Crossover Cover: Campaign of Destruction

 

In this story by Whit Howland, the Phantom Detective works with FBI agent Dan Fowler to battle a wave of attacks in New York City related to the upcoming mayoral election. Fowler meets with a group of officials that includes Commissioner Warren and Captain McGrath. Dan Fowler appeared in the pulp magazine G-Men Detective. Commissioner Jerome Warner (mistakenly called “Warren” here) and Captain McGrath are from the Black Bat stories in Black Book Detective.

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 Cover: The Green Lama Unbound

I covered the original version of this novel some time ago. Since then, a revised and expanded version has been published by Moonstone Books. The Green Lama battles Cthulhu. Cthulhu; Nyarlathotep; R’lyeh; the Great Old Ones; the Outer Gods; the Necronomicon; the Deep Ones; Abdul Alhazred; Glyyu-Uho; Vhoorl; flying polyps; the Great Race of Yith; shoggoths; Arkham, Massachusetts; Innsmouth; the Miskatonic River; Miskatonic University; Professor Randolph Carter; and Zkauba are from the works of H. P. Lovecraft. This novel also makes use of characters and places from Cthulhu Mythos tales by August Derleth (the Elder Gods); Brian Lumley (Chthonians and Shudde M’ell); Ramsey Campbell (Baalbo, Yifne, and Tond); Walter C. DeBill, Jr. (Ogntlach); Lin Carter (Xoth); and A. A. Attanasio (Yaksh). Rick Masters and Twin Eagle had their own feature in Spark Publications’ Green Lama comic book series. “That guy who lives in the Empire State Building” is a well-known bronze-skinned pulp hero. Arnold Toht is from the first Indiana Jones film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, while Colonel Ernst Vogel is from the third film in the series, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Neville Sinclair is from the film version of Dave Stevens’ comic The Rocketeer. Since the comic book has already been incorporated into the Crossover Universe, the Sinclair mentioned here must be the CU counterpart of the Sinclair from the film, which follows a different continuity than the comic. The phrase “klaatu barada nikto” appears in both the science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still and Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead films. Foster Fade, “the crime spectacularist,” appeared in three stories by Lester Dent in All Detective Magazine in 1934. Richard Knight appeared in the pulp magazine Flying Aces in stories by Donald E. Keyhoe. The Black Bat was created by Norman Daniels and appeared in Black Book Detective. The Lama’s old detective friend in London is Sherlock Holmes. Elisha Pond is a false identity used by Secret Agent X, who appeared in a titular magazine. The original version of the novel has a few references that were deleted from the revised version, such as a rampaging ape (King Kong), Captain Hazzard (a one-shot pulp hero created by Paul Chadwick), Dan Fowler (an FBI agent appearing in the pulp G-Men Detective), Lance Star (a Canadian pulp hero recently revived by Bobby Nash and other writers), and Jim Anthony (who appeared in the magazine Super Detective).

Crossover of the Week

1940

THE BLACK BAT AT BAY

Jim Anthony comes out of retirement when he is tasked by the N.Y.P.D. with capturing the Black Bat, who has been framed for murder. Anthony was recommended to Commissioner Warner by FBI agent Dan Fowler, with whom Anthony has worked before. Anthony also tells Warner, “A famous member of my fraternity once said that pertinence is purely a matter of perspective.” The Bat attacks a group of criminals at the wrecked Comet Club, which was once owned by a man named Suydam, who died in 1921 in the same fire that destroyed the club. Gangster Gentleman Jack Schulz has a penthouse in the Shandor Building.

Short story by Josh Reynolds in Black Bat Mystery, Volume 2, Airship 27 Productions, 2012. The Black Bat and Jim Anthony appeared in the pulp magazines Black Book Detective and Super Detective, respectively. FBI agent Dan Fowler’s stories appeared in G-Men Detective. Fowler and Anthony previously met in Erwin K. Roberts’ story “Neighborhood in Peril” and Reynolds’ tale “Proof of Supremacy.” The fellow sleuth quoted by Anthony is either Sherlock Holmes or C. Auguste Dupin. Suydam is a relative of Robert Suydam from H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Horror at Red Hook.” The Shandor Building is from the movie Ghostbusters. Anthony must have permanently resumed his adventurous career after this, given his appearances in “The Carolingian Stone” and other stories.

Crossover Cover: King Crime!

In this Dan Fowler story by D.L. Champion, Fowler cracks a case that begins in Newkirk City. Newkirk City was also the setting of “Alias Mr. Death,” a novel by Champion serialized in nine chapters in Thrilling Detective in February–October 1932. Two more Mr. Death stories by George Fielding Eliot appeared in 1939. Since Dan Fowler is in the CU, so is Mr. Death, aka James Quincy Gilmore, Jr., who took on the guise to battle the Murder Club responsible for his father’s death.

