Crossover of the Week

This post is dedicated to the late great Derrick Ferguson. Derrick was a great guy, a great author, and a great film critic. He always had praise for my work, particularly my ability to spot references in his own stories. His passing in 2021 was a great loss, and I miss him so much.

Autumn 2002

DILLON AND THE LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN BELL 

Dillon embarks on a mission to acquire the legendary Golden Bell of Malacar to end the country of Xonira’s civil war. Appearing or mentioned are: Hazzard Laboratories; the Banzai Institute; the Henderson Institute of Alternative Technologies; the Lupin Casino; the Khusran army; a black double-breasted Marley Brooks suit; Comanapracil; Professor Simon Kane, aka the Scarf; Intelligence One; Sovereign City; Lowell O’Neal, the author who writes up Regency’s adventures in a series of popular novels; Sylvester Henderson and his brother Mongrel Henderson; the Gantlet Brothers; Max Damage, Seth Armstrong, and Damage, Inc.; Damon St. Cloud and his reporter girlfriend Sasha Benbow in Denbrook; Tenku Beer; Sutter Cane; Liz Sheridan; Johnny Kelly; Omega Elite; Triplets of Belleville; a huge Bowie knife with a well-worn bone handle that had once been owned by the notorious Cole Younger; the Hand of Midas; Steve Austin; and the Behinder. 

Novel by Derrick Ferguson, 2010; revised Deluxe Edition published by PulpWork Press in 2015. Hazzard Laboratories is run by Paul Chadwick’s pulp hero Captain Hazzard, whose adventures have been continued by Ron Fortier. The Banzai Institute is from the movie The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. The Henderson Institute of Alternative Technologies is run by Dr. Sylvester Henderson, whose brother, Charalambides “Mongrel” Henderson, is featured in Ferguson’s serialized novel “A Man Called Mongrel,” appearing in the Mystery Men (& Women) anthology series. The Lupin Casino is presumably named for Maurice Leblanc’s gentleman burglar Arsène Lupin or one of his relatives, such as his grandson Lupin III. Ferguson’s 1930s adventurer Fortune McCall is a member of the royal family of the African nation of Khusra. The Marley Brooks fashion company must have been founded by one of the bronze man’s aides, who was known for his sartorial splendor. A man wearing a Marley Brooks suit also appears in Howard Hopkins’ Green Ghost story “Ghost of a Chance.” Comanapracil is from “Believe in the Stars,” an episode of the sitcom 30 Rock. The Scarf is mentioned in the first Fortune McCall story, “The Scarlet Courtesan of Sovereign City.” Intelligence One is from Ferguson’s stories “The Knobloch Collection Assignment” and “The Magic of Madness,” the latter of which also features Fortune McCall. Sovereign City is the site of a novel imprint published by Pro Se Press; McCall is one of Sovereign’s heroes. Regency (who is in fact Lowell O’Neal) is a former member of Omega Elite, which is mentioned in several of Ferguson’s works. He appears in Ferguson’s story “In Need of a Friend.” The Gantlet Brothers, a family of rock stars who moonlight as mercenaries, appear in a series of books by Joel Jenkins. Max Damage, Seth Armstrong, and Damage, Inc. are from Jenkins’ Damage Inc. series. Damon St. Cloud and Sasha Benbow are from Jenkins’ Denbrook Supernatural series. The city of Denbrook was the setting of several serialized novels by different authors (including Ferguson and Jenkins) on the Frontier Publishing website and was created by Mike McGee. Tenku Beer is from the movie Kill Bill: Vol. 1. Sutter Cane is from the movie In the Mouth of Madness. Liz (or Lil) Sheridan and Johnny Kelly are from the movie Johnny Dangerously. The Triplets of Belleville are from the French animated film of the same name. Cole Younger was a real outlaw of the Old West, but his Bowie knife is from the movie The Long Riders. The Hand of Midas is from the animated film Aladdin and the King of Thieves. The TV series Once Upon a Time in Wonderland features a counterpart of the villainous Jafar from Disney’s Aladdin movies. Since that show takes place in the CU, the Hand of Midas referenced here probably hails from Fairy Tale Land, as does Once Upon a Time in Wonderland’s version of Jafar. Steve Austin is the Six Million Dollar Man. The Behinder is from Manly Wade Wellman’s Silver John story “The Desrick on Yandro.”

This write-up, and many more, can be found in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, to be published by Meteor House. As with the first two volumes, this book is an AUTHORIZED companion to Win Scott Eckert's works Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2.