Crossover Covers: Avengelyne/Shi

Crossover of the Week

Summer 1855

PIERCING THE VEIL OF ISIS

            The Chevalier Auguste Dupin’s new assistant is Reginald Goodwin, who flirts with Juliette Saint-Fond. Juliette’s potential employer, Comte Jacques de Carignan, shows Dupin some of the grimoires in his personal library, including De Vermis Mysteriis, the Book of Eibon, Unaussprechlichen Kulten, and John Dee’s personal copy of the Necronomicon, authored by Abdul Alhazred, “the Mad Arab.” The Comte and Dupin discuss the Illuminati. The Comte says that the Director of the city museum, Dr. Ponnonmer, procured the mummy of Allamistako from his cousin, Captain Arthur Sabretash. The Comte once believed that Cagliostro was his father. Edme-François Jomard had the Comte spy on Ethan Gage; one of these assignments happened while Gage was searching for his love, Astiza. The Comte tells Dupin that the Habits Noirs (aka the Black Coats) are also seeking the secret of life over death. The Comte says that Colonel Bozzo-Corona, the leader of the High Council of the Black Coats, is his true father. One of Bozzo-Corona’s cronies, Dr. Samuel, stole the secret of re-animation from the Comte, intending to use it to resurrect the mummy Pha-ho-tep, which he would control with a golden ankh.

            Short story by Paul Hugli in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 10: Esprit de Corps, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2013. The Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin is from Edgar Allan Poe’s tales “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt,” and “The Purloined Letter.” Dr. Ponnonmer (originally spelled Ponnonner), Allamistako (originally Allamistakeo), and Captain Arthur Sabretash are from Poe’s “Some Words with a Mummy.” Reginald Goodwin is an ancestor of Nero Wolfe’s legman and biographer Archie Goodwin. Juliette Saint-Fond is a descendant of the wealthy Saint-Fond from the Marquis de Sade’s novel Juliette. De Sade’s Juliette is the sister of the title character of his book Justine, thus bringing that novel into the CU as well. Abdul Alhazred’s Necronomicon was created by H.P. Lovecraft, and is a staple of his Cthulhu Mythos. De Vermis Mysteriis, the Book of Eibon, and Unaussprechlichen Kulten are Mythos tomes created by Robert Bloch, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert E. Howard respectively. The CU version of the Illuminati has had encounters with many adventurers, including Gary Seven and his companion Roberta Lincoln, as well as Lara Croft, and they have also appeared in a series of novels by Robert Anton Wilson. Count Cagliostro is a historical figure who was identified as the ancestor of a villainous branch of the Wold Newton Family by Philip José Farmer. He also appeared in novels by Alexandre Dumas. Ethan Gage and his lover Astiza are from novels by William Dietrich. The Habits Noirs, Colonel Bozzo-Corona, and Dr. Samuel are from the works of Paul Féval. Pha-ho-tep and the golden ankh are from the Mexican horror film Assignment Terror; the Colonel will use the mummy for his own nefarious ends in Christofer Nigro’s “Death of a Dream” (Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 9: La Vie en Noir, 2012.)

Crossover Cover: Sharpe's Escape

In this Richard Sharpe novel, Rifleman Matthew Dodd, a member of Sharpe's South Essex Light Regiment Company, Rifleman Matthew Dodd, is separated from the regiment at the Battle of Bussaco. Author Bernard Cornwell has confirmed that this is the same Matthew Dodd who appears as the title character of C.S. Forester's novel Death to the French. There are other crossovers involving Sharpe as well. In the TV movie Sharpe's Justice, Sharpe meets Captain George Wickham of the Yorkshire Militia, who chronologically must be the son of George Wickham and Lydia Bennet from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Also, in the book Sharpe's Tiger, Sharpe steals the supposedly cursed diamond known as the Moonstone (from Wilkie Collins' novel of the same name) from Tippoo Sultan. Patrick Lassan, one of the protagonist of Cornwell's Starbuck Chronicles series, is Sharpe's son. Finally, Sharpe has a cameo in Simon Scarrow's The Fields of Death (which I have yet to read and write up, but plan to eventually), part of Scarrow's Revolution Quartet, four books which portray the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars from the point of view of the future Duke of Wellington and Napoleon Bonaparte. In The Fields of Death, Sharpe is only referred to as Richard.

Crossover Covers: Anno Dracula

I previously posted the cover of Johnny Alucard, the fourth entry in Kim Newman's excellent alternate history-horror hybrid series Anno Dracula, which is filled with appearances and references to characters from other works of fiction. Johnny Alucard mixed revised versions of the various short stories Newman wrote for that universe with new material to form a full-length novel. Prior to publishing this fourth book, Titan Books reprinted the first three volumes with bonus materials, including brand-new novellas accompanying The Bloody Red Baron and Dracula Cha Cha. Win included an appendix called "The Anno Dracula Universe and Character Guide" in Volume 2, and in the new volumes there will be an appendix covering the references in the new novellas and Alucard, as well as some additional references in the books and stories covered in Volume 2's guide that I discovered. I highly recommend this series.

