Crossover Cover: Young Nemo and the Black Knights

In 1836, 18-year-old Prince Rajesh Dakkar and a diverse crew dubbed the Black Knights travel aboard a boat called the Nautilus to find the Library of Alexandria in order to acquire a manuscript that reveals Atlantean secrets Rajesh, after renaming himself Captain Nemo, will one day use to create a remarkable submarine, also called the Nautilus. Rajesh’s collection of books includes the dark Necronomicon written by a mad Arab. In the CU, Prince Dakkar was born in 1808, not 1818 as stated by Vance, so I consider this otherwise excellent book an AU.

Crossover Cover: The Capture of Paul Beck

Paul Beck crosses paths with his fellow sleuth Dora Myrl. The two ultimately marry. Dora Myrl previously appeared in Bodkin’s Dora Myrl, the Lady Detective. The year is 1908 based on a reference to Teddy Roosevelt choosing not to seek another presidential term. Paul and Dora are in the CU through references in G. L. Gick’s “The Werewolf of Rutherford Grange” and Barbara Roden’s “The Things That Shall Come Upon Them.”

Crossovers Expanded

The books now have an order page on the Meteor House website. Click this link. :)

As you can see, they will be Crossovers Expanded Volumes 1 and 2, rather than Crossovers Volume 3 and 4, since it is an expansion rather than a sequel. After all, it covers the same span of time as the original volumes, rather than picking up after the Time Traveler battled the Morlocks. :) Also, dig those awesome covers by Keith Howell! I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am right now!

Crossover Cover: The Wedding of Sheila-Na-Gog

This issue contains a Simon of Gitta story by Richard L. Tierney and Glenn Rahman. Simon visits Regio Averonum, an area of Gaul. He finds himself aligned with a tribe called the Averoni, who worship a god named Sadoqua and command large black cats. Fighting Simon and his allies are the Black Goat Druids, adherents of the goddess Sheila-na-gog, who was originally in Acheron and Hyperborea. Simon throws a corrupt Roman official into Sheila-na-gog, and she gives birth to a monster who “was small and had the shape of a rat, but its pallid bearded face and handlike forepaws were evilly human.” Rick Lai writes, “Regio Averonum is a chronologically earlier version of the region of France later known as Averoigne in ‘The Holiness of Azéderac’ and other stories by Clark Ashton Smith. Sadoqua is an alias which Smith used for his demon-god Tsathoggua. The name Regio Averonum and the black cats were actually ideas of H. P. Lovecraft’s, which were given to Smith in the correspondence between the two authors (see Lovecraft’s Selected Letters IV: 1932–1934, letters #669, 674, and 685). Lovecraft also came up with the idea of a tribe called the Averones, whose name was changed to Averoni in the Simon of Gitta story. Acheron is from Robert E. Howard’s ‘Black Colossus’ and Conan the Conqueror, while Hyperborea is a polar continent described by Clark Ashton Smith. Sheila-na-gog has the form of a pool which gives birth to monsters. The appearance and nature of Sheila-na-gog are virtually identical with Abhoth the Unclean, the Hyperborean deity from Clark Ashton Smith’s ‘The Seven Geases.’ I don’t think Sheila-na-gog and Abhoth are the same deity. I suspect that they are either father and daughter, or sister and brother, or son and mother. The monsters spawned by Sheila-na-gog only have a long life span if a human being is thrown into Sheila-na-gog first. The goddess devours a human and fashions a spawn from his flesh. Sheila-na-gog’s spawn in this story could be Brown Jenkin from Lovecraft’s ‘The Dreams in the Witch-House.’”

Crossover Cover: The Great Budget Conspiracy

Sexton Blake and Mr. Mist (Ian Craig, a disfigured scientist who uses an invention called the Invicta Ray to become invisible) fight Rudolph Kent, a vicious blackmailer who also runs a drug-smuggling ring in Limehouse. Assisting Blake and Mist is Inspector Red Berry. This story is the third part of the “Mr. Mist” storyline starring Blake. “Berry” is clearly Inspector Red Kerry from Sax Rohmer’s Dope, Tales of Chinatown, and Yellow Shadows. The first two chapters, appearing in #1277 and #1278, were titled “The Man Who Walked by Night” and “The Phantom of Scotland Yard” respectively. The fourth and final chapter, “The Mystery of the Missing Mace,” appeared in #1281, and had several references to “Berry.”

Crossover of the Week

Winter 1940; Summer 2011

A PLAGUE ON THE LAND

Moran’s Pub, owned by Seamus Moran, is frequented by vigilantes. Seamus pours the owner of a fire opal another large Bushmill’s, and thinks of his cousin Paddy and his bar uptown. Seamus thinks most of the vigilantes are killers, with two exceptions: “the green one was a man of peace, the pink one killed when she had to but mostly avoided it.” Seamus, a leprechaun, asks the Nightmare to deal with trouble in his homeland, Eire, the spiritual plane of Ireland. In the 21st century, Detective Sergeant Bianca Jones of the Baltimore Police Department’s homicide division talks to Nemesis, the goddess of retribution, at Paddy’s. Bianca thinks the Nightmare is “a character, like the Spider or the Pink Reaper,” but Nemesis says he was real, and persuades Bianca to go back into the past to help the hero in Eire.

