Crossover Cover: The Manifestations of Sherlock Holmes

 

Are you a Sherlock Holmes fan?

Then you'll love this anthology, which includes a story in which Holmes meets Professor Challenger, as well as alternate universe stories involving the Cthulhu Mythos and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde!

For more information, be sure to purchase 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: Adler

 

In 1902, nurse Jane Eyre returns from the Boer War and takes up rooms at Briony Lodge with Irene Adler. Soon, they must stop Ayesha, She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, from destroying London. Along with various characters from the Holmes stories, also appearing are Estella Havisham (from Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations), Carmilla, Arthur Raffles, King Rudolf V of Ruritania, Queen Flavia, Rupert of Hentzau, Dr. Seward, the Demeter, Phileas Fogg, and Dr. Jekyll. Various anachronisms and reinterpretations of characters make this an AU. 

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 of the Week

 Autumn 1921

A TALE OF TWO SOULS 

Dr. Henry Jekyll seeks the Sâr Dubnotal’s aid, having heard rumors back of an odd case where he assisted Professor Van Helsing. Jekyll’s other personality, Edward Hyde, has opened the Cenobites’ puzzle box. The Sâr’s sanctum includes such items as the Helmet of Nabu, the Witchblade, and the Resurrection Stone. A Cenobite with pins sticking out of his skull appears. The Sâr offers the Cenobite Hyde as his emissary on Earth, saying there are souls so evil they are beyond his ability to change them, such as Fantômas and Tserpchikopf. Two months later, Hyde offers the puzzle box to Irma Vep and the Great Vampire. 

Short story by Matthew Dennion in Sâr Dubnotal 2: The Astral Trail, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2015; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 19), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2016. The Sâr Dubnotal is a French pulp hero. Tserpchikopf battled the Sâr in several novels. Dr. Henry Jekyll and his alter ego Edward Hyde are from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Professor Abraham Van Helsing is from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The Cenobites and their puzzle box, the Lament Configuration, are from the Hellraiser movies. The Cenobite with pins sticking out of his skull is Pinhead. Captain Elliott Spencer became Pinhead in 1921, as established in Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth, so this story must take place not long after. The Helmet of Nabu will later be worn by DC Comics’ mystic hero Dr. Fate. The Witchblade is from the titular Top Cow Comics series. The Resurrection Stone is from J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, bringing in Harry Potter. Fantômas is Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre’s villain. Irma Vep and the Great Vampire are from the serial Les Vampires.

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 companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2! 

Crossover of the Week

Spring 2010

DARK WAR 

Appearing or mentioned are: the Hyde formula; Dr. Moreau; Jerboa, a werethylacine; Frankenstein Monsters; Audrey IIs; Granny Red, an immortal monster hunter; the Weird Sisters; the Beast with a Million Eyes; the Killer Shrews; the Monster that Challenged the World; the Crawling Eye; Q the Winged Serpent; the Giant Gila Monster; the original Hound of the Baskervilles; Kongar; Reptilikan; the Sea Hag; Dr. Bombay; Chandu; the Blair Witch; a Gill-Man; Carl; and Arthur Van Helsing. 

The third and final Nekropolis novel by Tim Waggoner, 2011. The Hyde formula is from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Moreau is either Dr. Alphonse Moreau from H. G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau or one of his descendants. Jerboa is from the movie The Howling III: The Marsupials. Frankenstein Monsters are from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Audrey II is from the movie The Little Shop of Horrors. Granny Red claims to be the original Little Red Riding Hood. The Weird Sisters are from William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The Beast with 1,000,000 Eyes, the Killer Shrews, the Monster that Challenged the World, the Crawling Eye, Q the Winged Serpent, and the Giant Gila Monster are all from the movies of the same name. The original Hound of the Baskervilles is from Doyle and Watson’s eponymous Sherlock Holmes novel. Kongar and Reptilikan are stand-ins for the titular creatures from the movies King Kong and Reptilicus. The Sea Hag is Popeye’s foe from E. C. Segar’s comic strip Thimble Theatre. Dr. Bombay is from the TV series Bewitched. Chandu is from the radio series Chandu the Magician. The Blair Witch is from the movie The Blair Witch Project. The Gill-Man is from the movie Creature from the Black Lagoon and its sequels. Carl is Carl Kolchak, who previously appeared in the first Nekropolis novel. Arthur Van Helsing is a member of the famous family of monster hunters. 

