Crossover Cover: The Black Bat and the Purple Scar: Faces of Fear

 

The Black Bat teams up with the Purple Scar to investigate dead gangsters seemingly turning up alive thanks to a villain called Mr. Mask. The Bat uses smoke bombs given to him by his friend and fellow crime fighter Captain Hazzard. Lt. McGrath summons Inspector John Burks to the scene of the Bat’s encounter with a group of crooks. Burks says he has heard the Bat gives McGrath as many headaches as he gets from Secret Agent X. Police photographer Dave Dejune meets with Betty Dale of the Herald about the return of one of the gangsters. The Purple Scar, in his secret identity as Dr. Miles Murdoch, is visiting New York City for a medical conference, staying at the Waldorf Anthony. Betty attends a press conference, as does Steve Huston of the Clarion, who says old man Havens had a fit because Betty and the Herald scooped them. Lawyer Paul Westland asks at the conference, “Who elected Agent X, the Black Bat, or the Phantom Detective to hunt down criminals?” The Bat’s gas bombs were made by Professor MacGowen, the head of research at Hazzard Labs. The Black Bat, whose stories were primarily written by Norman A. Daniels, appeared in the pulp magazine Black Book Detective. The Purple Scar’s stories were told by John Endicott in Exciting Detective in the 1940s. Captain Hazzard appeared in a one-shot pulp magazine by “Chester Hawks” (Paul Chadwick). His adventures have been continued in a series of novels by Fortier. Professor Washington “Wash” MacGowen is one of Hazzard’s aides. Secret Agent X appeared in stories by the pseudonymous “Brant House” (originally Chadwick, then other writers) in a titular pulp magazine. Inspector Burks is from that series. Daily Herald reporter Betty Dale is X’s love interest and closest ally. The Waldorf Anthony is the hotel owned by Jim Anthony, whose exploits were written by “John Grange” (a penname used at different times by Victor Rousseau Emanuel, Robert Leslie Bellem, and W. T. Ballard) in the magazine Super-Detective. The Phantom Detective, Steve Huston, the Clarion newspaper, and Frank Havens are from the pulp magazine The Phantom Detective, written by various individuals using the pseudonym “G. Wayman Jones” and then “Robert Wallace.”

This crossover is one of over a thousand covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, coming this summer from Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Crossover Covers: Final Phase

 

The Black Bat battles the Black Sun Cult alongside the Phantom Detective, I. V. Frost, the Domino Lady, Nighthawk, Ki-Gor and Helene, Captain Hazzard’s aides, and Jim Anthony. The Phantom Detective listens to a radio broadcast by Diane Elliott. Nighthawk is from Fortier’s novel Nighthawk: Burning Skies. This crossover brings him into the CU. Diane Elliott is Operator No. 5’s girlfriend. In an amusing moment that is more of an in-joke than a true crossover, the Domino Lady tells the Phantom Detective that she’s always thought the use of a spotlight signal to summon him was a great idea, and that she’s surprised some other masked mystery man hasn’t stolen it from him, a foreshadowing of Commissioner Gordon’s use of the Batsignal to summon Batman.

This crossover 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!

Crossover of the Week

Late December 2011 

DILLON AND THE PROPHECY OF FIRE 

Dillon brings his friends Wyatt Hyatt and Reynard Hansen and their new acquaintance Professor Ursula Van Houghton of Grand Lakes University to his home in Grand, Pennsylvania, which is filled with pictures by Ben Munceford, a photojournalist who disappeared in the 1960s. A group of villains seek the Vril energy from Dillon, who at one point wears a Gantlet Brothers T-shirt. Wyatt works on his Clip Pad. Dillon’s friend Eli Creed has been asked to consult on a new airplane design by friends at the Miami Aerospace Research & Dynamic Logistics. Germany’s Ministry of State Security has an extensive dossier on Dillon’s encounter with Sun Koh years ago. Another dossier on the subject was once in the hands of the Office of Scientific Intelligence. Dillon and friends are shown a laboratory right up there with any that can be found at Alternative Technologies or Hazzard Laboratories. At MARDL, Eli says goodbye to Clifton Storm, formerly known as Challenger Storm. Dillon met Master Gunnery Sergeant Morrell on a train ride from Harak to Khusra a few years ago. The mastermind behind the Vril plot is Li Shoon, the leader of the Ui Kwoon Ah-How. 