Short story by John L. French in Apocalypse 13, Diane Raetz, ed., Padwolf Publishing, 2012. The vigilante with the fire opal is the shadowy hero of the pulps. Paddy Moran and Nemesis are from Patrick Thomas’ Murphy’s Lore series. “The green one” is the Green Lama, while “the pink one” is the Pink Reaper, another character from the Murphy’s Lore series. The Nightmare is a pulp-era vigilante created by French. The Nightmare became romantically involved with Nemesis in Thomas and French’s book From the Shadows. Bianca Jones appears in her own series of stories by French. Bianca is wrong about the Nightmare and the Pink Reaper being fictional, and she is also wrong about the Spider’s nonexistence.

Crossover Cover: The Dead Don't Die

This collection of Cal McDonald stories by Steve Niles includes "The Dead Don't Die," in which Cal

puts down a zombie outbreak in the California desert. While commenting on zombies, he mentions “what happened with radiation in Pittsburgh in the late sixties.” The incident in Pittsburgh is clearly meant as a reference to the events of the first Night of the Living Dead film. Although later films in the series (Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, and Survival of the Dead) involve the world being overrun with the walking dead, other sources, such as the Return of the Living Dead films and the Nathaniel Cade novels, show this particular incident was actually very isolated. Some hero must have stopped whatever caused the outbreak to spread in other universes.

Crossover Audio Drama: The Inaudible Man

The British radio comedy series Tales from the Mausoleum Club is in the CU via mentions of the club in Kim Newman's Professor Moriarty story "The Greek Invertebrate" and Josh Reynolds' Royal Occultist story "The Unwrapping Party." In the first episode of the show, "The Inaudible Man," the Honourable Clarence Green, applying to join the Mausoleum Club, names the other clubs to which he already belongs, including the Club of Queer Trades, bringing in G. K. Chesterton's short story collection of the same name.

Crossover Covers: Lady Rawhide/Lady Zorro

Lady Rawhide and Lady Zorro join forces to combat a group of slavers who are taking kidnapped women to sell to a brothel. Lady Zorro is from Dynamite Entertainment’s Zorro comic, which portrays Don Diego de la Vega as half-Indian on his mother’s side. This does not fit with the continuity of either Johnston McCulley’s original tales or the continuations by later authors, and therefore Dynamite’s version of Zorro must exist in an AU.

Crossover Covers: The Watchman/The Two Minute Rule

On the run from a hit squad, Joe Pike and the woman he’s protecting abandon his red Jeep Cherokee in a grocery store parking lot. It is stolen by ex-con Max Holman. It is mentioned Holman used to steal cars for two Hispanic gangsters named the Chihuahua Brothers. The Watchman is the first Joe Pike novel. Joe Pike is the partner of Crais’ P.I. Elvis Cole. Pike appears in all the Elvis Cole books and Cole in all the Joe Pike books. The Two Minute Rule is a standalone novel featuring former bank robber Max Holman. The Jeep Cherokee links the two books. The Chihuahua brothers are mentioned in Crais’ Elvis Cole novel L.A. Requiem.

Crossover Cover: The Raffles Hunt

This issue contains a Raffles story by Barry Perowne (real name Philip Atkey,) "The Raffles Hunt," later reprinted as "Raffles and the Automobile Gang" in the collection Raffles of the Albany. In this tale, Raffles and Bunny Manders encounter Smiler Bunn and his gang. Bunn is a comedic thief-turned-detective appearing in short stories and novels by Perowne’s uncle Bertram Atkey from 1911 to 1940. Bunn is also mentioned in David Vineyard's "The Legacy of Arsene Lupin," which I discussed in a previous post.

