January 19, 2011

MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. PROMO & CLYDE ALLISON

Spy Vibe and Bish's Beat had a covert C.O.B.R.A.S. meeting the other day in San Francisco. It was a spy-filled fun afternoon looking at collections of pulp novels and paperback books. I picked up an early paperback edition of Ian Fleming's Moonraker (one of my fave Bond books). We also compared notes and discovered that the first spy show to fire our imagination was The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Bish even had the soundtrack as the ring-tone on his phone!


I was pretty young during the broadcast of the final seasons of U.N.C.L.E., but do remember being completely fascinated by, of course, the style of the title sequence: the music, the logo image of the globe/map with spy-guy. Inspiring graphics and score! That combination of elements symbolized the show for me for years while I collected U.N.C.L.E. records, books, comics, and cards. I may have fallen in love with the stories and panache of The Avengers and James Bond as a kid, but the U.N.C.L.E. guys were actually the first secret agents I ever saw. In honor of our C.O.B.R.A.S. summit, here is an original promo for The Man From U.N.C.L.E.



And speaking of paperback treasures, Bish posted today about the sexy exploits of agent 0008 and the e-book editions of two Clyde Allison novels. Allison's books are famous among collectors for their lurid cover art (and contents). I admit that I recently tracked down Gamefinger on Kindle and found it to be a pretty fun ride (I did go in with low expectations). Bish discovered that The Desdamona Affair is also available on Kindle. Each novel is listed at $1.00. Check them out if you are in the mood for a men's adventure magazine-style spy romp. Bish's Beat link here.