Charles
Gunn asks Fred Burkle for the slime analysis on “the Illithid
case.” Illithids
are the mind-flayers from the Dungeons
and Dragons games,
thus making the various D&D
realms
alternate realities to the CU.

The Crossover UniverseTM is a companion blog to the books Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1-2 by Win Scott Eckert, and the forthcoming Crossovers Expanded Volumes 1-2 by Sean Levin. Material excerpted from Crossovers Volumes 1 & 2 is © copyright 2010-2014 by Win Scott Eckert. All rights reserved. Material excerpted from Crossovers Expanded Volumes 1 & 2 is © copyright 2014-present by Sean Levin. All rights reserved.
Monday, August 31, 2015
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Crossover of the Week
1940
THE
BLACK BAT AT BAY
Jim
Anthony comes out of retirement when he is tasked by the N.Y.P.D.
with capturing the Black Bat, who has been framed for murder. Anthony
was recommended to Commissioner Warner by FBI agent Dan Fowler, with
whom Anthony has worked before. Anthony also tells Warner, “A
famous member of my fraternity once said that pertinence is purely a
matter of perspective.” The Bat attacks a group of criminals at the
wrecked Comet Club, which was once owned by a man named Suydam, who
died in 1921 in the same fire that destroyed the club. Gangster
Gentleman Jack Schulz has a penthouse in the Shandor Building.
Short
story by Josh Reynolds in Black
Bat Mystery, Volume 2,
Airship 27 Productions, 2012. The Black Bat and Jim Anthony appeared
in the pulp magazines Black
Book Detective and
Super
Detective,
respectively. FBI agent Dan Fowler’s stories appeared in
G-Men Detective.
Fowler and Anthony previously met in Erwin K. Roberts’ story
“Neighborhood in Peril” and Reynolds’ tale “Proof of
Supremacy.” The fellow sleuth quoted by Anthony is either Sherlock
Holmes or C. Auguste Dupin. Suydam is a relative of Robert Suydam
from H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Horror at Red Hook.” The Shandor
Building is from the movie Ghostbusters.
Anthony must have permanently resumed his adventurous career after
this, given his appearances in “The Carolingian Stone” and other
stories.
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Crossover Cover: Return of the Dugpa
Ravenwood
battles the Dweller on the Threshold, the former chief agent of the
benevolent White Lodge, now an inhabitant of the Black Lodge, served
by a group called the dugpas. Ravenwood is aided in his battle with
the Dweller by a shadowy figure called the Dark Eminence. Actress
Anne D’Arromanches grew up in an orphanage in the Midwest, where
she was placed by her mother, who only spoke French. Ravenwood,
“the stepson of mystery,” appeared in stories by Frederick C.
Davis in the pulp magazine Secret
Agent X.
The Dweller on the Threshold is from Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s novel
Zanoni.
The White Lodge, the Black Lodge, and the dugpas are from Talbot
Mundy’s novel The
Devil’s Guard.
David Lynch and Mark Frost utilized the Dweller, the Lodges, and the
dugpas in their television series Twin
Peaks.
The Dark Eminence is the Shadow. Anne D’Arromanches is meant to be
Ann Darrow from the classic film King
Kong.
Harris reveals the Shadow planted the idea into director Carl
Denham’s mind to ask Ann to star in his film shot on Skull Island.
In his book The
Eldritch New Adventures of Becky Sharp,
Harris identified Ann as the daughter of Lord Eugenides (a Tarzan
analogue) and Becky, a character from William Makepeace Thackeray’s
Vanity
Fair.
The chronology of Lord Eugenides’ exploits does not fit with the
timeline of the Tarzan novels, which combined with other conflicts
with the established CU history of characters such as Captain Nemo
and Irene Adler places The
Eldritch New Adventures of Becky Sharp in
an alternate universe. The Ann Darrow/Anne D’Arromanches of the CU
is probably Becky Sharp’s daughter by John Gribardsun, the
time-traveling future Tarzan seen in Time’s
Last Gift.