Crossover Covers: Watching the Clock

This Star Trek tie-in novel features Agents Lucsly and Dulmur of the Department of Temporal Investigations from Deep Space 9. At one point, Lucsly refers to previous temporal causality loops, including the Tigellan chronic hysteresis of Stardate 8009. The Tigellan chronic hysteresis is a reference to the Doctor Who serial "Meglos." Although most of the Doctor's exploits take place in an alternate reality to the Crossover Universe, it has been established that he does have a CU counterpart, who sometimes goes by the name Doctor Omega. The time travel devices in a Federation storehouse include large, blue boxlike artifact and an ornate ancient time carriage with a large disk at its rear. The boxlike artifact is the Doctor's TARDIS, while the ancient time carriage is from H.G. Wells' The Time Machine, with this description being based on George Pal's 1960 film. Cyral Nine says that agents of the Aegis such as herself "stop meddlers from tampering with history. We're not just out for general do-gooding like those damn androids." "Those damn androids" are from the TV movie The Questor Tapes, which was developed by Star Trek's creator Gene Roddenberry. Finally, the Aegis homeworld is described as having silver trees and an orange sky, which matches the description of Gallifrey, the Doctor's home planet. Either the Aegis' homeworld is the Gallifrey of the CU, or the two worlds are somehow connected.

Crossover Cover: Peter and Wendy

In this classic children's novel, we are told that pirate Bill Jukes served aboard the Walrus under Captain Flint. Further, Captain Hook is described as the only person Barbecue ever feared, and even Flint feared Barbecue. Captain Flint and his ship, the Walrus, are from Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, as is Barbecue, which is Long John Silver's nickname. In his speech "Captain Hook at Eton," Barrie revealed that the pirate attended Eton in the late 19th century. Hook must have been transported back in time somehow to the 18th century, where he began a piratical career, encountered Silver, and subsequently immigrated with his crew to the dimension or pocket universe known as Neverland, where he ceased aging.

Crossover Cover: Mafia Fix

In this novel, Remo Williams encounters, and ends up fighting with, James Bond, Mister Moto, and Hercule Poirot, none of whom are referred to by name.

Crossover Cover: Warriors from the Stars

Crossover of the Week

1919

THE UNWRAPPING PARTY

            Charles St. Cyprian, the Royal Occultist, lives at 472 Cheyne Walk. St. Cyprian had been an apprentice to Thomas Carnacki before the Great War, just as Carnacki had been to Edwin Drood. St. Cyprian owns lurid artwork by Goya, Blake, and Pickman. The Royal Occultists’ library once included books by Dee, Strange, and Subtle, as well as lost Pnakotic texts. St. Cyprian receives an invitation from the Esoteric Order of Thoth-Ra, which has poached members from the Mausoleum Club, the Bell Club, and the Drones. The self-proclaimed Grand Vizier of the Esoteric Order is Edward Bellingham. St. Cyprian remembers listening to Carnacki’s stories with Dodgson and Arkwright and others. St. Cyprian refers to the ancient Egyptians’ obsession with cats, including “whole temples devoted to Ulthar’s own, what?” Going up against the Sisterhood of the Rats or the Si-Fan is not something St. Cyprian looks forward to. St. Cyprian recognizes the scent of a mixture of certain strange unguents, having been shown how to mix them by Carnacki, from a recipe recorded in the Sigsand Manuscript. Bellingham intends to unwrap the mummy of Nephren-Ka, the Black Pharaoh. The cult leader says that Nephren-Ka was the equal to the sorcerer kings of the lost antediluvian kingdoms named in the Chaldean Fragments or the Cimmerian Scrolls. St. Cyprian learned how to open his spirit eye from a Tibetan lama of his acquaintance, who has what St. Cyprian considers an unhealthy fascination for the color green. St. Cyprian thinks that Nephren-Ka was already dead, “and what was dead could likely eternal lie, to misquote Alhazred.”

            Short story by Josh Reynolds in Pro Se Presents, Lee Houston, Jr., ed., Pro Se Press, August 2012. Thomas Carnacki, “the Ghost-Finder,” appeared in a series of stories by William Hope Hodgson. Carnacki lived at 472 Cheyne Walk in Hodgson’s stories, and the house was passed to St. Cyprian after the War. The Carnacki stories were presented as tales being told by Carnacki to his friends, including Arkwright and Dodgson. The Sigsand Manuscript is also from the Carnacki tales. The Edwin Drood who served as Royal Occultist is probably a relative of the title character of Charles Dickens’ unfinished novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Pickman is painter Richard Upton Pickman is from H.P. Lovecraft’s story “Pickman’s Model.” Pnakotic texts are a reference to the Pnakotic Manuscripts, which appear in several stories of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Ulthar is from Lovecraft’s story “The Cats of Ulthar.” Nephren-Ka is from another Lovecraft story, “The Haunter of the Dark.” In the Cthulhu Mythos, Abdul Alhazred is the author of the Necronomicon, which includes the line “That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die,” as quoted in “The Call of Cthulhu.” Strange is probably an ancestor of Dr. Stephen Strange, aka the Sorcerer Supreme, a character published by Marvel Comics. Subtle is from Ben Jonson’s play The Alchemist. The Mausoleum Club is from the British radio comedy show Tales from the Mausoleum Club. The Bell Club is from the anthology Tales from the Bell Club, edited by Paul Mannering. The Drones Club includes many of P.G. Wodehouse’s characters among its members. Some of the Drones Club stories were collected as Tales from the Drones Club. Edward Bellingham is from Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story “Lot No. 249.” The Si-Fan is the secret society run by Fu Manchu in Sax Rohmer’s novels. Cimmeria is the home of Conan. The Tibetan lama is Kendall Crossen’s pulp hero the Green Lama.

