The Dutch Blitz Affair
| Zine | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Dutch Blitz Affair |
| Publisher: | Oddbalz & Mayhem Press |
| Editor: | |
| Author(s): | LRH Balzer |
| Cover Artist(s): | Warren Oddsson |
| Illustrator(s): | Warren Oddsson |
| Date(s): | July 1992 |
| Series?: | yes |
| Medium: | |
| Size: | |
| Genre: | |
| Fandom: | Man From U.N.C.L.E. |
| Language: | English |
| External Links: | on Archive of Our Own |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Dutch Blitz Affair is a gen 100-page Man from UNCLE novel by Pat Foley and LRH Balzer.
The art is by Warren Oddsson.
Summary
Set just prior to the TV series, Napoleon and his new partner, Paddy Dunn, must determine how much top secret UNCLE information Solo's former partner, the abducted Russian agent, Illya Kuryakin, has passed onto THRUSH and what they still want from him... [1]
Series
In published order:
- The Dutch Blitz Affair
- The Defector From Leningrad Affair
- The Collection: Year One
- Kolya's Son
- My Brother's Keeper
- The Collection: The Summer of '65 Affair
- The Northern Lights Affair
- Haunted Nights
- The Changeling
- The Time Bomb Affair
Sample Interior Pages
Reactions and Reviews
Every now and again, someone hands (or sends) a fanzine to me, saying "You really should look at this." Being the ornery cuss that I am, the words following that statement often determine whether or not I give the poor thing the time of day (I just hate it when somebody tells me that I HAVE to do something). Usually the comments range from "It's so bad, it's hysterical." to "It's more like the series than the series." The Dutch Blitz Affair kept getting the same praise: "It's good. It's really, really good." This I had to see.And it was good. Really, really good.
This Man From UNCLE novel by L.R.H. Balzer starts off with a minor mystery-Illya's been missing for a few months and Napoleon's been assigned a new partner. Then an odd package gets delivered to UNCLE headquarters, and suddenly, you're hip deep in World War II resistance fighters, old debts, and several THRUSH nasties who are more interested in cold hard cash than in taking over the world (for a change!).
The plot sounds pretty prosaic.-.and it is. What makes this story soar is the local color. The flashbacks, from various points of view, are beautifully handled, and the characters are as three-dimensional as the setting. Napoleon's new partner, for example, is Patrick Aralic Dunn, a man who would excel as an agent in any intelligence organization...if he could avoid some typically human flaws.
Another plus is that L.R.H. Balzer treats UNCLE as an intelligence organization (which, let's admit it, the series was often loathe to do). There is a rule book and it is followed, the organization swinging into action like a well-oiled machine, and personnel all doing exactly what they're supposed to in a crisis situation. I never had a lot of respect for UNCLE as an organization because I'd never seen it work properly...until now. My only complaint about the story is that the ending is...well, too fannish. There's nothing really proper or satisfying about it, no real sense of completion.
The only artwork are the front and rear covers by Warren Oddsson, and both serve as more than simple protection for the interior text. The layout is impressive, especially the front cover, with the statue of Erasmus blending in well with the character portraiture. The flow seems effortless and is pleasing to the eye, without any one element of the picture overwhelming any other. Illya's a little off on the back cover (lumpy head), but the stippling work is excellent, again complementing the flow of the layout, which centers around some beautifully rendered pieces of the children of the Amsterdam underground.
For once, I will take umbrage at the packaging, rather than the content. The text is one hundred pages long, and the comb binding is just a little too small for the page count. And the margins are enormous. BIG. For example, the left and right margins are each one and a half inches, the bottom margin is an inch and the top margin is another inch...to the page header! There's at least another inch between the header and the text! Although the look is relatively pleasing, this leaves too much white space, which means too many trees have died and the zine could have cost less to produce. Not that $10.00 was too much to pay for this zine (especially with postage included), but $8.00 would have been even nicer....
There's a sequel out, called The Defector From Leningrad Affair. Will I buy it, even with the too-wide margins and too-small binding? You betcha.
And by the way, you really should look at this.
It's good.
Really, really good. [2]
References
- ^ from Media Monitor
- ^ from Psst... Hey Kid, Wanna Buy a Fanzine? #5. The reviewer in gives it "5 trees." The reviewers in "Psst... Hey Kid, Wanna Buy a Fanzine?" rated zines on a 1-5 tree/star scale. See that page for more explanation.