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 Covers: Dept. of Monsterology

 

Dunsany College’s Department of Cryptozoology, Mythological Studies, Parapsychology, and Fortean Phenomena, funded by the Hampton Foundation, has three field teams: Teams Challenger, Carnacki, and the long-lost Carter, whose members died on a space mission. The gold idol Indiana Jones lost in 1936 and the Lament Configuration are seen in Department head Professor Booker’s office. Team Challenger goes on an underwater expedition at 47°9’S 126°43’W, encountering fish men in the process, and recovering a squid-headed idol. Cryptogeographer Javier De Tovar says the markings on the idol are like those in the Ponape Manuscript. Meanwhile, Team Carnacki goes up against some jiangshi (Chinese vampires); a folk tradition from Szechuan suggests the hoofs of a black donkey as a weapon against the undead. Carnacki member Dominic Belasco is described as a “necronaut.” Miskatonic and “Kostabi’s people” are suggested among the parties who may have beat Carnacki to their next destination. In the Pacific, Challenger encounters a dinosaur, whose home De Tovar describes as late Pnakotic Era civilization ruins. A picture from Team Carter’s expedition to Yuggoth is seen. Dunsany’s first expedition to the Antarctic brought back a star-headed creature. The Department’s field teams are named after Arthur Conan Doyle’s Professor Challenger, William Hope Hodgson’s Thomas Carnacki, and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ warlord of Mars, respectively. The gold idol is from the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. The Lament Configuration is from the Hellraiser films. 47°9’S 126°43’W are the coordinates of R’lyeh according to H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Call of Cthulhu.” The fish men are the Deep Ones from Lovecraft’s “The Shadow over Innsmouth.” The squid-headed idol is of Cthulhu. The Ponape Manuscript is from Lin Carter’s Cthulhu Mythos stories. Miskatonic University is mentioned in several of Lovecraft’s stories, as is Yuggoth. The Pnakotic Era refers to Lovecraft’s Pnakotic Manuscripts. The star-headed creature is an Elder Thing from Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness.” The idea of black donkey hooves being used to fight jiangshi comes from Zhang Muye’s Ghost Blows Out the Light. Necronauts is a comic by Rennie and Frazer Irving. “Kostabi’s people” refers to Rennie and Dom Reardon’s comic Caballistics, Inc. 

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

Autumn 1940

THE STUFF THAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF 

Private eye Steve Donnelly, investigating his partner’s murder, becomes involved in the struggle between worshippers of the Great Old Ones called the Olde Fellowes over a statue of Cthulhu. One of the Olde Fellowes, Constantine Garland, names various objects that, like the statue, can bestow upon the bearer unimaginable power and are being sought by the Nazis, including the Scroll of Thoth, the Lament Configuration, the Ark of the Covenant, the Eye of Agomotto, and the Spear of Destiny. A mysterious barman comes to Steve’s rescue, and says he knows his granddaughter. Steve, befuddled, says he’s thirty-three, but the barman replies he won’t always be. 

Short story by Peter Atkins in The Lovecraft Squad: Waiting, Pegasus Books, 2017. Steve Donnelly is the grandfather of Atkins’ modern lesbian P.I. Kitty Donnelly. The Scroll of Thoth is from the 1932 film The Mummy. The Lament Configuration is from the Hellraiser films, based on Clive Barker’s “The Hellbound Heart.” Not coincidentally, Atkins wrote or co-wrote the scripts for Hellbound: Hellraiser II, Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth, and Hellraiser: Bloodline. The Ark of the Covenant is from the Book of Exodus, but given the other references, this is probably a specific allusion to the first Indiana Jones film, Raiders of the Lost Ark. The Eye of Agamotto (to use the correct spelling) is one of the mystic talismans wielded by Marvel Comics’ Sorcerer Supreme, Dr. Stephen Strange. The barman is Atkins’ character Dr. James Arcadia, who has been described as somewhat akin to an occult version of Doctor Who. 

This crossover writeup is one of hundreds included in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, to be released by Meteor House! Much like the first two volumes, this one is an AUTHORIZED companion to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Crossover Cover: Sherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell

 

Sherlock Holmes battles the Cenobites from the Hellraiser films, based on Clive Barker’s “The Hellbound Heart.” Henri D’Amour, apparently an ancestor of Barker’s detective Harry D’Amour, appears. The fates revealed for Professor Moriarty and Colonel Moran are at odds with their post-1896 appearances in the CU. Watson references the events of Guy Ritchie’s 2009 film Sherlock Holmes, which does not fit with the continuity of Doyle’s stories. Moriarty, taunting Holmes with his failures, mentions Enola, a reference to Nancy Springer’s series of novels about Enola Holmes, Sherlock’s younger sister. In Springer’s novels, Enola and her brothers’ mother is Lady Eudoria Vernet Holmes, while in the CU, the Holmes siblings’ mother is the former Violet Rutherford. Therefore, this novel must take place in an alternate universe.