Crossover Cover: Castaways

A group of reality show contestants on a tropical island are stalked and attacked by a tribe of degenerate, ape-like cryptids. One of the characters, Troy, is from Brackard’s Point, New York, and mentions his brother Sherm, who died in a botched bank robbery in Pennsylvania. Unbeknownst to most, one of the contestants is a member of the Sons of the Constitution and plans to kill most of the crew and contestants. The Globe Corporation is mentioned to have an oil platform somewhere near the island. The cryptids’ cave contains a statue of a creature with a human body but the head of a squid. The walls are decorated with drawings of a labyrinth with a great, black, red-eyed mass in the center, creatures with human bodies but the heads of swine, and a towering creature like a cross between a gorilla and a cat. Brackard’s Point, New York is the setting of much of horror author Geoff Cooper’s work. Sherm and the bank robbery are from Keene’s novel Terminal. The Sons of the Constitution are a right-wing terrorist militia group that recurs throughout Keene’s work, such as in the story “Full of It.” The Globe Corporation is another recurring element of Keene’s fictional multiverse (Dead Sea, “Scratch,” etc.) The squid monster is Keene’s Leviathan, one of the Thirteen, as seen in the alternate realities of the Earthworm Gods books and Clickers III: Dagon Rising. The Labyrinth is an extradimensional realm that connects all of Keene’s various works, seen best in the short story “Tequila’s Sunrise” and A Gathering of Crows. The black mass in the center of it is Nodens, greatest among the Thirteen, from Ghost Walk and Darkness at the Edge of Town. The swine-things are from William Hope Hodgson’s novel The House on the Borderland. The gorilla-cat creature is Meeble, another of the Thirteen, who plays a major role in “Tequila’s Sunrise” and A Gathering of Crows.

Crossover of the Week

Early January 1891

THE GREEK INVERTEBRATE

Professor Moriarty and Colonel Moran are asked by the Professor’s brother, Colonel James Moriarty, to ignore a summons from the third Moriarty brother, stationmaster James. The Professor and Moran defy his orders, and become involved with espionage and a new machine with which to wage war. Appearing or mentioned are: Sir Augustus Moran; the Club of the Damned; the Mausoleum Club; a chandelier falling on the audience of the Paris Opera during the jewel song from Faust; Fal Vale Junction; Greyfriars; the kuripuri; the Grand Vampire; Les Vampires; a German rival of Moriarty’s who sometimes assumes the guise of “a shock-haired, stooped alienist with mesmeric eyes”; Irma Vep; Palliser; Nevil Airey Stent; Fred Porlock; the Lord of Strange Deaths; R. G. Sanders; Eduardo Lucas; Thomas Carnacki; Cursitor Doone; Monsieur Sabin; Ilse von Hoffmansthal, aka Madame Gabrielle Valladon; Flaxman Low; Hugo Oberstein; Sophy Kratides; Malilella of the Stiletto; Irene Adler; Lady Yuki Kashima; Mad Margaret Trelawny; Dr. Syn; Partington; Paul Finglemore, alias Colonel Clay; and Ram Singh.

Short story by Colonel Sebastian Moran, edited by Kim Newman in Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the d’Urbervilles, Titan Books, 2011. Professor Moriarty, Colonel Moran, and Irene Adler are from Doyle and Watson’s Sherlock Holmes stories. Colonel Moriarty is mentioned in “The Final Problem.” Stationmaster Moriarty and Fred Porlock are from The Valley of Fear. Sir Augustus Moran, the Colonel’s father, is mentioned in “The Adventure of the Empty House.” Eduardo Lucas is from the Holmes story “The Adventure of the Second Stain”; since Lucas died in that story, which Baring-Gould has dated to October 1886, the Lucas in Newman’s story must be a cousin of Doyle’s character who is also involved in espionage. Hugo Oberstein is mentioned in both “The Adventure of the Second Stain” and “The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans,” which is also the source of Partington. Sophy Kratides is from the Holmes tale “The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter.” The Club of the Damned is from the 1970s British television series Supernatural. The Mausoleum Club is from the 1980s BBC radio comedy series Tales from the Mausoleum Club. The chandelier falling on the audience of the Paris Opera during the jewel song from Faust is a reference to The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. Fal Vale Junction is from Arnold Ridley’s play The Ghost Train. Greyfriars is the school attended by Billy Bunter in stories written by Charles Hamilton under the pen name Frank Richards. The kuripuri (originally spelled curupuri) is from Doyle’s novel The Lost World. Les Vampires are from Louis Feuillade’s film serial of the same name, as are their leader, the Grand Vampire, and Irma Vep. This Grand Vampire’s predecessor, who appeared in “The Adventure of the Six Maledictions,” must be the one murdered by Erik, the Phantom of the Opera, in 1889, as mentioned in Josh Reynolds’ Phileas Fogg and the War of Shadows. Rick Lai’s “All Predators Great and Small” has Irma as a child in 1895; perhaps the alias “Irma Vep” is used by whoever serves as Les Vampires’ primary female operative at any given time. This is likely the same Irma seen in Phileas Fogg and the War of Shadows. Moriarty’s German rival is Dr. Mabuse, the master criminal who appeared in fiction by Norbert Jacques and three films directed by Fritz Lang. Palliser is Plantagenet Palliser, the protagonist of a series of novels by Anthony Trollope. The Palliser novels are connected to the Chronicles of Barsetshire series, as well as several non-series novels by Trollope. Stent is from H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. The Lord of Strange Deaths is Fu Manchu. R. G. Sanders is Edgar Wallace’s Sanders of the River. Sanders and another of Wallace’s characters, Lieutenant Bones, appear in each other’s series. Thomas Carnacki, “the Ghost-Finder,” was created by William Hope Hodgson. Cursitor Doone’s name is meant to evoke the British comic book character Cursitor Doom. Monsieur Sabin is from E. Phillips Oppenheim’s novels Mysterious Mister Sabin and The Yellow Crayon. Ilse Von Hoffmansthal (originally spelled without the second “h”), aka Gabrielle Valladon, is from Billy Wilder’s film The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Flaxman Low is from the collection Ghosts; Being the Experiences of Flaxman Low, by “E. and H. Heron” (Hesketh V. Prichard and Kate O’Brien Ryall Prichard). Malilella (usually spelled without the second “l”) is from Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari’s opera The Jewels of the Madonna. Lady Yuki Kashima is better known as the title character of Kazuo Koike and Kazuo Kamimura’s manga Lady Snowblood. Margaret Trelawny is from Bram Stoker’s The Jewel of Seven Stars. Dr. Syn is from novels by Russell Thorndike. Paul Finglemore, aka Colonel Clay, is from Grant Allen’s An African Millionaire. Ram Singh is from the film Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon. Several details given about the Moriarty family in this story contradict their established CU history: the Colonel is younger than the Professor, the father of all three brothers was named James, and the Professor implicitly killed his own parents. Moriarty must have had an ulterior motive for lying to Moran.