Friday, August 28, 2015
Crossover Cover: The Young Sherlock Holmes Adventures
A graphic novel set
in a steampunk universe in 1905 that more closely resembles a
Dickensian 1870s. In the story “The Head of the Hydra,” a
college-aged Sherlock Holmes is approached by Felix Leiter, who
indicates he might wish to consult Holmes in the future. Leiter’s
card reads Criminal
-----ation Agency.
This Leiter must be a counterpart to CIA agent (and later Pinkerton)
Felix Leiter from the James Bond novels. We can assume the full
second word in the name of the Agency is “Investigation.”
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Crossover Cover: Price Tag Attached
New
Orleans private eye Burleigh Drummond and Police Detective Jodie
Kintyre investigate the theft of a marble heart and the murder of its
seller. Westmoreland’s
P.I. Burleigh Drummond is the grandson of Philip Marlowe, and
therefore a Wold Newton Family member. Jodie Kintyre is the partner
of Dino LaStanza, a cop featured in a series of novels by de Noux.
This crossover brings LaStanza and Jodie into the CU. Half-Cajun,
half-Sioux cop John Raven Beau appeared in the LaStanza novel New
Orleans Homicide before
spinning off into his own series of novels. De Noux’s story “Little
Known New Orleans Mysteries” establishes his ’40s P.I. Lucien
Caye exists in the same universe as Jodie.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Crossover Cover: King Crime!
In this Dan Fowler story by D.L. Champion, Fowler cracks
a case that begins in Newkirk City. Newkirk City was also the setting of “Alias Mr. Death,” a novel by Champion serialized in nine chapters in Thrilling Detective in February–October 1932. Two more Mr. Death stories by George Fielding Eliot appeared in 1939. Since Dan Fowler is in the CU, so is Mr. Death, aka James Quincy Gilmore, Jr., who took on the guise to battle the Murder Club responsible for his father’s death.
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Crossover Cover: Sargasso
The first issue of this magazine devoted to William Hope Hodgson contains two short stories with crossovers. In William Meikle's "The Blue Egg," Carnacki
accompanies Captain Gault on a voyage to acquire a blue jewel that
has a powerful pull on those who come in contact with it. Captain Gault, an unscrupulous seaman and smuggler, appeared in his own series of stories by Hodgson. This
story takes place in autumn, "not long" after Carnacki and
Gault’s first meeting in Meikle’s story "Carnacki: Captain
Gault’s Nemesis." In Pierre V. Comtois' "A Question of Meaning," a
group of cultists travel to the Night Land, a future incarnation of the Dreamlands ruled by the Elder God Nodens. This tale connects Hodgson’s novel The Night Land (which represents one of many possible futures for the CU) to the Cthulhu Mythos.
group of cultists travel to the Night Land, a future incarnation of the Dreamlands ruled by the Elder God Nodens. This tale connects Hodgson’s novel The Night Land (which represents one of many possible futures for the CU) to the Cthulhu Mythos.
Monday, August 24, 2015
Crossover Covers: Death's Head Berlin
It
is mentioned that three people have recently left Germany: Mr.
Norris, Herr Issyvoo, and Sally Bowles. This novel is the
first of three Inspector Lohmann books by Jack Gerson. Lohmann is from Fritz
Lang’s films M
and
The
Testament of Dr. Mabuse.
The three individuals who have recently departed Germany appear in
two short novels by Christopher Isherwood collected as The
Berlin Stories,
the basis for the musical Cabaret.
Norris is from Mr.
Norris Changes Trains,
while Issyvoo (a fictionalized version of Isherwood himself whose
surname was mispronounced by the Germans) and Sally Bowles appear in
Goodbye
to Berlin.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Crossover of the Week
1857
THE
NEXT OMEGA
An
old man seeking a younger fellow who claims to be Doctor Omega
remarks, “A Morlock would feel right at home in this neighborhood.”
The older man, who is also known as Doctor Omega, carries a robot
head in a hatbox that he acquired in the future, in the city of
Metropolis. His companion Fred is mentioned. The two Doctors’
carriage is driven by Eugene Papillon. The duo discovers a card
bearing the name Maupertuis. The older Omega refers to Lecoq and
“that Marple woman.” The Omegas find themselves pursued by robed
men that appear to be followers of the Ubasti. The elder Omega tells
the younger how a wave of radioactive turbulence separated him and
his traveling companions, and asks if he has been to Quinnis in the
fourth universe. The apparent Ubasti cultists work for Baron Oscar
Maupertuis. Omega refers to a suppressed account by Watson. They are
attacked by the robed men, who turn out to actually be Red Lectroids.
