Crossover Covers: The Blood of Carthage

 

A portrait of Hellboy hangs in Giles’ apartment. The painting of Hellboy, seen in #23, provides further proof a version of Hellboy exists in the CU, although not all his solo exploits or crossovers with other characters can be included. 

This crossover is one of hundreds included in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! Like its predecessors, this volume is an AUTHORIZED companion to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Crossover of the Week

Winter 2011

BLOOD AND MAGICK 

Occult bounty hunter Deacon Chalk must protect three weredog children from a trio of witches known as the Wrath of Baphomet. One of the witches, Athame, summons a “soulsword” by casting a spell backward. Deacon and his allies confront another of the witches, Ahriman, at a movie theatre: “Tiff and I had seen Guilty Pleasures here a month ago. We had both liked it. Hollywood had taken some liberties and picked their Jean-Claude based on star power instead of acting, but they were spot-on in their choice to play Anita. She probably didn’t agree, but I hadn’t had a chance to talk to her since it had been released.” An earlier incarnation of the coven included a Russian warlock called Chernobog, who was killed by a Puritan named Solomon Kane who later went to Africa. Deacon tells were-rabbit Josh about his current exploit, and Josh replies, “Just another Tuesday night in Sunnydale?” Deacon’s friend Kat shows him a prophecy about the witches in the Necronomicon Ex Mortis, written in Kandarian. Deacon’s ally Father Mulcahy gives him Durendal, the sword of Roland, and claims the Holy See has Excalibur. 

Novel by James R. Tuck, Kensington Books, 2012. The soulsword may be a reference to the sword of the same name wielded by Illyana Rasputina, aka Magik, a member of the Marvel Comics mutant superteams the X-Men and the New Mutants. If so, this is the CU version of the sword. Casting spells backward is the preferred method of magic for DC Comics’ mystic heroine Zatanna Zatara, and her father Giovanni “John” Zatara before her. Anita is Laurell K. Hamilton’s vampire hunter Anita Blake, while Jean-Claude, a vampire himself, is one of her love interests. Guilty Pleasures was the title of the first Blake novel. Although the Anita Blake novels take place in a world where the public is aware that the supernatural is real, various sources, such as the first Deacon Chalk novel, Blood and Bullets, establish that a version of Anita exists in the CU distinct from Hamilton’s version. Solomon Kane is Robert E. Howard’s Puritan adventurer. While the mention of Sunnydale (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) could be interpreted as a pop culture reference, Blood and Bullets establishes that Buffy is a contemporary of Deacon Chalk, so it is more likely a genuine crossover. The Necronomicon Ex Mortis and the Kandarian language are from the Evil Dead films. Durendal and Roland are from French epic literature. Excalibur has appeared in several CU texts. Its status and location vary from story to story; for instance, in The Librarian TV movies and the subsequent series The Librarians, the Library has the sword, which Flynn Carsen calls Cal. Perhaps someday a dedicated creative mythographer will reconcile the myriad, seemingly conflicting takes on Arthurian lore in the CU. 

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

Crossover TV Episode: Revelations

 

Are you a Ghostbusters fan?

Then you'll love this episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which features a fictional book from that film!

For more details, see 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 tome is an official and AUTHORIZED companion to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Crossover Cover: Undeadsville

This anthology of stories featuring Buffy Summers' predecessors as Slayer includes “Undeadsville” by Michael Reaves, set in December 1952. The current Slayer is Zoe Kuryakin, an 18-year-old first generation Russian Jew, who says she has no family she’s aware of, except for her cousin Illya, who is a few years older than her and attending college in the Ukraine. Zoe’s cousin is Illya Kuryakin from the television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. If Zoe is eighteen in 1952, she would’ve been born around 1934. Since Illya was born in 1933, he would be only one year older than Zoe, not “a few years older.” In 1952, Illya was in the Russian Navy doing intelligence work, so perhaps his alleged college attendance was a cover story of some sort.

