U.N.C.L.E. Fan Strips

When U.N.C.L.E. debuted in 1964, it was so new, so different and just so cool that it was the first TV series to be immediately embraced by fandom — science fiction fandom, which had been around since the 1930s, and comics fandom, which then had existed as a separate, organized fandom for less than five years. U.N.C.L.E., like James Bond, quickly found its way into fanzines and fan-produced comic strips.

One of the first appearances was in “Voice of Comicdom,” published by a group of San Francisco-based fans as comics fandom’s self-proclaimed “first newspaper,” featuring fan and pro news as well as original comic strips. The Web was a character created by Bill DuBay (who went on to a long career with Warren, publishers of “Creepy,” “Eerie,” “Vampirella,” et. al.) as an obvious knockoff of The Spirit, but early in 1965 the strip incorporated some familiar-looking characters...