The younger Omega shows his elder namesake a crystal, which the
latter identifies as from Metebelis-Three. The young Omega regains
his memory of traveling to the Moon, where he met one of the Lunian
Immortals, and realizes that he is really balloonist Antoine Gerpré.
Omega recognizes Maupertuis as Ozer, one of many immortals claiming
to be the Wandering Jew. Omega departs with Helvetius, his fellow
traveler in space and time.
Short
story by Travis Hiltz in Tales
of the Shadowmen Volume 10: Esprit de Corps,
Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2013;
reprinted in French in Les
Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 16),
Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Rivière Blanche, 2015.
Doctor Omega is from Arnould Galopin’s novel of the same name, as
are Fred and Helvetius. The Lofficiers’ translation and adaptation
of Galopin’s book implied that the Doctor was the Crossover
Universe counterpart of the time and-space-traveling Doctor from the
television series Doctor
Who.
Quinnis in the fourth universe is mentioned in the Doctor
Who serial
“The Edge of Destruction,” while Metebelis-Three is from the
serials “The Green Death” and “Planet of the Spiders.” The
Morlocks are from H.G. Wells’ The
Time Machine.
The robot and the city of Metropolis are from Fritz Lang’s film
Metropolis.
Doctor Omega visited Metropolis in Hiltz’s story “The Robots of
Metropolis” (Tales
of the Shadowmen Volume 7: Femmes Fatales,
2011.) Lecoq is Emile Gaboriau’s sleuth. Eugene Papillon is from
Gaboriau’s novel Monsieur
Lecoq.
Baron Maupertuis is mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes story “The
Adventure of the Reigate Squire”; here, he is conflated with Ozer
from Paul Féval’s novel The
Wandering Jew’s Daughter.
“That Marple woman” is Agatha Christie’s detective Miss Jane
Marple. The Cult of Ubasti is from the serial The
Return of Chandu,
and has also appeared in Hiltz’s stories “The Treasure of the
Ubasti” (Tales
of the Shadowmen Volume 6: Grand Guignol,
2009) and “In the Caves of the Serpent” (Tales
of the Shadowmen Volume 8: Agents Provocateurs,
2011.) The serial was based on the radio series Chandu
the Magician,
which spawned a spin-off, Omar
the Mystic.
After being separated from Omega, Fred found himself in the year
1776, where he also encountered Red Lectroids, as seen in Hiltz’s
tale “What Lurks in Romney Marsh?” (Tales
of the Shadowmen Volume 9: La Vie En Noir,
2012.) The Lunian Immortals and Antoine Gerpré are from Alfred
Driou’s book The
Adventures of a Parisian Aeronaut in the Unknown Worlds,
which has been translated by Brian Stableford for Black Coat Press.
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Crossover Cover: Army of Darkness/Reanimator
Ash
Williams time-travels to March 1922 from 2012 and meets Herbert West,
who is later revealed to be the same West whom Ash has met before,
having used the Necronomicon
Ex Mortis
to travel back in time. Ash
previously met West in the stories Army
of Darkness vs. Re-Animator and
Prophecy.
Jay Lindsey notes “This one takes some wrangling, since the
implication is that the 2000s West is the one from Lovecraft’s
original story. Since the Cthulhu Mythos timeline I generally refer
to claims that West disappeared in 1921, I propose that the 2000s
West attempted to use the Necronomicon
to
visit his ancestor, but due to some temporal quirk, missed his demise
and ended up with amnesia, assuming the identity of the previous
West.” Although the latter-day Herbert dies in this story, he is
later resurrected via sorcery and returned to the 21st
century via unrevealed means, as referenced in the Reanimator
miniseries.
Friday, August 21, 2015
Crossover Movie Poster: Casper
Dr.
Raymond Stantz unsuccessfully attempts to make Casper and his uncles
leave the mansion they are haunting. Father Guido Sarducci also
appears. Dr.