Crossover Cover: The Secret Service

Spy Jack London trains his nephew Gary in the art of espionage. After Jack is shot and killed, Gary toasts his uncle with London’s own trainer, Rupert Graves, who says, “Your uncle and I toasted a lot of old pals over the years. Steed. Gambit. Even some of the old timers like Drake and Templar." Apparently John Steed (The Avengers and The New Avengers), Mike Gambit (also from The New Avengers), John Drake (Danger Man/Secret Agent and The Prisoner), whose birthday is today, and Simon Templar (aka the Saint) have all died or faked their deaths by the time this story takes place. The year is 2009 based on a reference to Elton John trying to adopt. The Secret Service is supposed to take place in the same universe as several of Millar’s other comic books, including Wanted, Kick-Ass, Nemesis, MPH, Superior, and Supercrooks. However, including all of these series would bring in many more superheroes and supervillains than can smoothly fit into the Crossover Universe. Furthermore, Wanted portrays the world as secretly controlled by supervillains, which also does not fit with CU continuity. Therefore, the events of The Secret Service must have occurred in both the CU and the “Millar-verse.”

For the record, I'm not a fan of Millar's writing, and Civil War in particular is one of my most hated comics of all time, so much so that I'm glad they're jettisoning most of Millar's plot for the film. That said, my policy is not to exclude works that have a valid link to the CU simply because I dislike them or their author. I know my tastes are not everyone else's, and there are works I love that are in the CU that not everyone in my circle of friends enjoys as much as I do.

Crossover Cover: Ten Lords A-Leaping

Besides Kim Newman's "A Shambles in Belgravia," which Win included in the original Crossovers, this anthology includes the story "Ten Lords A-Leaping" by Jake Arnott. Friedrich Engels brings Lord Beckworth, a friend of a friend, to meet Karl Marx. Beckworth tells the two nine generations of Beckworths before him have fallen to their death. Two days later, when they pay call on him, Inspector Bucket tells them Beckworth has taken a fatal fall. Marx and Engels finally expose the killer, whom Bucket takes into custody. A week later, Engels meets with Marx outside the British Museum, where the latter says goodbye to a young man with a tweed cap of a type Engels does not recognize. The youth has recently left university and currently resides in Montague Street. He is interested in criminology, and Marx discerns from their conversation he wishes to be a detective. Marx adds, "He is working on a puzzle presented to him by a high-born friend of his from college, a superstitious observance of an ancient family known as 'the Musgrave Ritual.'" Engels and Marx were both real people, and among the first major leaders of the modern Communist party. Inspector Bucket is from Charles Dickens’ Bleak House. Bucket, middle-aged during the events of Dickens’ novel, must be pushing hard against retirement in this story. The young man is, of course, Sherlock Holmes. William S. Baring-Gould dated "The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual" to October 2, 1879, so the story must end on that date and begin in late September.

 

Sherlock Holmes: The Coils of Time

Sherlock Holmes, the Time Traveler, and a Scotland Yard inspector travel to the future to prevent the birth of the Morlocks. Charles Marlow (from Joseph Conrad’s “Youth,” Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, and Chance), Martin Hewitt (Arthur Morrison’s sleuth) and Sebastian Zambra (a detective created by Headon Hill) are mentioned. The Time Traveler’s real name is given as Moesen Maddoc rather than Bruce Clarke Wildman, so I consider this an AU.

