Crossover of the Week

Autumn 2004

HELL ON EARTH 

Caballistics, Inc. battles the living dead and a fallen angel in the North Yorkshire village of Boswell. Appearing or mentioned are: the Templars Resurgent; the Starry Wisdom; Delta Green; the Cult of the Black Sun; Arkham University; the Quist Foundation; Doomwatch; the Carnacki-Silence Spectrum; Motley Hall; Yuggoth; the Lamp of Alhazred; the Merrin Ritual; the Karras Ritual; Hobb’s End; Florizel Street; Totters’ Lane; the Brigadier; “a similar facility that stored such material in the U.S.”; Ringstone Round; jaunting bracelets; the eighth Dagger of Megiddo; a chameleon circuit; an owl named Ozymandius; Department 7; Omega; a water tower undergoing a sweep for medieval magic residue; Exham Priory; Watchers; “certain subterranean mouths”; Nephren-Ka; Kadath in the Cold Waste; Irem; Kiran; Sarnath; Ib; Hali; Raccoon City; Umbrella; Mr. Phelps; the Jones/Brody archives at Barnett College in New York; Nyarlahotep; the Yeti incident; Drax Industries; the British Rocket Group; Saknusem’s Swallow; Leidenbrock’s Ledge; Wenley Moor; Sir Rufus Folkes; Templar; Harold Pelham; “something Straker Estates”; and the Mayflower Project. 

Novel by Mike Wild, 2000 AD, 2006. The Templars Resurgent are the Templi Resurgentes Equites Synarchici from Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum. The Starry Wisdom Church and Nephren-Ka are from H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Haunter of the Dark.” Arkham University must be in Lovecraft’s recurring setting of Arkham, Massachusetts. Yuggoth is another name for Pluto in Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Exham Priory is from Lovecraft’s “The Rats in the Walls.” Kadath in the Cold Waste, Sarnath, and Ib are mentioned in several Lovecraft stories. Irem is from Lovecraft’s “The Nameless City.” Kiran is from Lovecraft’s “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.” “Nyarlahotep” is a misspelling of Lovecraft’s god Nyarlathotep. Delta Green is from the eponymous supplement for the role-playing game Call of Cthulhu. The Cult of the Black Sun is a CU version of the group seen in Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell's superhero comic book Zenith. The Quist Foundation and Doomwatch are from the TV series Doomwatch. The Carnacki-Silence Spectrum is named after Thomas Carnacki and John Silence, occult investigators created by William Hope Hodgson and Algernon Blackwood, respectively. Motley Hall is from the TV series The Ghosts of Motley Hall. The Lamp of Alhazred is from August Derleth’s titular Cthulhu Mythos story. The Merrin Ritual and the Karras Ritual are named after the late Fathers Lankester Merrin and Damien Karras from William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist. Hobb’s End is from the movie Quatermass and the Pit. Ringstone Round is from the television serial Quatermass. Professor Bernard Quatermass heads the British Rocket Group. Florizel Street was the original title for the long running British soap opera Coronation Street. Totters’ Lane and chameleon circuits are from Doctor Who. The Brigadier is Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart from that series. The Yeti incident is a reference to the serial “The Web of Fear.” Wenley Moor is from the serial “Doctor Who and the Silurians.” The “similar facility that stored such material in the U.S.” is the warehouse where the Ark of the Covenant was stored in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indiana Jones’ friend Dr. Marcus Brody appears in both that film and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The latter is the source of Barnett College. Jaunting bracelets are from the television series The Tomorrow People. The eighth Dagger of Megiddo is a nod to the Seven Daggers of Megiddo from the movie The Omen. Ozymandius (or Ozymandias) is from the TV series Ace of Wands. Department 7 and Omega are from the show The Omega Factor. The water tower is Castle Saburac from the TV series Catweazle. The Watchers and “certain subterranean mouths” (Hellmouths) are from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Hali is from Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow. Raccoon City and the Umbrella Corporation are from the Resident Evil video game series. Mr. Phelps, who is given a “mission, should [he] choose to accept it,” is apparently related to the late Jim Phelps from the TV series and movie Mission: Impossible. Drax Industries is from the film version of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel Moonraker. Saknusem’s Swallow and Leidenbrock’s Ledge refer to Arne Saknussemm and Otto Lidenbrock from Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. Rufus Folkes (or ffolkes) is from the movie North Seas Hijack. Simon Templar is Leslie Charteris’ adventurer the Saint. Harold Pelham is from the movie The Man Who Haunted Himself. Ffolkes and Pelham were both played by Roger Moore, who also played Simon Templar on the 1960s The Saint TV series. “Something Straker Estates” refers to Richard Throckett Straker, vampire Kurt Barlow’s minion in Stephen King’s 'Salem’s Lot. The Mayflower Project is from the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. 

This crossover writeup is one of hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!