Stantz is from the movie Ghostbusters
and
its sequel, as well as the cartoon The
Real Ghostbusters.
Since the Ghostbusters are in the CU, this crossover brings in a
version of Casper. Father Guido Sarducci is a character created by
comedian Don Novello, who has portrayed him in several TV series
(including Blossom,
Married…with
Children,
and Unhappily
Ever After)
and specials.
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Crossover Cover: Terovolas
Dr.
Abraham Van Helsing travels to Texas to deliver the cremated remains
of Quincey Morris to his brother Coleman, encountering werewolves in
the process. Van Helsing twice refers to an adventure he had with his
colleague Hamish and his famous friend, the Great Detective.
Apparently Van Helsing prefers calling Dr. John Hamish Watson,
Sherlock Holmes’ best friend and biographer, by his middle name.
The afterword describes how Erdelac discovered Van Helsing’s papers
at the University of Chicago in 1997. The papers had been earmarked
for the Ravenwood Collection. The Collection is named for Abner
Ravenwood, Indiana Jones’ archaeology professor at the University
of Chicago and the father of his future wife Marion. Among the names
listed in the acknowledgments are Dr. Byron McFynn Jr., History
Department, Marshall College, Connecticut (the school Indy taught
at); Professor Stanislaus Laff, History Department, Empire State
University, New York City, New York (the college attended by Peter
Parker, aka Spider-Man); and Professor William Wallace Spates III
(the grandson of Professor Alfred William Wallace Spates from
Erdelac’s Merkabah Rider books, himself based on a reference to
“Spates’s catalog” in the movie Ghostbusters),
Special Collections, Miskatonic University, Arkham, Massachusetts
(the site of numerous Cthulhu Mythos stories by H.P. Lovecraft and
others.) Quincey Morris’ body being recovered and cremated does not
fit with the events of P.N. Elrod’s novel Quincey
Morris, Vampire, which Win included in the original volumes, and so this book, while very good, unfortunately cannot be included in the CU.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Crossover Cover: Monster Hunter Vendetta
Monster
Hunter International (M.H.I.) continues to battle against the Old
Ones. Trip Jones buys a fantasy novel by L.H. Franzibald in a hotel
gift shop. A shoggoth appears, and one of the books in M.H.I.’s
library is a tome written by a Mad Arab, which contains information
on Shoggoths. M.H.I. has worked with Britain’s Van Helsing
Institute. Agent Franks is revealed to be a Frankenstein creation,
though constructed by the historical alchemist Johann Conrad Dippel.
The Yith are mentioned. The
Old Ones, shoggoths, and the Yith are all from the works of H.P.
Lovecraft, as is the Mad Arab, Abdul Alhazred. His book is the Al
Azif,
better known as the Necronomicon.
L.H. Franzibald is from Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik’s web comic
Penny
Arcade.
The Van Helsing Institute must be named in honor of the monster
hunting Van Helsing family, originally from Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Johann Dippel is established as an ancestor of the more infamous
Frankenstein clan in several sources.