Crossover Cover: One Last Hit

Joe Portugal, an ex-rock star turned actor who keeps finding himself involved in mysteries, briefly meets private eye Jack Liffey, the protagonist of a series of novels by John Shannon. Since Liffey met an aging Philip Marlowe, a Wold Newton Family member according to Farmer, in The Orange Curtain, this novel brings in Portugal.

Crossover Cover: Some of These Cons Go Way Back

This issue includes a Nightside story by Simon R. Green. Conman Harry Fabulous is tricked by a fallen angel into murdering a woman. Taduki (from H. Rider Haggard’s Allan Quatermain novels and stories), tanna leaves (from Universal Studios’ original series of Mummy films), Martian red weed (from H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds), black centipede meat (from William S. Burroughs’ novel Naked Lunch), and the Jekyll and Hyde formula (from Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) are mentioned.

Crossover Cover: number9dream

Eiji Miyake’s quest to find his biological father in Tokyo brings him into contact with the Yazuka. In the process, he meets a Mongolian hitman named Suhbataar, who previously appeared in Mitchell’s book Ghostwritten.

Crossover of the Week

1910

WOLF AT THE DOOR OF TIME

Doctor Omega, traveling aboard the Cosmos, discovers a derelict time machine and its owner, Doctor Moses Nebogipfel. Omega believes Nebogipfel’s machine is from the Arcadian Hegemony of the 42nd century. Nebogipfel was transporting a masonychid, a proto-wolf, in his conveyance, but the wolf escaped and is now bouncing through time. Annoyed with Nebogipel, Omega thinks he has been lucky in his choice of companions, including Fred, Borel, and Tizairou. In 1643, the masonychid attacks a man named Sir Hugo near the village of Grimpen on Dartmoor. In 1767, Omega convinces Joseph Balsamo to make a special cylinder Jean Chastel can use to destroy the masonychid, now known as the Beast of Gévaudan. In rural France in the 18th century, the wolf convinces a sabot-maker named Thibault it is Satan. Omega tells Nebogipfel masonychids are the ancestors of all land-based whales and dolphins, and his actions have altered the time stream so a race of sky-whales in the far future will never exist, and rather than the deity Zoomashmarta, the remaining humans will worship a wolf that devours human flesh. Thibault asks the masonychid to bring him all the women he has ever desired, including Agnelette, Madame Magloire, and the Comtesse de Mont-Gobert. The Cosmos is almost hit by an ionized meteorite, which will exit the void of time in 1795, and which Omega believes might cause beneficial mutations. Omega travels to the battlefield of Mons in 1916, where he encounters Captain Yeskes of the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers, who is wounded by the masonychid. A Nurse Miller treats his wounds, and contemplates writing a book about the story Yeskes tells her of the attack. Omega reveals Nebogipfel is a brainwashed member of the same race to which Omega himself belongs. Omega does not believe Nebogipfel should continue his exile in the 19th or 20th centuries; otherwise, he would drop him off in “that rather lovely Italianate village in North Wales near Penrhyndeudrath.” The Arcadian Hegemony was founded by a starship commander known as Captain Strange, who is at war with the Federation. Omega finally decides to place Nebogipfel in Randgrith Abbey near the Village of Wulnoth in the mid 11th century. In the 20th century, the Nyctalope battles the masonychid, now known as the King Wolf, and his legions at the request of Comrade Frunzoff. After he kills it and Omega takes a sample of its blood, the Nyctalope encounters Captain Gogol of Army Intelligence, who is accompanied by Oktobriana and Avakoum Zahov.