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

Crossover Cover: Children of the Beast

Hey, like the Hellraiser film series?

Then you'll love the reference to it in this story of Marvel Comics' Werewolf by Night!

Find out all the details in Crossovers Expanded Vols. 1 and 2, my AUTHORIZED expansions of Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Vols. 1 and 2, due out from Meteor House in 2016!

Crossover Covers: Blood Communion

Private investigator Harry D’Amour joins forces with the Female Cenobite to prevent Pinhead from remaking the world in his own twisted image. This crossover links Barker’s P.I. Harry D’Amour to the Cenobite Pinhead from Barker’s story “The Hellbound Heart,” as well as the film Hellraiser and its sequels.

Crossover of the Week

1914

THE MARK OF THE RED LEECH

            Private Henry Jones Junior is scolded for journaling by Captain Dickson, whom Colonel Renwick respects. Jones’ journal entry refers to Pvt. Simpson. Dickson refers to Captain Spencer and the others, and doubts that they will see Captain Ulysses Paxton again in this world. Jones says that his father has met Dickson’s famous mentor. The mark left on the corpses of a group of soldiers reminds Dickson of something in his mentor’s files called the red leech, a case which his biographer never published. A maddened Major Richard Wentworth attacks Dickson and the others, but is subdued and calmed down. The killer proves to be the vampire Sir Francis Varney. Dickson says that Dracula is real. Varney is killed by a man named Isaac, who is accompanied by a little girl. Several groups were investigating the soldiers’ deaths, including one led by Colonel Renwick and one including Colonel Wyndham-Price.

            Short story by Travis Hiltz in Harry Dickson vs. the Spider, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2014. Private Henry Jones Junior is better known as Indiana Jones. Captain Dickson is detective Harry Dickson, from pulp stories by Jean Ray and others. Colonel John “Renny” Renwick will later become one of Doc Savage’s five aides. Pvt. Simpson is meant to be an ancestor of the titular family from the animated sitcom The Simpsons. However, The Simpsons is too absurd in its events to comfortably take place in the CU. Most likely, there is a Simpson family in the CU, but they have had very different misadventures from their cartoon counterparts. Also, they almost certainly do not have yellow skin and only four fingers. Captain Eliot Spencer will later become the Cenobite known as Pinhead, as seen in the movie Hellraiser, based on Clive Barker’s story “The Hellbound Heart,” and its sequels. Captain Ulysses Paxton is from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars novels. Dickson’s mentor is Sherlock Holmes. Dr. Watson referred to Holmes’ involvement in “the repulsive story of the Red Leech” in “The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez.” Major Richard Wentworth will later fight crime as the Spider. Sir Francis Varney is from James Malcolm Rymer’s Varney the Vampire. Dracula needs no introduction at this point. Isaac Laquedem (aka the Wandering Jew) and the little girl (Lotte) are from Paul Féval’s novel The Wandering Jew’s Daughter. Despite the different spellings, Colonel Wyndham-Price is meant to be an ancestor of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce from the television series Angel.

Crossover of the Week

2005

BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON

            Aspiring slasher Leslie Vernon seeks to follow in the footsteps of the great slashers that came before him. Footage is shown of Camp Crystal Lake, the town of Springwood, Ohio, and Haddonfield, Illinois as places that have suffered slasher attacks. Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, and Chucky are mentioned by name as existing. A Lament Configuration can be seen in the house of Leslie’s friends Eugene and Jamie. Leslie has a bottle of Stay Awake medicine on his mantlepiece.

            2006 horror film. The references connect Vernon to most of the important slasher series: Friday the 13^th (Jason Voorhees and Crystal Lake), A Nightmare on Elm Street (Freddy Krueger, Springwood, and Stay Awake), Halloween (Michael Myers and Haddonfield), and Child’s Play (Chucky.) The Lament Configuration is from the Hellraiser movies, based on Clive Barker’s story “The Hellbound Heart.” Of interest, one deleted scene has Leslie mentioning that he spent some time in Texas, helping a fellow slasher who was trying to “reinvent his thing,” a reference to Leatherface from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies, and a nod to both the originals and the 2003 remake. Some references in the film do seem to imply that slashers lack supernatural powers, but this can be seen as Leslie simply using showmanship and stage magic to make up for abilities he lacks; this is backed up by a reference to Leslie Vernon in the ghost-slasher film Hatchet II.