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Crossover Cover: From a Drood to a Kill
Eddie
Drood takes action when his beloved, Molly Metcalf, is abducted by
the Powers That Be to take part in the Big Game. Appearing or
mentioned are: the Merlin Glass, the London Knights; MI 13; the London Knights, Kayleigh's Eye, the Nightside, Saint Jude's Church, Strangefellows, Walker, Dead Boy, the Night Times, Castle Inconnu, Harry Fabulous, John Taylor and Shotgun Suzie, and the Hawk's Wind Bar and Grill (all from Green's Nightside series); Area 52 (probably the same one seen in the titular Image Comics miniseries);
an old 1930s Hirondel (the same fictional car driven by Simon Templar, the Saint); Queen Mab (from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet);
King Oberon and Queen Titania, and Puck (from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream); the original
Fantom of the Paris Opera (from Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera); Charlotte Karstein, the Wilderness Witch (possibly a relative of Carmilla Karnstein from J. Sheridan Le Fanu's vampire tale "Carmilla");
Castle Frankenstein (from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and its many adaptations and sequels); the Ninteen Sixties Black Beauty (from the 1960s Green Hornet television series); a shocking
pink Rolls-Royce (Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward's car, FAB 1, from the Supermarionation show Thunderbirds, which takes place in the 2060s; presumably the Droods acquired the car through time travel, and possibly dimensional travel as well); the only occasionally successful Lotus submersible (from the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me); Julien Advent (from the Nightside books, but a thinly-veiled version of the title character of the television series Adam Adamant Lives!); Shadows Fall, Bruin Bear and the Sea Goat, and Old Father Time (from Green's novel Shadows Fall); the
Carnacki Institute and Catherine Latimer (from Green's Ghost Finders series); Deathstalker (the protagonist of another series of novels by Green, which take place in an alternate future); Jason Royal (a thinly veiled version of the main character of the British television series Department S and Jason King);
Lady Gaea (aka Gayle), Carrys Galloway, the Waking Beauty, and Bradford-on-Avon (from Green's novel Drinking Midnight Wine);
the Doormouse and his House of Doors (from the Nightside series, though the Doormouse is a member of a group of hippies turned into mice first seen in Drinking Midnight Wine); Robot Archibald (meant
to be Robot Archie, who appeared in the British weekly comic book
Lion); knock-off Hyde (Dr. Henry Jekyll's formula from Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, used as a drug); Martian Red Weed (from H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds); and smoked black centipede
meat (from William S. Burroughs' novel Naked Lunch.)
Monday, August 17, 2015
Crossover Cover: The Emperor of America
Naval officer Drake Roscoe enlists the services of a Pinkerton-like
detective agency headed by Ned W. Regan. Roscoe later became a Secret Serivce agent and recurring foe of Rohmer’s
villainess Sumuru. Regan also appeared in Roscoe’s first appearance in the
series,
Sumuru, as well as a series of short stories featuring a stage magician
turned detective called Bazarada, which were presented as a short novel in Salute
to Bazarada and Other Stories. At one point in “Salute to Bazarada,”
Bazarada impersonated a Scotland Yard Inspector named Grimsby. An Inspector
Grimsby appears in Rohmer’s The Dream Detective, featuring occult
detective Moris Klaw. Since Sumuru and Klaw are in the CU, so are Roscoe,
Regan, and Bazarada. Rohmer’s story “Bazarada,” reprinted in the 1970 Ace
paperback The Secret of Holm Peel, features a Spanish adventurer in the
time of Queen Elizabeth I named Don Sanchez Bazarada, presumably the magician’s
ancestor.
I had a great time at FarmerCon this weekend. Win and Michael Croteau and I ironed out some plans for the books. I'm only going to be adding a couple more entries to the manuscript, since we're going to start moving forward and readying them for publication. Ideally, we'd like to have Volume 3 out around Christmastime and Volume 4 in time for next year's convention. Also, my good friend Art Sippo interviewed me about the books for his podcast, Art's Reviews, with some input by Win as well, so I will post the link to the interview here when it's up on Art's site.
I had a great time at FarmerCon this weekend. Win and Michael Croteau and I ironed out some plans for the books. I'm only going to be adding a couple more entries to the manuscript, since we're going to start moving forward and readying them for publication. Ideally, we'd like to have Volume 3 out around Christmastime and Volume 4 in time for next year's convention. Also, my good friend Art Sippo interviewed me about the books for his podcast, Art's Reviews, with some input by Win as well, so I will post the link to the interview here when it's up on Art's site.
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Crossover Cover: Demolition Angel
Carol
Starkey investigates a bombing. John Chen appears, and Samantha Dolan is
mentioned. Serial bomber Mr. Red eats at Big Kahuna Burger. Big Kahuna Burger
has appeared in several films, most notably Pulp Fiction; this reference
brings the events of this novel into the CU. Carol Starkey would go on to
appear in other books by Crais. John Chen and Samantha Dolan are from Crais’
Elvis Cole novel L.A. Requiem.
For
the record, I will be attending FarmerCon/Pulpfest from Friday until Sunday,
and may or may not post here while I'm in Columbus. However, I will post a
convention report on my personal blog, Diary of a Madman, when I return.
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