Short story by Martin Gately in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 9: La Vie en Noir, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2012; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 14), Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Rivière Blanche, 2014. Doctor Omega is from the novel of the same name by Arnould Galopin, as are the Cosmos, Fred, Borel, and Tizairou. The Lofficiers’ translation and adaptation of Galopin’s novel implied Doctor Omega was the CU universe counterpart of the Doctor of Doctor Who fame, a member of the extraterrestrial Time Lords of Gallifrey. Moses Nebogipfel is from H. G. Wells’ story “The Chronic Argonauts,” a precursor to his novel The Time Machine, and is here meant to be a counterpart of the Doctor’s foe the Meddling Monk. Wulnoth, a village headman in the year 1066, appeared in the Doctor Who serial that introduced the Monk, “The Time Meddler.” Arcadia, Captain Strange, and the Federation are from Sarah Brightman and Hot Gossip’s song “I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper.” It is worth noting the song mentions both Flash Gordon and Darth Vader as real people. Sir Hugo Baskerville and the village of Grimpen are from The Hound of the Baskervilles, arguably Sherlock Holmes’ most famous exploit. Joseph Balsamo, Count Cagliostro, is a historical figure who also appears in novels by Alexandre Dumas; Philip José Farmer also identified him as the ancestor of a branch of the Wold Newton Family in Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. Thibault, Agnelette, Madame Magloire, and the Comtesse de Mont-Gobert are from Dumas’ story “The Wolf-Leader.” The Beast of Gévaudan was a real creature whose exact nature is much debated; Jean Chastel is usually credited as having killed the monster. The sky-dolphins and Zoomashmarta are from Philip José Farmer’s science fiction sequel to Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, The Wind Whales of Ishmael. According to Farmer’s novel A Feast Unknown, the family of the jungle lord Lord Grandrith originally called themselves Randgrith. The Grandrith/Caliban novels take place in an alternate universe to the CU, but perhaps a version of the Randgrith family existed in the CU, one of whose members founded the abbey. However, John Cloamby, Lord Grandrith, himself never existed in the CU. The meteorite will arrive in the village of Wold Newton in 1795, where it will indeed, as Omega theorized, cause beneficial mutations in the offspring and descendants of those exposed to its ionization, as revealed by Farmer in Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. The Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers were a real regiment whose CU equivalent counted Dr. John H. Watson among its numbers. Nurse Miller will later write novels under her married name of Agatha Christie; one of her stories, “The Hound of Death,” was likely inspired by the tale Yeskes told her. The village in North Wales is the Village from the cult-classic television series The Prisoner; the village of Portmeirion, located in Penrhyndeudraeth, was used as the filming location for the Village. The Nyctalope (aka Leo Saint-Clair) is the night-sighted hero of a series of novels by Jean de La Hire. Comrade Frunzoff is Frunzoff Nosh from the Doc Savage novel The Red Spider. Captain Gogol is the future General Anatol Alexis Gogol from the James Bond films The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, and A View to a Kill. Many of the Bond films are incompatible with the Fleming novels, and thus with the CU; however, despite using the titles of Fleming novels or stories, the five films in which Gogol appears are radically different from the works they are based on, and can be considered separate or sequel incidents for CU purposes. Oktobriana (or Octobriana) was created by Czech artist Petr Sadecký, and, not being under copyright, has appeared in a number of works by different artists and writers. Avakoum Zahov is a Bulgarian secret agent featured in Andrei Gulyashki’s novels The Zahov Mission and Avakoum Zahov versus 07. The year is conjecture based on Doctor Omega’s perspective, which is after the events of Galopin’s novel.

Crossover Cover: Quest of the Starstone

In this story by C. L. Moore and Henry Kuttner, Jirel of Joiry steals the Starstone jewel from the sorcerer Franga, who summons the outlaw Northwest Smith and his Venusian companion Yarol from the future to retrieve it for him. The 1500 date given for this story does not fit with references to weapons of the Middle Ages in this and other Jirel stories by Moore, or with her appearance in the year 1225 in Olivier Legrand’s story “Lost in Averoigne,” and must be considered an error. Moore’s Northwest Smith stories take place in a future where mankind has colonized other worlds, all of which are inhabitable. This would place Smith’s adventures in an alternate reality to the CU, Jirel’s native world.

Crossover Covers: Rot and Ruin

A novel series by Jonathan Maberry set in a world infested by zombies. The third and fourth books, Flesh and Bone and Fire and Ash, have appearances by this universe's version of Maberry’s series character Joe Ledger, who is in the CU through connections to Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness" and Larry Correia's Monster Hunter International series. The short story “Tooth and Nail” features both Ledger and Iron Mike Sweeney from Maberry’s Pine Deep Trilogy. Maberry’s Dead of Night books (Dead of Night and Fall of Night) show the origins of the zombie plague seen in Rot and Ruin.