Crossover of the Week

1942

THE CASE OF THE BLIND SOLDIER

            The Green Ghost (George Chance) investigates the bizarre murder of an army Corporal. Agent Jeff Shannon of G-2 is also looking into the crime. Chance’s aide Joe Harper seeks a lead at the Pink Rat. Commissioner Standish tells Chance that Dan Fowler and his boys are moving in to clean up corruption at Fort Dix.

            Story by Tom Johnson in Exciting Pulp Tales, Altus Press, 2011. The Green Ghost (aka simply the Ghost) appeared in the pulp magazine The Ghost Super-Detective (later retitled The Ghost Detective and then Green Ghost Detective), and was created by G.T. Fleming-Roberts. Jeff Shannon is better known as the Eagle, who appeared in stories by “Kerry McRoberts” (Norman A. Daniels) in Thrilling Spy Stories and Popular Detective. The Pink Rat is an underworld dive bar from the Shadow novels. FBI agent Dan Fowler was created by Major George Fielding Eliot, and appeared in the pulp G-Men Detective. The year is conjecture, though the story explicitly takes place during America’s involvement in World War II.

Crossover Cover: The Green Lama Unbound

The Green Lama battles Cthulhu. Besides this major one, there are several other crossovers in the book. Lieutenant John Caraway, the Lama’s policeman ally, meets him at his office in the Empire State Building, and reflects: “This is where they killed that rampaging ape, he reminded himself. He still remembered hearing the actress’s warbling screams echo down from the top of the tower. There was a small bullet hole in the wall, a physical reminder of the four Curtiss Helldiver biplanes that had taken the massive primate down.” Obviously, this is a reference to King Kong. Another of the Lama’s allies is pilot Rick Masters, who mentions his sidekick Twin Eagle. Both characters appeared in a backup feature in Spark Publications' Green Lama comic. Paul Chadwick's pulp hero Captain Hazzard is mentioned several times, and appears in a flashback to the Lama’s time in Tibet. Two Nazi officers discuss the Toht and Vogel embarrassments, and Hitler’s obsession with occult artifacts, including Arks, Holy Grails, and the Spear of Destiny. The Toht and Ark references are to the first Indiana Jones film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, while the Vogel and Holy Grail references are to the third film in the series, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Indy became entangled with the Nazis’ quest for the Spear of Destiny in 1945, as chronicled in a 1995 miniseries published by Dark Horse Comics. Another of the Lama’s companions, actor Ken Clayton, jokingly responds to Caraway’s use of the phrase “gone with the wind” by suggesting he could play Rhett Butler in the upcoming film, adding, “I heard Neville Sinclair was in the running until, y’know…ka-boom!” Sinclair is from the film version of Dave Stevens’ comic The Rocketeer; since the events of the film are irreconcilable with the Rocketeer comics, which are squarely in the CU, the Sinclair referenced here must be the CU version of the character from the movie, and must have met his end under different circumstances, though obviously still explosive ones. On being told that she is essential to preventing the catastrophe that will be brought about by Cthulhu, the Lama’s beloved Jean Farrell responds, “I’m not a hero…I’m not Dan Fowler, Lance Star, or Jim freakin’ Anthony.” Dan Fowler, G-Man’s exploits appeared in the pulp G-Men Detective. Lance Star was a character from the Canadian pulps who has recently been revived by Bobby Nash and others. Jim Anthony’s adventures were told in the pulp magazine Super Detective. A ship whose crew includes Elisha Pond finds the remains of the Nazis killed in the battle between the Lama and Cthulhu. Pond is one of the many false identities used by Secret Agent X. Nyarlathotep, the Deep Ones, Shudde-M’ell, the Chthonians, a shoggoth, and Randolph Carter appear, and Zkauba is mentioned. All are from Lovecraft's works, with the exceptions of Shudde-M'ell and the Chthonians, which are from Brian Lumley's contributions to the Mythos. The invocation “Nyarlathotep klaatu barada nikto” appears several times. The phrase “Klaatu barada nikto” first appeared in the film The Day the Earth Stood Still, and was also used in Army of Darkness, the third film in Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead trilogy.

As those who read my very first post here know, this novel has deep significance to my work. I posted a list of the crossovers on one of the Yahoo Wold Newton groups in late 2011, and got some positive feedback, including Win saying it was an interesting writeup and asking if there were more in my future. Encouraged by Win's comments, I continued posting writeups of any new crossovers I discovered. In early 2012, Win suggested the idea of me writing a third volume of Crossovers. This novel set me on the path I'm on today, and I appreciate it all the more because of that. Incidentally, Moonstone Books will be publishing a revised and expanded version of this novel in the near future.