Crossover of the Week

May 1, 2011-September 11, 2012

MIDNIGHT AT THE OASIS

            Quincey Morris and Libby Chastain battle a Middle Eastern terrorist cell that has acquired control of an afreet. A Navy SEAL and combat magician volunteered to spend six months in the U.K. under the tutelage of an ex-SAS sergeant major, who was said to be the greatest combat magician living. Quincey and Libby’s ally, FBI agent Colleen O’Donnell, mentions a blood spatter analyst named Morgan who worked on a case in Chicago. Quincey and Libby discuss the time they traveled to London for “that Castor thing.” Quincey meets with another colleague, Barry Love, who refers to rumors of an afreet driving a cab in New York for a while. Quincey and Barry set up a meeting at Strangefellows Bar and Grill; Quincey says that there’s another bar of that name in the U.K., and Barry knows a man in the same line of work as them named John who hangs out at the English bar. When Quincey arrives at Strangefellows, Barry is talking to a werewolf named Larry Talbot. Barry tells Quincey about a vampire he once encountered named Jerry, who was fond of apples and was killed by a high school kid after going to California. As Quincey and Barry part ways, Barry says that he is planning to deal with a guy called Pinhead. The terrorists use a spell called the Tarnhelm Effect to mask their breaking into a zoo, and discuss potential threats to their plot, including a magician in Chicago named Dresden and a woman named Blake in St. Louis.

            Novella by Justin Gustainis, 2013. The ex-SAS Sergeant Major and combat magician is William Gravel from Warren Ellis’ comic books Strange Kiss and Gravel. Morgan is Dexter Morgan, a blood spatter analyst and secret serial killer of other murderers, from the television series Dexter. However, Dexter works for the Miami Metro Police Department’s Homicide division, and has never been based in Chicago. Most likely, Dexter was on loan to the Chicago Police Department for this case, and O’Donnell merely assumed he worked for the CPD full time. “That Castor thing” is a reference to Felix Castor, an occult detective created by Mike Carey. The Castor books take place in a world where the public knows supernatural beings exist, so the Castor mentioned by Quincey and Libby must be the Crossover Universe counterpart of the character seen in Carey’s novels. Barry Love is a disguised version of Clive Barker’s occult investigator Harry D’Amour. Pinhead is from Barker’s story “The Hellbound Heart,” as well as the Hellraiser film series. The afreet that drove a cab in New York City appears in Neil Gaiman’s novel American Gods. The British Strangefellows is featured in Simon R. Green’s Nightside books; the main character of that series is private eye John Taylor. Larry Talbot is from the classic horror film The Wolf Man and its sequels. Jerry is Jerry Dandridge from the movie Fright Night.The Tarnhelm Effect is from Randall Garrett’s Lord Darcy books, which take place in an alternate universe where Richard the Lionheart did not die in the year 1199 and magic has supplanted science. Obviously, the Tarnhelm Effect exists in both Lord Darcy’s universe and the CU. Dresden is Harry Dresden, the protagonist of Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files series of novels, while Blake is Laurell K. Hamilton’s vampire hunter Anita Blake. Like the Felix Castor novels, the Anita Blake novels take place in an alternate universe where the general public is aware of the existence of the supernatural. Therefore, the Anita Blake mentioned in Gustainis’ Morris and Chastain Supernatural Investigations novels must be the CU counterpart of Hamilton’s character. Although this novella supposedly takes place shortly after the last entry in the series, Play with Fire, Gustainis must have compressed the timeline of events. Play with Fire begins shortly after the novel preceding it, Sympathy for the Devil, which ends the day after Inauguration Day. The last Inauguration Day before the publication of Sympathy for the Devil was January 20, 2009. The inspiration for the terrorists’ actions in Midnight at the Oasis is the death of Osama bin Laden, which occurred on May 2, 2011.

Crossover Cover: Return of the King

The Nightbreed battle the monstrous Rawhead Rex. The Nightbreed are already in the CU through an encounter with Pinhead from the Hellraiser movies. This crossover brings in the title character of Clive Barker's story "Rawhead Rex."