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 companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Crossover of the Week

Spring 2008

NEKROPOLIS 

Ex-Cleveland policeman Matthew Richter is now a zombie P.I. in Nekropolis, a city founded centuries ago by wizards and monsters within a pocket dimension of eternal night where monsters live openly. Appearing or mentioned are Carl; Erich Zann; a Gill-Man; the Transparent Woman; the Mariner; Dr. Moreau; the Phantom of the Paradise; Victor Baron; a female descendant of Dr. Jekyll who uses a version of her forebear’s formula to change genders; and Marley’s ghost. 

2009 novel by Tim Waggoner. Carl is Carl Kolchak, who now runs a newspaper in Nekropolis. Erich Zann is from H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Music of Erich Zann.” The Gill-Men are from the movie Creature from the Black Lagoon and its sequels. The Transparent Woman is a descendant of H. G. Wells’ Invisible Man who botched her ancestor’s formula so that only her skin turned invisible, not her organs and skeleton. The Mariner is from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Dr. Moreau is either the doctor from H. G. Wells’ novel or a descendant. The Phantom of the Paradise is from the movie of the same name. Victor Baron is one of the monsters created by the Frankenstein family, now living in the Nekropolis and carrying on his creator’s work. Dr. Jekyll needs no introduction. Jacob Marley’s ghost is from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Nekropolis is similar to the Nightside, from Simon R. Green’s series of novels, but the relationship between the two has yet to be revealed. 

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 companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Crossover Cover: Ten Miles to Nowhere!

 

A narration box compares Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man, to “a doctor named Jekyll,” who in the nineteenth century “concocted a chemical potion that transformed him into the vicious Mr. Hyde...” Dr. Jekyll is referred to as a historical figure, further demonstrating that a version of the Elongated Man exists in the CU.

This crossover is one of hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, to 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 Movie Poster: The Mistresses of Dr. Jekyll

 

Are you a fan of legendary Spanish genre filmmaker Jess Franco?

Then you'll love this film by him, which has ties to his Dr. Orloff series and his standalone film The Sadistic Baron von Klaus, as well as Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde!

For more information, be sure to check out my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3 when Meteor House publishes it! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Crossover Cover: Das Verschwinden des Doktor Jekyll

 

Are you a fan of Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde?

Then you might enjoy this issue of the German pulp magazine Detektiv John Spurlock in which Jekyll appears!

For more information, see 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 Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2 by Win Scott Eckert!

For more

Crossover TV Series: Penny Dreadful

 

Are you a fan of classic monsters such as Dracula and Frankenstein's monster?

Then you may enjoy the TV series Penny Dreadful, featuring versions of those and other iconic characters in Victorian London!

For more details, see the appendix on alternate universes in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3! Much like the first two volumes, this book is an official and fully AUTHORIZED companion to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2 and will be published by Meteor House!

Crossover Cover: Hand of the Monster

Are you a fan of Frankenstein's monster?

Then you'll love the crossover in this book in which he meets Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Jim Beard's Monster Aces!

A write-up of this story, and countless other crossovers, can be found in my forthcoming books Crossovers Expanded Vols. 1 and 2, AUTHORIZED companions to Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Vols. 1 and 2 by Win Scott Eckert, due out from Meteor House in July!

Crossover Cover: The Problem of the Elusive Cracksman

This issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction includes "The Problem of the Elusive Cracksman" by Ron Goulart. Harry Challenge deduces the gorilla-like thief who stole the Mirabilis Diamonds took a serum that could turn an average man into a large, powerful superhuman. Challenge’s sidekick, the Great Lorenzo, recalls that a fellow named Dr. Henry Jekyll stumbled upon a similar concoction some years ago, and came to a bad end. Win included several Harry Challenge stories in the original Crossovers, and the Jekyll connection further cements Challenge in the CU.

Crossover Cover: The Difference a Day Makes

John Taylor and Dead Boy help an ordinary woman figure out why and how she came to be in the Nightside, and also try to reunite her with her husband. Appearing or mentioned are: the Maltese Falcon (from Dashiell Hammett’s private eye novel of the same name); Something from a Black Lagoon (a reference to the Universal horror film Creature from the Black Lagoon); one of Frankenstein’s female creations (from Mary Shelley's novels and its various sequels and adaptations); knockoff Hyde formula (from Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde); a lipstick-red Plymouth Fury with a dead man grinning at the wheel (the titular car from Stephen King’s novel Christine); a great black beauty of a car, driven by an Oriental in black leathers, and a man in the back in a green face mask and a snap-brimmed hat (the Green Hornet and Kato, with this particular pair probably being Paul Reid and Kono Kato, who began working together in 1993); and worms from the earth (a reference to Robert E. Howard’s Bran Mak Morn story “Worms of the Earth.”)