Crossover Cover: World War Cthulhu

This anthology contains two stories with crossovers, both written by authors with no little experience at same. One is "The Yoth Protocols" by Josh Reynolds. An FBI agent named Sarlowe thinks of centers of eldritch activity, such as the Warren site in the Big Cypress, the Martense molehills, and "certain secret cellars where a certain artist had painted certain pictures and almost certainly been eaten." He also thinks of Inspector Craig and his Special Detail in the subway tunnels beneath New York, as well as worms in the earth. Sarlowe’s partner Indrid Cold is described as having a wax-like face. It is stated there are worse things in Heaven and Earth than dreamt of in Alhazred’s philosophy. The local "old ones" include the Shonokins and the K’n-Yani. Sarlowe reminds Cold of the Yoth protocols. A circular stone covering the stairs leading to the mound where the K’n-Yani live was placed there after the Zamacona Cylinder was unearthed. "The batrachian hillbillies in Massachusetts" and N’Kai are mentioned. Cold is the only person who ever used the Voormithadreth Corridor and hadn’t rotted from the inside out. Cold identified Valusian spectrum radiation within the mound. The Russian necromancer Grigori Petrov refers to the Zann Concerto and the maw of Leng. Cold asks Petrov if he was planning to let Tsathoggua’s children loose to do his dirty work. Sarlowe quotes, "Evil the mind that is held by no head." Sarlowe is a relative of occult detective Baxter Sarlowe from Reynolds’ novel Wake the Dead. The Warren site in the Big Cypress is from H. P. Lovecraft’s story "The Statement of Randolph Carter." The Martense molehills are from Lovecraft’s "The Lurking Fear." The secret cellars where an artist painted pictures and was eaten are from Lovecraft’s story "Pickman’s Model." Inspector Craig and his Special Detail are from Robert Barbour Johnson’s story "Far Below." The worms in the earth are from Robert E. Howard’s Bran Mak Morn story "Worms of the Earth." Indrid Cold is an allegedly real person connected to the supposed Mothman sightings in 1966. His wax-like face implies Cold is a member of the wax-masked race of creatures seen in Lovecraft’s "The Festival," which is the source of the quote, "Evil the mind that is held by no head." Abdul Alhazred, the mad Arab, is the author of the Necronomicon in Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. The Shonokins are from Manly Wade Wellman’s John Thunstone stories. The K’n-Yani, Yoth, the Zamacona Cylinder, and N’Kai are from Lovecraft’s revision of Zealia Bishop’s story "The Mound." "The batrachian hillbillies in Massachusetts" are a reference to Lovecraft’s "The Shadow over Innsmouth." The Voormithadreth Corridor is connected to Mount Voormithadreth from Cthulhu Mythos stories by Clark Ashton Smith. Tsathoggua is also from Smith’s Mythos tales. Valusian spectrum radiation is a reference to the kingdom of Valusia in Robert E. Howard’s Kull stories. The Zann Concerto is from Lovecraft’s "The Music of Erich Zann." The plateau of Leng appears in a number of Lovecraft’s stories. The other story that I will include is "Cold War, Yellow Fever" by Pete Rawlik. Mitchell Peel is an operative of the Joint Advisory Committee on Korea (JACK), receiving orders from Colonel Doctor Wingate Peaslee, aka the Terrible Old Man. Peaslee tells Peel and other JACK agents Esteban Zamarano was sent to Banes, Cuba as part of Operation Mongoose to enlist his family’s aid. The Zamaranos bought six volumes from the sale of the Church of the Starry Wisdom Library, including what appears to be a Spanish-language edition of The King in Yellow. After contact was lost with Zamarano, another agent traveled to Banes, and disappeared himself, though not before sending the message, "Where is the Yellow Sign?" The Soviets are willing to neutralize the threat, but Peaslee says Washington does not want to see another Gizhinsk, particularly so close to the U.S. borders. Peel and company work with Major Romero of the Cuban Security Forces and Agent Tanya Romanova of Soviet Army Intelligence to deal with the situation. Romanova refers to documented cases of childrens’ minds being stimulated to see the universe in ways adults cannot, such as the Paradine children and "that village in Winshire." After the mission, a traumatized and disfigured Peaslee is retired to a minimum security facility near Arkham, Massachusetts. Mitchell Peel is related to David Conyers’ series character Major Harrison Peel, an NSA consultant who appears in stories set in the milieu of the Mythos. Wingate Peaslee is from Lovecraft’s story "The Shadow Out of Time"; his nickname of "the Terrible Old Man" is an homage to Lovecraft’s story of the same name. The Church of the Starry Wisdom is from Lovecraft’s "The Haunter of the Dark." Arkham, Massachusetts is the setting of a number of Mythos tales. The King in Yellow is from Robert W. Chambers’ short story collection of the same name, and was incorporated into the Cthulhu Mythos by Lovecraft in his story "The Whisperer in Darkness." The Yellow Sign is also from Chambers’ book. Gizhinsk and "that village in Winshire" are from John Wyndham’s novel The Midwich Cuckoos. Agent Tanya (or Tatiana) Romanova is from Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel From Russia, with Love. The Paradine children are from the short story "Mimsy Were the Borogroves" by "Lewis Padgett" (Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore).

Crossover Cover: The Hunting Party

According to Roman Leary's contribution to this anthology, "The Hunting Party," the Masked Rider has a friend who lives at the Carlton Hotel in San Francisco, a reference to Paladin from the radio and television western Have Gun–Will Travel. This reference brings the Rider, who appeared in the pulp magazine The Masked Rider Western from 1934–1953, into the CU. The Masked Rider met Jackson Cole’s Navajo Tom Raine, Arizona Ranger, in C. W. Harrison’s story “Boothill Beller Box” (Exciting Western Volume 8 #2, October 1944), while Raine crossed over with Steve Reese from the pulp Range Riders in “Rawhide Ranger” (Exciting Western Volume 7 #2, April 1944).