Crossover of the Week

1881

THE WAR SHAMAN

The Merkabah Rider gives his ally Kabede a pistol with the Elder Sign imprinted on its side. Kabede refers to their conflict with the Great Old Ones. The two of them, along with the Rider’s old friend Dick Belden, are visited by Shar-rogs pa, the blue abbot of Shambhala, aka Faustus Montague. The monk Chaksusa told the Rider of the abbot when he’d battled Shub-Niggurath, the Yiggians, and the Black Goat Man. Faustus’ brother is Mun Gsod. Faustus tells the Rider, Kabede and Belden of stories that are true: a whaler with an Indian figurehead pursuing a pale leviathan to the doom of her crew and her scarred captain; a young boy putting his hand on a sword and drawing it lightly from a stone, becoming the greatest king the world has ever known; and thirteen heroes with two hearts between them, who set themselves between an insignificant world and all the evil that time and space can muster. He further states a word Chaksusa taught to the Rider, when combined with the Star-Stones of Mnar, is doubly detrimental to the Great Old Ones. The Apache Piishi has seen the Rider’s old acquaintance Misquamacus. Ten of Faustus’ disciples died battling Adon’s Creed on a mesa at a place called Stallions Gate in New Mexico. Among the allies of the Merkabah Riders are the Kun-Sun-Dai and the Watchers. Faustus thinks Misquamacus may be serving Nyarlathotep. The Rider’s own claustrophobia reminds him of his boyhood friend Aloysius Monkowitz’s many phobias. The Rider and Piishi faced Shub-Niggurath and the Cold Ones together. Misquamacus has manipulated the Billington family in the past. The geometric patterns in sand-images made by a group of skinwalkers remind the Rider of the diagrams in the Book of Zylac. Misquamacus summons Ossodagowah.

Short story by Edward M. Erdelac in Merkabah Rider: Have Glyphs Will Travel, Damnation Books, 2011. The Elder Sign, the Great Old Ones, Shub-Niggurath, and Yig are from H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. The Star-Stones of Mnar are from August Derleth’s The Lurker at the Threshold. Misquamacus is from both The Lurker at the Threshold and Graham Masterton’s Manitou novels. The Lurker at the Threshold mentions both Misquamacus’ devotion to Nyarlathotep and his conjuring of Ossodagowah. The Billington family is also from The Lurker at the Threshold. “Shar-rogs pa” and “Mun Gsod” are Tibetan approximations of “Darkness Slayer” and “East-helper,” the English translations of the names of the blue wizards Morinehtar and Rómestámo from J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. This story reveals Rómestámo and Misquamacus are the same being. The whaler is the Pequod from Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. The boy who drew the sword from the stone is King Arthur. The thirteen heroes with two hearts between them are the various incarnations of the Doctor, of Doctor Who fame. While most of the Doctor’s exploits take place in an alternate universe, it has been established the Doctor has a CU counterpart, who often goes by the name of Doctor Omega. Stallions Gate, New Mexico, is the future site of Project Quantum Leap, from the television series Quantum Leap. The Watchers (more properly the Watchers’ Council) are from the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, while the Kun-Sun-Dai (whose full name is the Order of the Kun-Sun-Dai) are from the “Awakening” and “Calvary” episodes of the Buffy spin-off Angel. Aloysius Monkowitz is an ancestor of obsessive-compulsive private investigator Adrian Monk from the television series Monk. The Cold Ones and Zylac appear in Cthulhu Mythos fiction by Clark Ashton Smith. Zylac’s book, The Wisdom and Sacred Magic of Zylac the Mage, appears in stories by Joseph S. Pulver.