Crossover Cover: Some of These Cons Go Way Back

This issue includes a Nightside story by Simon R. Green. Conman Harry Fabulous is tricked by a fallen angel into murdering a woman. Taduki (from H. Rider Haggard’s Allan Quatermain novels and stories), tanna leaves (from Universal Studios’ original series of Mummy films), Martian red weed (from H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds), black centipede meat (from William S. Burroughs’ novel Naked Lunch), and the Jekyll and Hyde formula (from Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) are mentioned.

Crossover Covers: The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde

Inspector Thomas Adye releases Henry Jekyll, alias Edward Hyde, from his imprisonment beneath Scotland Yard headquarters to help him track down Jack the Ripper. Jekyll’s friend Moreau appears in a flashback and Jekyll refers to his experiments on his pet beasts. At the conclusion of this tale, Adye begins investigating reports of an invisible man. The implication seems to be that Adye is the Colonel Adye seen in H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man. However, Wells’ Adye was the chief of police for Port Burdock, rather than being based in London. According to this story, Hyde was arrested five years ago for his crimes, and Scotland Yard allowed the public to believe him dead. Also, Jekyll’s former friend Gabriel Utterson is identified as the Ripper. These details conflict with CU continuity, and therefore I place this series in an AU.

Crossover Cover: Nextwave is Love

H.A.T.E. director Dirk Anger orders the release of “the Neo-Hyde Gutspawn…Human scum empowered by the cloned chemically-mutated cells found in the stomach walls of the corpse of Henry Jekyll himself!” Nextwave is a team composed of mostly pre-existing Marvel superheroes, and therefore this series cannot take place in the CU.

Crossover Cover: The Spy Who Haunted Me

Edwin Drood is chosen to compete against several other agents to solve a series of mysteries; the winner will gain all the secrets of Alexander King, the legendary Independent Agent. Appearing or mentioned are: Vril Power, Inc. (a reference to Edward Bulwer-Lytton's The Coming Race); the Salvation Army Sisterhood, Harry Fabulous, the London Knights, the Walking Man, John Taylor, Walker, the Authorities, the Collector, Strangefellows, Cathy Barnett, and Lilith (all from Green's Nightside series); the Tracey Brothers (from the TV series Thunderbirds, which probably takes place in an alternate future; in the show, their name is spelled "Tracy"); MI13 and Black Air (the CU equivalents of the British intelligence groups seen in the Marvel Universe); Leo Morn (from Green's novel Drinking Midnight Wine); smoked black centipede meat (from William S. Burroughs' novel Naked Lunch); full-strength Hyde (from Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; Martian red weed and Martians on huge metal tripods with metal claws, heat rays, and poisonous black smoke; (from H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds); Universal Exports (from Ian Fleming's James Bond books); Oz (from the novels by L. Frank Baum); SAS combat sorcerers (from Warren Ellis' comic book Gravel); Shadows Fall (from Green's novel of the same name); Oberon and Titania, Peaseblossom, Puck, Mustardseed, Cobweb, and Moth (from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream); the Djinn Jeannie (from the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie); the Traveling Doctor (aka Doctor Who); the Old Wolf of Kabul (Bill Sampson, a British comic book character who debuted in the 1920s as the Wolf of Kabul); a small statuette of a black bird (the Maltese Falcon); two Pickman paintings (from Lovecraft's "Pickman's Model"); several copies of the Painting that Devoured Paris (a CU version of the Painting That Ate Paris from Grant Morrison's run on the superhero team comic book Doom Patrol); a stuffed Morlock (from Wells' The Time Machine); a mummified monkey’s paw (from W.W. Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw"); a small black lacquered puzzle box (the Lament Configuration, from the Hellraiser film series); the talking beavers of Narnia (from C.S. Lewis' novels); Frankenstein monsters (from Mary Shelley's novel); the Lone Ranger and Tonto (from the classic radio series); Crouch End Towen (the fictional Lovecraftian dark side of the real London neighborhood Crouch End, from Stephen King's story "Crouch End"; use of a sword-umbrella as an old tradition in the British spy game (a reference to John Steed from the TV series The Avengers); and Queen Mab (from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.)

