the writer restrained her use of emotionalism.

Issue 2

Comrades 2 was published in March 1990 and contains 147 pages.

one version of the back cover of issue #2

another version of the back cover of issue #2

front cover of issue #2 -- "Continuing our tradition of non-incriminating covers, "Comrades 2" presents a second "doctoral thesis. 'The Principles Of Glasnost: A Study Of American-Soviet Relationships.' Tell Mum-in-Law you're doing post-grad work."
This cover is an example of bus-safe.

Summary from the publisher: "...Fan-Q nominated stories and authors. With fantastic try-not-to-drool-on-the-pages art by KOZ (illustrator of "City of Byzantium" and 1989 Fan Q nominee: Best Artist), Angi Towski, Charlie Kirby, Sasha Sokolnikov and Alexi Tesla.

From the editorial:

Here we are again, with yet another fabulous issue of COMRADES. The response to the first issue was incredible (if not incredulous) so much so that we quickly had enough submissions to go to press again. Unfortunately, our original publication schedule of August was delayed by one month when our photocopier kicked up its electronics heels, gasped a few times and died a miserable death. It has been replaced by a better (albeit slower) machine, and you hold the results in your hands.

You will notice that this time around the zine is bigger, and we also have some positively luscious art by the incomparable KOZ and Angie Towski. This is entirely due to the wonderful acceptance of Cl by the only slightly trashy readers of UNCLE "/" material, special thanks to Koz and Angie for this mind-bogglingly phenomenal art. So take your time as you read these stories. Savor them as you would a fine, vintage wine. There are many fabulous stories and fantasies within these pages, some serious, 50me silly, some in between. It would be a pity to rush through any of them.

Our only apologies this time are that we were unable to coat the pages with Scotchgard. A few readers complained last issue that the pages stuck together when drooled upon. I suspect this problem will be even greater with the inclusion of KOZ's and Angie's art and the many exceptional stories within these pages. Unfortunately, DEL FLORIA'S PRESS cannot be responsible for this type--or, come to think of it, any other type--water damage.

At the request of almost everyone who LoC'd COMRADES 1, I am going to re-run the AIDS safe-sex practices from the issue. When I first decided to publish COMRADES, I was hesitant about running such an item, concerned it might it put a downer on the zine. But I followed my instincts and ran it anyway, bracing myself for a slew of angry letters for daring touch on serious matters in a zine that is clearly designed as an entertainment form~t But guess what? Every single response to

the AIDS editorial was positive! Every one! Not one reader wrote to say "I wish you hadn't printed that." Not that it would have made a difference, because as soon as I held the first issue in my hands, I knew I had done the right thing. I had been given a perfect soapbox; it would be wrong not to jump up on top of it and scream my head off. And here we are with C2, and another soapbox, so therefore, in this issue, you will once again find another AIDS commentary, complete with "safe sex" guidelines. It is my most fervent wish that by the time COMRADES 3 appears, there will be no need for such commentaries.

Also from the editorial:

Bad news, folks. It's coming up on the end of 1988 and AIDS is still with us. At the request of many of the readers who responded positively to the AIDS commentary in COMRADES I, I am reprinting the list of 'safe-sex' practices, as well as how you can and cannot contract AIDS. I know you're probably anxious to get on with reading the zine, but please, do take a moment to read the following. It might save your life, or the life of someone you love.

[much snipped]

And now it's time for me to let you get on with what you got the zine for. Thank you for taking the time to read this editorial, and I apologize for the tiny print. Thought I'd try to keep it brief this time around.

• The Guilty Parties 'Fess Up (2)
• General Propaganda: Letter from the Editor (2)
• AIDS Editorial (3)
• The 501 Affair by Alexi Tesla ("When is a gay rape accusation funny? According to Illya Kuryakin, when the "accused" is Napoleon Solo and the "victim" is homely Herb Groton.") (4)
• Walk Over the Abyss by Zach Nitzyekov (author of "Waterloo," winner 1989 Fan Q Award: Best MFU Short Story) ("It's Korea 1953--or is it New York 1969? A nightmare has returned for Solo and has Kuryakin in its clutches.") (reprinted in UNCLE Gold #3) (9)
• Two Hawks, Dancing (1989 FAN Q nominee: Best Short Story) by Debra Hicks ("The price of love and death can be interchangeable when paid in the coin of a man's soul.") (17)
• Conserve Water (1989 FAN Q nominee: Best Short Story) by Alexi Tesla ("All Napoleon honestly intended to do was make sure his injured but recovering partner didn't slip in the shower.") (37)
• One Arabian Night by Robyn LaSalle, illos by Angi Towski ("The desert, the sand, the pillows in the tent, ancient customs, Sulador the Chieftain and the "son" of Lawrence of Arabia".) (54)
• On the Good Ship Lollypop by Casey Melvin ("It was Napoleon's fault!") (62)
• The Last Wish Affair by Alexi Tesla ("What to do, what to do, 20 minutes to live, what to do...") (71)
• Running Wild (Unicorn Universe) by Norman Kent ("Poachers decide to capture a mythological creature.") (73)
• The Mosley Pike Affair by Jacquelyn Midcult ("Illya is taken prisoner by a blind madman who thinks he has Solo.") (96)
• Slippery Situation by Debra Hicks ("Necessity is a mother.") (116)
• Ghost Writers In The Wind (1989 FAN Q nominee: Best Short Story) by Alexi Tesla, illos by KOZ ("The healing of old wounds--even after six silent years apart--sometimes creates new ones") (In 1999, this story was expanded into a novel of the same name.) (120)
• Welcome Home by Eros (author of "City of Byzantium," 1989 FAN Q nominee: Best Novella) ("It was going to be so easy, moving in together. But all of Illya's old lovers are coming back to convince him monogamy with Solo is a terrrrrible idea, dahling.") (a sequel to this story is "Intermezzo" in "Comrades" #3) (141)
• Faux Pas by Zach Nitzyekov ("Kuryakin is not happy after what Solo's infected him with") (reprinted in UNCLE Gold #3) (147)
• Excerpts from the Memoirs of: The Confession by Tosya Stohn, illos by KOZ ("Recollections from Illya's private diary.") (150)

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  from issue #2, KOZ

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  from issue #2, Charlie Kirby

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  from issue #2, Angi Towski

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  from issue #2, Angi Towski

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 2

See reactions and reviews for Two Hawks, Dancing.