Crossover of the Week

2006

DON’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS TITLE

Ash Williams travels to France, searching for the Necronomicon. Ash reached out to several people in the paranormal community for leads on the book, including some Ghostbusters in New York and an elderly Frenchman called the Sâr Dubnotal. Inside the cabin where he believes the Necronomicon to be, he drives off a creature called Baal, ending its alliance with the vampire Countess Irina. Irina’s giant servant says the book Ash seeks is the Necronomicon Ex Mortis, while the book Irina holds is the First Necronomicon, written by the Mad Arab Abdul Alhazred. When Irina asks if he is “the one destined to fight the forces of darkness,” Ash responds, “The same…although I did hear something about a girl named Buffy who hangs out with the band Slayer, I think.”

Short story by Matthew Dennion in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 11: Force Majeure, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2014; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 16), Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Rivière Blanche, 2015. Ash Williams and the Necronomicon Ex Mortis are from the Evil Dead film series. Although this story supposedly takes place in 1993, shortly after the third Evil Dead movie, Army of Darkness, this cannot be correct. In the CU, the films take place from 1982–1983, and Ash spent over twenty years in a mental institution after the events of the comic book miniseries Army of Darkness: Shop ‘til You Drop Dead, only to escape in 2005, as seen in Army of Darkness vs. Re-Animator. Furthermore, 1983 would be well before Buffy Summers (from the movie and TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer) discovered she was the latest in a long line of Slayers. Therefore, I have placed this story in 2006, a year after Ash escaped from Arkham Asylum in Massachusetts. The Ghostbusters in New York are from the movie Ghostbusters and its sequel, as well as the cartoon The Real Ghostbusters. The animated series Extreme Ghostbusters is set in the 1990s, and features a younger group of investigators who have taken up the mantle of the retired original Ghostbusters. Ash probably contacted the latter-day team. The Sâr Dubnotal is an occult investigator who appeared in a French pulp series. Baal is from Renée Dunan’s novel of the same name, which has been translated by Brian Stableford for Black Coat Press. Countess Irina Karlstein is from the film Female Vampire. In the movie, which was made and takes place in the 1970s, Countess Irina is mute. How she gained the ability to speak is unknown. The Necronomicon penned by Abdul Alhazred is from H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, of course.

Crossover Cover: Something's Fishy

Cassie Hack faces off with Mary Shelley Lovecraft, who compares her to “that red devil boy with the tail” and claims she’s “compelling, though maybe not so well loved as the Summers girl,” referring to Hellboy and Buffy, respectively.

Crossover Cover: Vampirella vs. Fluffy the Vampire Killer

Vampirella goes undercover as a teacher at a high school to investigate a series of teen murders, and winds up working with a vampire-slaying student named Fluffy. “Fluffy” is a thinly-veiled parody of Buffy Summers of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and therefore it can be assumed in creative mythographic terms, she is indeed Buffy. However, the death of “Fluffy’s” friend “Sallow” (Willow) must be considered a distortion. The date is based on the fact the principal of the school, who is portrayed as Vampirella’s ally Criswell, states the previous principal was eaten. Two Sunnydale High principals were devoured: Robert Flutie (in the Buffy episode “The Pack”), and R. Snyder (in the two-parter “Graduation Day.”) Since the events of “Graduation Day” resulted in the school being destroyed, I have concluded Criswell’s presence is mere fictionalization and the principal is actually Snyder. Furthermore, the presence of “Fluffy’s” vampire boyfriend “Cherub” (Angel) indicates this story takes place before the temporary removal of Angel’s soul and his equally temporary death in Season 2. The high school being shut down at the end of Vampi and “Fluffy’s” adventure is another distortion, as are references to the iPhone “There’s an app for that” ad slogan, Ryan Seacrest, and Bristol Palin.