Crossover Covers: The Black Centipede

In Creeping Dawn: The Rise of the Black Centipede, the titular vigilante makes his debut in Zenith City, battling the evil Doctor Almanac. The Centipede refers to Professor James Moriarty as one of the many people he encountered during his career as a crimefighter. The future Centipede became friends with Howard Lovecraft as a young man after writing to him about the Necronomicon. Miskatonic University is mentioned as fictional. After a comment by the Centipede-to-be, Howard changes the unwieldy title of a story he’s working on to “The Call of Cthulhu.” A crimefighter in New York who laughs a lot and has his own radio show is referenced twice, obviously the Shadow. William Randolph Hearst refers to a certain Chinaman who should trademark the word “insidious,” a reference to Dr. Fu Manchu. The Centipede’s enemy Bloody Mary Jane Gallows fed Doctor Almanac Henry Jekyll’s serum, turning him into a villain. The sequel is Blood of the Centipede, in which the Black Centipede travels to Hollywood to act as a consultant on a movie adaptation of the pulp magazine very loosely based on his exploits, and winds up battling the returning Jack the Ripper. The Ripper possesses the Necronumericon, another book written by Abdul Alhazred, author of the Necronomicon. The Centipede refers to “that guy that lives in the Empire State Building,” whom Amelia Earhart describes as “Doc Do-Good.” This is a reference to Doc Savage. One of the stars of the Black Centipede movie is Nora Desmand, who is meant to be Norma Desmond from Billy Wilder’s 1950 film Sunset Boulevard. The Centipede works with Lieutenant “Big Jack” Matteo of the L.A.P.D., who is meant to be the father of Lieutenant Jack Matteo from the Kolchak: The Night Stalker episode “The Vampire.” Sherlock Holmes is mentioned in a flashback to the Ripper’s murder of Mary Jane Kelly. Amelia refers to “that fellow in New York—the one with the chronic private joke,” who has several agents, a reference to the Shadow. The Centipede’s foe Baron Samedi lists individuals who, like the Centipede, played with forces they didn’t fully comprehend, including Faust, Prometheus, and Victor Frankenstein. The third book in the series is Black Centipede Confidential, in which the Centipede battles Professor James Moriarty, who has assumed the mantle of Lord of Vampires after killing the previous holder of the title, Count Dracula. Among the Centipede’s allies in his conflict with Moriarty are J. Alfred Prufrock (from T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”); Gregor Samsa (from Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”); Walter Gibson and Lester Dent, who describe their working relationships with the men whose lives they fictionalize (the Shadow and Doc Savage, respectively); the faceless assassin Anonymoushka, actually Vionna Moriarty, the Professor’s daughter, who will later use the name Vionna Valis, as seen in Miller’s book Vionna and the Vampires; and an elderly Sherlock Holmes. Moriarty’s own allies include Herbert West. Jack Matteo and the Jekyll formula are mentioned. The portrayal of Moriarty as a vampire, Holmes’ death, and the revelation that Moriarty is really Holmes’ older brother Sherrinford all conflict with Holmes and Moriarty’s established history in the CU. Combined with the portrayal of Miskatonic University and implicitly Cthulhu as fictional in Creeping Dawn, the Black Centipede’s exploits and other related stories by Miller must take place in an alternate universe.

Crossover Covers: Secret Histories

Eddie Drood, aka Shaman Bond, is a member of the Drood (née Druid) clan that protects the world from supernatural threats. He is suddenly inexplicably declared a rogue by his family, who set out to kill him. He strives to learn the reason why. The Secret Histories books are set in the same universe as the Nightside series and other works by Simon R. Green. Appearing or mentioned in this book are: a Time Agent whose latest regeneration has gone terribly wrong, turning him inside out (a reference to Doctor Who and Torchwood); the Necronomicon (from Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, of course); a Kandarian possessing amulet (referencing the Evil Dead films); the Old Ones (another Mythos reference); a Hyde using a distillation of Jekyll’s old formula (from Robert Louis Stevenson's novel); Rossum’s Unionized Robots (a reference to Karel Capek's play R.U.R.); a 1930s powder blue Hirondel convertible sports car (the same fictional brand of car driven by Simon Templar, aka the Saint); Alice Little (aka Alice Liddell of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland fame); Penelope Creighton (presumably a relative of Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward from Thunderbirds, which probably takes place in an AU); Area 52 (located in the Antarctic, and therefore presumably the same Area 52 seen in the Image Comics series of the same name); taduki (from the Allan Quatermain novels); Martian red weed (from Wells' The War of the Worlds); the Arcadia Project (from the Nightside book Hell to Pay); Vril Power Inc. (based on the Vril from Edward Bulwer-Lytton's The Coming Race); the Lurkers on the Threshold (a reference to August Derleth's The Lurker at the Threshold); Arne Saknussemm (from Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth); Cave Carson (a longtime DC Comics hero); a stuffed moomintroll (from Tove Jansson's Moomin books); a statue of a black bird (the Maltese Falcon); a small black lacquered puzzle box (a Lament Configuration from the Hellraiser films); the Holy Hand Grenade of St. Antioch (from the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which would be a greatly exaggerated account of the quest for the Grail); scrimshaw carved from the bones of a great white whale (Moby Dick); and Baron von Frankenstein.