Story by Derrick Ferguson in Dillon Annual Collection 2019, Pro Se Productions, 2019. Grand Lakes University is from the movie Back to School. Dillon first met Ursula Van Houghton in “Dillon and the Night of the Krampus,” which takes place right before this story. Grand, Pennsylvania is from the television series Grand. Ben Munceford is from the movie The Bedford Incident. The Vril is from Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s The Coming Race. The Gantlet Brothers are the protagonists of a series of novels by Joel Jenkins. The Clip Pad is from Jenkins’ Dire Planet; Jenkins and Ferguson’s The Specialists reveals the Pad was invented by Wyatt Hyatt. The Miami Aerodrome Research & Development Laboratories (to use its name in the 1930s) and their head, Clifton “Challenger” Storm, are seen in novels by Don Gates. Sun Koh is a German pulp hero sometimes dubbed “the Nazi Doc Savage”; Dillon encountered him and the Vril in Ferguson and Josh Reynolds’ The Vril Agenda. The Office of Scientific Intelligence is from the television series The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman. The Henderson Institute of Alternative Technologies is from Ferguson’s serialized novel “A Man Called Mongrel,” appearing in the anthology series Mystery Men (& Women). Hazzard Laboratories is run by Captain Hazzard, a one-shot pulp hero created by “Chester Hawks” (Paul Chadwick). Khusra is from Ferguson’s Fortune McCall stories. The train ride was seen in Dillon and the Last Rail to Khusra. Li Shoon appeared in stories by H. Irving Hancock in Detective Story Magazine. 

This crossover writeup 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! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED continuations of Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

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.

Crossover Cover: Cavemen of New York

Captain Hazzard battles mad scientists Professor Marko Steil and Doctor Henry Moreau. Moreau’s grandfather was the subject of a factual book by H.G. Wells that was published under the guise of fiction. FBI agent Ernest Grogan works with Hazzard to end the threat. Pulp writer Lester Dent arranges for Annie Brennan to transport one of Hazzard’s vehicles aboard her tugboat, the Narcissus. Henry Moreau’s grandfather was the subject of H.G. Wells’ novel The Island of Doctor Moreau. Fortier gives Wells’ Moreau the same first name, Alphonse, given to him by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume II. Ernest Grogan is based on Eric Gordon from Donald E. Keyhoe’s Dr. Yen Sin pulp novels. Gordon was a reporter in the original stories, but he and Michael Traile were often aided by the FBI, so it is possible that he joined the Bureau after his and Traile’s last recorded encounter with Yen Sin. “Grogan” first worked with Hazzard in Fortier’s The Citadel of Fear. Annie Brennan is better known as Tugboat Annie from a series of stories by Norman Reilly Raine, and also appeared in three films and a television series, each of which had her being portrayed by a different actress.

Crossover Cover: Damballa

The vigilante Damballa, the son of an African-American missionary and a native African woman, explains his origin to boxer Jackhammer Jackson’s trainer, stating, “I had read with interest about the American guardians of liberty and justice who operate beyond the strictures of the law. People like the Shadow, Doc Savage, Captain Hazzard, Jim Anthony…and I became convinced that our people needed such a defender as well.” The other vigilantes are referred to as real people, bringing Damballa into the CU.

Crossover Cover: The Resurrection Ring

I picked this book up at Pulpfest this year. Although the format is based on the original Secret Agent X pulp, this is actually a new novel by Stephen Payne, with a few crossovers. Agent X visits a gangster's funeral disguised as a reporter. When another crook takes a swing at him, X intercepts the blow, prompting the mobster to say, "What are you? Some kinda damn superman, like that laughin' mook what dresses in black and prowls around at night?" This is a reference to the Shadow, of course. There is also a reference to the Pink Rat, an underworld dive from the Shadow novels, a few chapters later. The gangster also asks the disguised X if he thinks he's "a damn mind reader, like that Captain Whatsisname...?" Later, there is a reference to X having an adventure in a country called Teutschland with Hazzard. Payne is planning to chronicle the team-up between Secret Agent X and the telepathic Captain Hazzard (both created by Paul Chadwick) in a novel called Hell's Haven. Finally, at the end of the novel, X visits two of his aides at the clinic where they are convalescing, which is owned by a neurophysician and adventurer who is a friend of X's. This friend also has a secret facility in New York that specializes in treating criminals. While there, X runs into a Mutt-and-Jeff duo, one short and apish and the other wasp-waisted and rather handsome, both of whom insult each other viciously, and a golden-eyed giant of a man. Obviously, the latter is Doc Savage, accompanied by Ham and Monk.