Crossover of the Week

May 25–September 23, 1882

MERKABAH RIDER: ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEIRD WEST

The Merkabah Rider and his allies set forth to at long last prevent the Hour of Incursion, in which the Great Old Ones will be unleashed upon the world. Appearing or mentioned are: the Dreamlands; the Liber Damnatus Damnationum; Delirium Tremens; the Scroll of Thoth; Misquamacus; Azathoth; Faustus Montague; an African witch-doctor; a Christian adventurer; the Drucker and Dobbs Mining Company; Professor Spates; Miskatonic University; Arkham; Warren Rice; the Tsath-yo language; New Valusia; Yoth; Yig; Tsathoggua; the Elder Sign; Nyarlathotep (aka the Abhorred Dread); Ossadagowah; Stallions’ Gate; the Book of Zylac; the Cold Ones; Shub-Niggurath; the Star Stones of Mnar; Pnakotus; the flying polyps; the Aklo language; Picaro Jake Gonnoff; the Hyperboreans; the Black Lotus; a barefoot man, possibly a Chinaman, playing a bamboo flute; Dunn & Duffy; the Flying Graysons; Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show; Noah Whateley; Yog-Sothoth; Dunwich; the shoggoth; Zorro; Gallo del Cielo; Slim Reezer; Jesse McLaughlin; Oscar Diggs; Richard Wilkins III; Lin McAdams; High Spade; Freddie Sykes; Dog Kelly; John Russell; an “electricista y aventurero”; Danny Caine; a masked gunman; the Pnakotic Manuscripts; the Seven Books of Hsan; the History of G’harne; the Naacal language; and the Elder Script.

Novel by Edward M. Erdelac, Damnation Books, 2013. The Great Old Ones, the Dreamlands, Azathoth, Miskatonic University, Arkham, Warren Rice, Yig, the Elder Sign, Shub-Niggurath, Pnakotus, the Great Race of Yith, the flying polyps, Yog-Sothoth, Dunwich, the shoggoth, the Pnakotic Manuscripts, and the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan are from the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. Nyarlathotep is also from Lovecraft’s Mythos; Erdelac conflates him with Sauron (aka the Abhorred Dread) from J. R. R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy trilogy The Lord of the Rings. The Tsath-yo and Naacal languages are from Lovecraft and E. Hoffmann Price’s “Through the Gates of the Silver Key.” Yoth is from Lovecraft and Zealia Bishop’s “The Mound.” The Aklo language originally appeared in Arthur Machen’s “The White People,” and was also used by Lovecraft in his stories “The Dunwich Horror” and “The Haunter of the Dark.” Noah Whateley is meant to be Old Whateley from “The Dunwich Horror”; his first name was given as Noah in the role-playing game Call of Cthulhu. The Liber Damnatus Damnationum is from Richard L. Tierney’s Mythos novel The House of the Toad. The Scroll of Thoth is from Tierney’s tales of Simon of Gitta. The town of Delirium Tremens appears in several works by Erdelac, including the film Meaner Than Hell. Picaro Jake Gonnoff is also from Meaner Than Hell. Misquamacus, Ossadagowah, and the Star Stones of Mnar are from August Derleth’s short novel The Lurker at the Threshold; here, Misquamacus is conflated with the Blue Wizard Rómestámo from The Lord of the Rings. Faustus Montague is meant to be Rómestámo’s fellow Blue Wizard Morinehtar. The Christian adventurer is Robert E. Howard’s Solomon Kane, while the African witch-doctor is Kane’s ally N’Longa. New Valusia is named after the kingdom of Valusia from Howard’s King Kull stories. The Black Lotus is from Howard’s stories of the barbarian Conan and police detective Steve Harrison. The Drucker and Dobbs Mining Company alludes to gold prospector Fred C. Dobbs from B. Traven’s novel The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and its film adaptation; since both versions of the story take place in the 1920s, the Dobbs who co-owns the mining company must be a relative of Fred’s. Professor Spates is based on a reference to “Spates’ catalog” in the movie Ghostbusters. Tsathoggua, Zylac, the Cold Ones, the Hyperboreans, and the Elder Script appear in fiction by Clark Ashton Smith. Stallions’ Gate, New Mexico is from the television series Quantum Leap. The Book of Zylac (aka The Wisdom and Sacred Magic of Zylac the Mage) appears in Cthulhu Mythos fiction by Joseph S. Pulver. The barefoot Chinaman is Kwai Chang Caine from the television series Kung Fu; Danny Caine is his older half-brother. The Dunn & Duffy Combined Circus is from the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The Flying Graysons are a family of acrobats that died out in the 1940s when young Dick Grayson’s parents were murdered, resulting in his adoption by Batman and becoming the first Robin. Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show is from Ray Bradbury’s novel Something Wicked This Way Comes. It is worth noting Green Town, Illinois, the setting of Something Wicked This Way Comes, is also the town in which Bradbury’s books Dandelion Wine, Farewell Summer, and Summer Morning, Summer Night take place. Gallo del Cielo is from Tom Russell’s song of the same name, as is Zorro. Both are roosters, and therefore this Zorro is no relation to any of the many heroes that have used that name. Slim Reezer and Jesse McLaughlin are from the movie House II: The Second Story. “Electricista y aventurero” is Spanish for “electrician and adventurer,” which is how the character Bill Towner describes himself in House II. Oscar Diggs is better known as the Wizard of Oz. The immortal Richard Wilkins III is the Mayor of Sunnydale, California on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Lin McAdams and High Spade are from the film Winchester ’73. Freddie Sykes is from the film The Wild Bunch. Dog Kelly is from Sam Raimi’s Western The Quick and the Dead. John Russell is from the film Hombre. The masked gunman is the Lone Ranger. The History of G’Harne (aka the G’harne Fragments) appears in Cthulhu Mythos fiction by Brian Lumley.