Crossover Cover: Tarzan in the Land That Time Forgot

Crossover Cover: Sherlock Holmes on the Roof of the World

In this novel, Ludwig Horace Holly and Leo Vincey (from H. Rider Haggard's novels about Ayesha, aka She-who-must-be-obeyed) encounter a Norwegian named Sigerson in a Tibetan monastery. Sigerson, whom readers of Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Empty House" know is a supposedly dead Sherlock Holmes, investigates the murder of the monastery's head librarian. Kent has written two more Holmes pastiches, both featuring Haggard's Allan Quatermain and other literary characters, The Great Detective at the Crucible of Life (which Win included in Volume 1, along with its predecessor) and Allan Quatermain at the Dawn of Time, which will be in the new volumes. Two continuity-related matters must be noted regarding The Great Detective at the Crucible of Life. The death of Axel Lidenbrock (from Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth) must be exaggerated, as he appears alive and well in the first chapter of John Peel's serial story "Return to the Center of the Earth" (set in 1872) and  Pete Rawlik's story "The Issue of Dr. Jekyll" (set in 1882), and is mentioned as having encountered General Zaroff (from Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game") during World War I in Joshua Reynolds and Micah S. Harris' novel Jim Anthony: Super Detective Volume Two - The Hunters. Secondly, as Win noted in his writeup for the book, Miller must be incorrect in his speculation that Professor Moriarty was really Sherrinford Holmes, Sherlock's older brother, and that Sherrinford was also Jack the Ripper.

Crossover Cover: Batman/The Spirit

Upcoming Crossovers: Dawn/Vampirella

Dynamite Entertainment is doing a crossover between Vampirella and Joseph Michael Linsner's character Dawn. Despite what the article says, this isn't really Dawn's first ever crossover, as she previously appeared in an issue of Witchblade that Win included in Volume 2. Still, I'm definitely planning to read this one and write it up.

Crossover Cover: Tomb Raider/The Darkness

Crossover Cover: A Letter of Mary

In this novel, Mary Russell Holmes, Sherlock's much-younger wife and apprentice, is helped out of a spot of trouble by a young monocled man named Peter. As the acknowledgments for the book state, this is Dorothy L. Sayers' sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey, who according to Farmer is a Wold Newton Family member and a distant cousin of Sherlock Holmes himself.

Crossover of the Week

Summer

THE WOLFF THAT ONE HEARS

            Archaeologist François Bordes explores the caves at Lascaux, and finds a stone with a tablet inside, which has strange writing inscribed upon it. Trying to decipher the inscriptions, he searches a book by his colleague Aristide Clairembard. An hour later, he discovers similarities between the writing and samples recorded by Professor Lidenbrock in Iceland in the 19^th Century. According to Clairembard, only one person was able to decipher the text unearthed by Lidenbrock: Robert Wolff, a professor at Traybell University in Busiris, Illinois. Traveling to Busiris to meet with Wolff, Bordes and his American colleague encounter Dr. Oscar le Rouge.

            Short story by Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier in The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 2: Of Dust and Soul, Michael Croteau, ed., Meteor House, 2011. François Bordes was a real life archaeologist, geologist, and scientist, who also wrote science fiction novels under the pen name Francis Carsac. This story reveals where Bordes got the idea for his novel Ceux de Null Part (Those from Nowhere.) Professor Wolff (aka Jadawin) and Dr. le Rouge (aka Red Orc) are from Farmer’s The World of Tiers series. Traybell University appears in Farmer’s novel Traitor to the Living; an alternate universe version of the University appears in Farmer’s story “The God Business.” Busiris, Illinois is a recurring stand-in for Peoria in Farmer’s works. Professor Aristide Clairembard (or Clairembart) is one of the allies of adventurer Bob Morane in novels by Henri Vernes. Professor Otto Lidenbrock’s Icelandic expedition was chronicled by his nephew Axel Lidenbrock and edited by Jules Verne into a book entitled Journey to the Centre of the Earth. This story is set in the early 1950s, and Bordes is described as “barely thirty.” Since Bordes was born in 1919, 1950 is the most likely year for it to take place.