Issue 3

Comrades 3 was published in August 1992 and contains 160 pages.

front cover of issue #3

back cover of issue #3

Production notes:

Production Information:

Half of this fanzine was produced on a Macintosh SE using MicroSoftWord 4.0 and SuperPaint 2.0. The other half was produced using QuarkExpress with Word and SP as import. All pages were laser printed. Any minor variations in font, typestyle and margins resulted from the computer, halfway through the printing of the masters, deciding it wanted to use Times Roman, which it refused to accept was living on the harddrive, rather than Times, which was also living on the harddrive. The computer then proceeded to eat the offending font (Times) and would not allow it to be reloaded, while refusing to accept the existence of the one it claimed it wanted (Times Roman) while your Publisher scrambled frantically convince the computer it had the damn thing in its teeth already. When it finally got a good taste of it, the computer decided it went better with Quark than Word, and accordingly, reused afterwards to let Ye Old Publisher print anything in Word that was not 1-3/4 (?) line spaced. Attempts at changing Word’s leading were ignored. Hence, the move to Quark, which was easier than reformatting all the harddrives from scratch, and which made the computer very happy, and now it sits back all day and chomps floppies, plotting which segment of the Samizdat harddrive to lock out next. Sheesh.

• Staff, Production, and Ordering Information (1)
• AIDS: A Letter of Commentary and Information from the Publisher (2)
• Safe Sex, fiction by Alexi Tesla ("Who says it can't be fun?") (5)
• Government Funding, submitted by Renya Spratt, adapted by Alexi Tesla ("What a tangled web we weave, when we file for government assistance.") (8)
• The We've Got You Now Affair by Alexi Tesla ("Trapped, bound, helpless. And the man in the lab coat coming closer.") (9)
• Mesalliance by Eros ("Illya has walked out on Napoleon without a word. No note - nothing. Not until the TV broadcast came on did Solo find out why.") (11)
• The Legacy by Alexi Tesla ("A stormy night and Napoleon is late. Illya fears the worst, until he hears a knock on the door. He opens it...to find Waverly on the doorstep.") (12)
• Russian Wry by Alexi Tesla ("Americans don't trust anyone.") (12)
• Central Park by Alexi Tesla ("Halloween along the bridle paths.") (in Zach Nitzyekov's "Unicorn Universe") (20)
• Dark Eyes, Blue Eyes, poem by Kazuo (34)
• The Hewlett Packard Affair by Alexi Tesla ("It's all Illya wants. Napoleon's so sick of hearing about it, he's ready to give it to him to shut him up.") (35)
• Of Ships and Sails and Sealing Wax by Alexi Tesla ("Retirement, the Pursang, and nothing to do but figure out what to do with all that coconut oil.") (reprinted from Rose Tint My World #1) (38)
• Back-To-School Days by Julia Donnelly ("Napoleon clears up Illya's confusion over slang terms.") (49)
• Money Maker by Garvin Mardens ("This is the communist Solo has known and loved for years?") (51)
• The Proposal: Part I and Part II, poems by Alexi Tesla ("Romance, candlelight and two gold rings. But will the answer be what each man hopes it will?") (53)
• Intermezzo by Eros ("And so begins Napoleon and Illya's life together. But though their personal lives are finally on the right track, everything else is going down the tubes for Solo--including his company, Solo, Inc.") (sequel to "Welcome Home" in "Comrades" #2) (64)
• Bonzo Wacko (Life with You), poem by Tesla (77)
• The New Self-Powered Solo, and The New Self-Powered Illya by Alexi Tesla ("Toys for your Xmas shopping list.") (satirical ads for blow-up dolls) (78)
• Under the Chestnut Tree by Alexi Tesla ("The big 4-0 has arrived for Solo and Kuryakin, and the choice of retirement, a desk position--or in Solo's case, The Big Chair. But the choices each had always felt they would make have been turned around. Now they face their final debriefing, conducted under deep hypnosis at the hands of UNCLE's finest psychiatrists ... and the revelation of things they've never admitted even to...themselves.") (80)
• Variation on a Thunderstorm, poem by Tesla (116)
• The Sounds of Love by Alexi Tesla ("Napoleon imagined it would be soft and sexy ... like Bolero.") (117)
• Blind Love by Alexi Tesla ("Solo is going blind. Is there nothing Illya can do to save him?") (119)
• The Retirement by Alexi Tesla ("In all the ways he envisioned Napoleon's career ending, Illya never suspected it would end this tragically.") (122)
• Special Delivery by Alexi Tesla ("It's been fifteen years since the partnership ended. Now Napoleon has come back into Illya's life - just as Illya discovers his own days are about to end.") (123)
• Samizdat/Comrades Writer/Artist Guidelines (152)
• 11 pages of flyers

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