Crossover Cover: Dark Congress

Buffy Summers, the Slayer, is recruited as the mediator of a gathering of demons and monsters, the Dark Congress, in Providence, Rhode Island. Providence was once the site of a Hellmouth that was closed by the death of H. P. Lovecraft in 1937, something that makes Lovecraft a figure of great disdain among the monsters. Among the creatures present for the Congress are “shambling shuggoths” and a race of tentacled demons called “Yurgoths.” The “shuggoths” are likely shoggoths from the works of H. P. Lovecraft, and the Yurgoth demons are clearly named in honor of Yuggoth, another of Lovecraft’s creations. Furthermore, the closing of a Hellmouth with Lovecraft’s death fits perfectly with Lovecraft’s appearance in the Supernatural episode “Let It Bleed.” This novel takes place after the final episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “Chosen,” but in a very different continuity from the official Season 8 comics, which feature the public becoming aware of Slayers and vampires, and which do not fit into CU continuity. This fact, coupled with the Lovecraftian material, leads to the conclusion Dark Congress details the CU version of Buffy’s activities after “Chosen.”

Crossover Cover: Viva Las Buffy!

Wesley Wyndam-Price reads a book on demonology that has a picture of Idpa. The demon Idpa is from Scott Allie, Paul Lee, and Brian Horton’s comic The Devil’s Footprints, also published by Dark Horse, bringing that miniseries into the CU.

Crossover Cover: The Death of Buffy

Spike drops in on Rupert Giles to borrow a shear of Cytorrak, which he needs to finish off an acid demon he’s knocked out behind the Sunnydale Municipal Building. Despite the different spellings, this is clearly a reference to Cyttorak, a god from the Marvel Comics Universe, best known for creating the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak, the power source for the X-Men’s foe the Juggernaut. Although the X-Men’s adventures do not fit into CU continuity, the Crimson Gem was mentioned in Kim Newman’s story “The Adventure of the Six Maledictions,” and therefore we have independent verification that Cyttorak has a CU counterpart. This storyline takes place between Seasons 5 and 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Crossover Covers: Ghost of a Chance

