Sunday, September 13, 2015

Crossover of the Week

2006
DEAD BEAT IN KHUSRA
Dillon, spending a few days in Khusra after his latest adventure, reluctantly teams up with Sly Gantlet when his old flame and Sly’s current lover, Princess Sathyra of Tosegio, is kidnapped. Appearing or mentioned are: a member of the Khusran royal family who achieved some notoriety adventuring around the world back in the 1930s and ’40s; a Forrester tux; U.N.C.L.E.; F.L.A.G.; Globex; Thema Sidibe (aka Tracy); the “Long Noodle” plague; Jekyll Island beer; Madeline Scocco; the Otwani tribe; Cry, Cry Again; See You Next Wednesday; Comanapracil; Al-Julhara; and the Willis-Brennan JJ/59 aircraft, aka the Skyspear.
Novella by Joel Jenkins and Derrick Ferguson in The Specialists, PulpWork Press, 2015. Dillon is the protagonist of a series of novels and short stories by Ferguson, while Sly Gantlet and his brothers, rock stars who double as mercenaries, appear in books by Jenkins. This story takes place immediately after Ferguson’s novel Dillon and the Last Rail to Khusra. Dillon and Sly first met in Jenkins and Ferguson’s story “Dead Beat in La Esca.” The member of the Khusran royal family who achieved some notoriety adventuring around the world back in the 1930s and ’40s is Fortune McCall, the hero of another series of stories by Ferguson. Thema Sidibe, Fortune’s cousin, used the name Tracy Scott in that era during her adventures alongside him. The “Long Noodle” plague and the Otwani tribe are also from the Fortune McCall tales. Madeline Scocco is the granddaughter of Ronald Scocco, one of Fortune’s aides. The Forrester tux is a reference to the Forrester family that owns the fashion house Forrester Creations on the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful. U.N.C.L.E. is from the television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., of course. F.L.A.G. is from the TV series Knight Rider. Globex is from “You Only Move Twice,” an episode of the long-running animated sitcom The Simpsons. Since that show is too overtly absurd in its events to be incorporated into CU continuity, Globex must exist in both the CU and the Simpsons’ native universe. Jekyll Island beer has appeared in several TV series, including Burn Notice, Dexter, and Lost. Cry, Cry Again is a fictional movie from the Seinfeld episode “The Little Kicks.” See You Next Wednesday is a film that appears or is mentioned in several of John Landis’ films, including An American Werewolf in London, The Blues Brothers, and Trading Places. Comanapracil is a drug seen in “Believe in the Stars,” an episode of the sitcom 30 Rock. Al-Julhara is from the movie The Jewel of the Nile, a sequel to Romancing the Stone. The Willis-Brennan JJ/59 aircraft is a reference to Willis Aircraft Company owner Leland Willis and his employee Lt. Col. Matt Brennan from the film Chain Lightning. Matt must have become a partner in the company after the movie’s events.

11 comments:

  1. "You Only Move Twice" was one of my favorite episodes of the Simpsons. In it Homer goes to work for a super-villain. There's a scene where Homer's boss, Hank Scorpio, is trying to kill a spy called James Bunt in a death trap. Bunt escapes, but Homer tackles him.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Only_Move_Twice

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    1. Loved the scene where Hank Scorpio asks Homer: "Can you do me a favor and kill a couple of guys on your way out? It would really be a big help." Hank Scorpio is one of my all time favorite supervillains

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  2. The Bold and the Beautiful is in the CU? Are there any other soap operas (other than Dark Shadows) in the CU?

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    1. Passions is in through a crossover with Las Vegas. The TV crossovers addendum in the new volumes will list the chain of soap crossovers that are brought in by the inclusion of The Bold and the Beautiful, which includes most of the major ones.

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    2. Speaking of tv, is Once Upon a Time in the CU? It included a brief reference to the sarlacc from Star Wars. And if so, does it bring in Disney's Frozen?

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    3. Besides the Sarlacc, Once Upon a Time has a number of shout-outs to Lost, so it is in the CU: http://onceuponatime.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Lost_References

      I suppose that would bring in Frozen.

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    4. A variation of the tale, to be exact. Sorta like how there exists (from the CU perspective) a different version of Dr. Frankenstein from a colorless world in the show.

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    5. Ah, Once Upon a Time, the TV series that had a similar premise to the comic book Fables shown on a network that tried to adapt Fables. They were probably dissimilar enough that it would be wrong to call TV series a rip-off of the comic, but I imagine it was an influence. (Fables the comic would have to be an AU.)

      Frozen was very loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Snow_Queen#Characters

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    6. It's worth noting that in the Nightside novel Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth, John Taylor sees faeries who are described as refugees from another dimension, hiding from the Hordes of the Adversary, confirming that Fables takes place in an alternate reality.

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    7. Yeah, I remember that now. I sometimes wonder if the CU is the Pulp version of the Homelands from the comic.

      I believe Sharper also had a reference to the Bazaar of the Bizarre from the Fritz Leiber story of the same name featuring Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. I imagine that would confirm Nehwon as an AU. That's interesting since two characters in Fables where Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser in all but name.

      The one story in Leiber's series set on Earth had Cthulhu Mythos references though they were later changed to a simple mention of Elder Gods on publication.

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