Crossover Covers: Last of the Albatwitches

Levi Stoltzfus battles a murderous cryptid released into Pennsylvania by the Globe Corporation after being captured on an island. The serial killer known as the Exit is mentioned. There are references to Leviathan, the Siqqusim, and a race of prehistoric, aquatic reptiles known as the Dark Ones. Levi thinks about his friend Dez, a chaos mage. The Goat-Man of LeHorn’s Hollow is mentioned. The Cryptid Hunter TV series has been in the area filming a special on the legendary giant water snake Old Scratch. Levi places a call to Maria Nasr. There is a rumor that the heads of the Globe Corporation worship a being called Kat. Levi is familiar with the infamous Crazy Bear Valley sighting.The cryptid is one of the “tribe” from Keene’s novel Castaways. The Globe Corporation is a recurring, if mostly background, element of Keene’s fiction. The Exit is from Keene’s short stories “I Am an Exit” and “This is Not an Exit.” Leviathan is one of the Thirteen, and appears across Keene’s multiverse, especially in the worlds of the Earthworm Gods series and Clickers III: Dagon Rising. The Siqqusim serve Ob, another of the Thirteen, and are seen primarily in the worlds of Keene’s The Rising series and Clickers vs. Zombies. The Dark Ones mentioned here must be the CU versions of the Dark Ones that appear in the Clickers series by Keene and J. F. Gonzalez. Dez is the CU version of the character that appears in Keene’s alternate universe novel Darkness at the Edge of Town. The Goat-Man is from Keene’s Dark Hollow. Old Scratch is from Keene’s story “Scratch.” Maria Nasr appears in Keene’s novel Ghost Walk and the story “The Witching Tree.” Kat is another of the Thirteen, who has thus far not appeared directly in any of Keene’s work. The Crazy Bear Valley sighting is from Keene’s story “An Occurrence in Crazy Bear Valley.”

Crossover Cover: Femme Fatale

It is revealed Irene Adler took her alias from a man named Adler who used mesmerism to bring her skill at singing opera to the forefront. Later using the name Svengali, Adler used his talents to turn an artist’s model named Trilby into the supreme soprano of the age. Svengali and Trilby O’Ferrall are from George du Maurier’s novel Trilby. Win labeled Carole Nelson Douglas' Irene Adler novels an AU as they contradict William S. Baring-Gould's account of Irene's life after "A Scandal in Bohemia."

Crossover of the Week

Apologies for the lack of posts since Monday. I was in New York City from Tuesday until a few hours ago. :)

1939
THE UNDEAD KILLER
The Nightmare battles the Dead Man, a zombie sent back in time from the future, who is now acting as an enforcer for gangster Wolf Hopkins. A mugger tells the Nightmare about a conversation he overheard among a group of hoods at the Black Ship. The Nightmare thinks maybe Kent can give him some pointers on phrases to use to intimidate criminals. Later, in his alter ego of Michael Shaw, the hero is approached by Lieutenant Jerome Easton at the pub Moran’s. Easton refers to “gentlemen’s clubs, like that one the Commissioner belongs to, what’s it called? The Baltic Club?” Shaw replies, “Something like that.” Contemplating the best course of action in confronting Hopkins, Shaw thinks, “Richard would charge in with guns a-blazing, taking down his quarry, but only after leveling half the city in doing so. Kent would already know where Hopkins’ headquarters was. He would stealthily infiltrate it and find the clue that would lead him straight to the Dead Man. He’d go there straightaway, always assuming he didn’t have to rescue an agent or two first.” Considering whether he should recruit agents of his own, or an attractive female companion, he thinks, “Who am I kidding? If I had a girl like Nina or Carol, I’d marry her at once, and the Nightmare would be a memory. Sometimes we can be such damn fools.”
Short story by John L. French in Zombies in Time and Space, Ron Hanna, ed., Wild Cat Books, 2010. Kent is the alter ego of a certain shadowy pulp hero; the Black Ship, the Commissioner, and the club to which he belongs are from the same series. Moran’s is owned by Seamus Moran, whose cousin Paddy Moran runs the bar Bulfinche’s in Patrick Thomas’ Murphy’s Lore series. Richard is Richard Wentworth, better known as the Spider. “Nina” may be a typo, and meant to refer to Wentworth’s beloved, Nita Van Sloan. Alternatively, it could be a reference to Nina Ferrera, niece and former assistant of Harold Ward’s pulp villain Doctor Death, and the girlfriend of Death’s foe Jimmy Holm. Carol is Carol Baldwin, girlfriend of Tony Quinn, alias the Black Bat. The central premise of Zombies in Time and Space is in the far future, the Zombie Institute of Time and Space was created, which sends the undead back in time because physically traveling through time is impossible for living beings. Since there are numerous instances of recorded time travel by living beings in the Crossover Universe, the Institute likely exists in the future of an alternate reality, and the Dead Man was sent to the 1930s of the CU rather than his native reality. This raises the possibility the other time periods in which the zombies found themselves were also alternate realities, both to their own universe and to the CU.