J.C. Chance, Melody Chambers, and Happy Jack Palmer are field agents of the Carnacki Institute, a group devoted to investigating ghostly activity. Their latest case, a haunting in London’s Oxford Circus Tube Station, bring them into contact with the ghost of a young woman named Kim Sterling, with whom J.C. falls in love; Natasha Chang and Erik Grossman, two members of the Institute’s rival, the Crowley Project; and the Great Beast known as Fenris Tenebrae. J.C. boasts, “Remember…when the Ghostbusters have a headache; when the Scooby gang are having a panic attack; when Mulder and Scully don’t want to know and the psychic commandos of the SAS are sitting in a corner crying their eyes out…Who do you send for? The specially trained field agents of the Carnacki Institute!” Melody refers to other Great Beasts, such as the Hogge or the Serpent. The head of the Institute, Catherine Latimer, refers to J.C.’s recent acquisition of a folio copy of the damned and utterly poisonous play The King in Yellow. Happy says that they are not trained, equipped, or armed enough to deal with Great Beasts or Outer Monstrosities, or any of the Abominations. Natasha reminds Erik of the Case of the Horse Invisible, last year. J.C. doesn’t know anyone who’s actually encountered Frankenstein tech in the field before. He also has a Hand of Glory made from a monkey’s paw. The Carnacki Institute is named for Thomas Carnacki from William Hope Hodgson’s book Carnacki the Ghost-Finder. The Hogge is a reference to the titular being from the Carnacki story “The Hog.” The Outer Monstrosities are mentioned in both “The Whistling Room” and “The Hog.” The Case of the Horse Invisible must be connected to the Carnacki story “The Horse of the Invisible.” The Ghostbusters are from the film of the same name and its sequel. The Scooby Gang is the nickname Buffy Summers and her allies use for themselves on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Mulder and Scully are from the TV series The X-Files. The Serpent may be the Serpent in the Sun from Green’s novel Drinking Midnight Wine. The play The King in Yellow is from Robert W. Chambers’ short story collection of the same name. Frankenstein tech is named after the scientist from Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. The Hand of Glory made from a monkey’s paw is a nod to W.W. Jacobs’ short story “The Monkey’s Paw.”

Crossover of the Week

Autumn 2010-Spring 2011

BLOOD AND BULLETS

            Deacon Chalk has hunted monsters ever since a member of the race of angel/human hybrids known as the Nephilim killed his family. Deacon states, “There are few proclaimed vampire slayers and they range all kinds. Anita out in St. Louis, but she has a lot of stuff going on, not just vampire executions. Cat and Bones run their crew killing vampires and do a fine job of it. I hear whispers about the Blue Woman now and again, but it’s hard to pull the fact from the fiction on that one. There’s some folks in California. In L.A. and a small town east of it, who do mostly vampire slaying, but I haven’t met them yet. The black guy and old man combo who roam around do nothing but vampires. From what I hear they have a personal stake in it, so to speak. Sam and Dean will tussle with a vampire, but usually they are chasing down demons.”

            Novel by James R. Tuck. Anita is the main character of Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series, which takes place in an alternate reality where humans know that the supernatural is real. However, Justin Gustainis’ Morris and Chastain Supernatural Investigations series has established that Anita does have a CU counterpart, who has doubtless had very different adventures than Hamilton’s version. Dhampir Catherine “Cat” Crawfield and vampire bounty hunter Bones are from Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress series of novels. Vlad Tepesh appears in Frost’s series, but he hates the name Dracula and possesses pyrokinetic abilities. This is probably a “soul-clone” of the original Dracula, who somehow developed pyrokinetic talents that the true Vlad Tepes lacks. The Blue Woman is Nancy A. Collins’ monster hunting vampire Sonja Blue. The small town east of L.A. is Sunnydale, the home of Buffy Summers on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The Los Angeles reference is to the titular vampire from Buffy’s spin-off Angel. The black guy and old man combo are Marvel Comics’ vampire hunter Blade and his mentor Abraham Whistler, the latter of whom debuted in the cartoon Spider-Man: The Animated Series and went on to appear in the Blade film series. Sam and Dean are monster hunting brothers Sam and Dean Winchester from the television series Supernatural.