Crossover Cover: Switchback

 

In this story by Charles F. Millhouse, air aces and adventurers Lance Star and Captain Steven Hawklin search for a missing scientist in Brazil, battling the Nazis in the process. Canadian pulp hero Lance Star already has several links to the CU, so this story brings in Millhouse’s character Captain Hawklin. 

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 Cover: Lance Star and the Crown of Gengis Kai

 

Lance Star and his comrade Buck Tellonger fly to the island nation of Magnapor to meet Lance’s old friend Simon Prentiss, an archaeologist who wants their help finding the crown of the legendary outlaw Gengis Kai. Along the way, they must contend with Magnapor’s dictator, the Overlord. A week ago, Lance and Buck were in a dogfight with Japanese Zeroes near Espritos Marcos in the Pacific. Lance “hadn’t met too many archaeology professors who could handle themselves in a fight. Except that one guy he met in Egypt. He had been able to protect himself well enough.” Lance opens a locked door using two small black pieces of metal, a method taught to him by a friend a while back. Espritos Marcos is from the TV series Baa Baa Black Sheep (aka Black Sheep Squadron). The archaeology professor Lance met in Egypt is Indiana Jones. Lance’s friend is the Domino Lady. 

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 Cover: The New Adventures of the Eagle

This anthology of new stories featuring Norman Daniels' pulp hero Jeff Shannon, aka the Eagle, has two stories with crossovers. In Bobby Nash's "Lights! Camera! Sabotage!," Agent Palmer of the FBI assigns Shannon to go undercover on the set of a film directed by a suspected saboteur. Agent Palmer also appears in Nash’s comic book Lance Star: Sky Ranger – One-Shot! (illustrated by James Burns) and the upcoming novel Lance Star: Sky Ranger – Cold Snap. His grandson is FBI Agent Harold Palmer, the protagonist of Nash’s novel Evil Ways, as well as its forthcoming sequel Evil Intent. Both novels are part of a series of thrillers set in Sommersville, Georgia. Since Lance Star and the Eagle are both in the CU, so are the two Agent Palmers. In Teel James Glenn's "The Coming Storm," Secret Service agent Rex Bennett assigns Shannon to rescue a kidnapped scientist. Shannon has read a series of articles about German Bunds by “that Donovan guy at the Daily Star.” Shannon’s friend Lefty Kovaks tells the disguised hero that he looks like a regular man of bronze, to which Shannon responds that that name is taken. Shannon consulted with an old instructor of his in New York, Andrew Mayfair, a noted biochemist, to create an antidote to any truth serums or sedatives he may face. Rex Bennett is from the film serials G-Men vs. the Black Dragon and Secret Service in Darkest Africa. Donovan is Moxie Donovan, an original character created by Glenn who appears in the collections Deadline Zombies: The Adventures of Maxi and Moxie and Headline Ghouls: The Further Adventures of Maxi and Moxie. The man of bronze is Doc Savage, of course; Andrew Blodgett “Monk” Mayfair is one of Doc’s five assistants.

Crossover of the Week

Winter 1967

A THING OF BEAUTY

            Sanford Biggs accepts a contract to kill the Green Hornet and Kato, and steals the Black Beauty for his museum, housed aboard his cargo carrier, the Bigg Dipper. The items in Biggs’ museum include a glowing green meteorite; the remains of a crashed experimental airplane that had been shot down over Switzerland in 1939; the mask, hat, and pistols of a famous lawman in the old west; and a bat-shaped metal throwing weapon. The Hornet recognizes the lawman’s equipment. In the aftermath of the Hornet’s battle with Biggs, everything in the museum is tagged, labeled, and accounted for, except for one empty case. The Hornet (aka Britt Reid) tells his ally, D.A. Frank Scanlon, that the case contained an heirloom stolen from his family many years ago, which belonged to his grandfather.

            Short story by Bobby Nash in The Green Hornet Casefiles, Joe Gentile and Win Scott Eckert, eds., Moonstone Books, 2011. The glowing green meteorite is a piece of kryptonite, one of the few substances that can kill Superman. The experimental airplane belonged to the Canadian pulp hero Lance Star; its destruction at the hands of Star’s foe Baron Otto Von Blood is depicted in Nash’s upcoming novel Lance Star: Sky Ranger – Cold Snap. The lawman of the old west is John Reid, aka the Lone Ranger. The Green Hornet radio series revealed that Britt Reid was the Lone Ranger’s great-nephew. NOW Comics’ Green Hornet comic established in turn that the Green Hornet from the 1960s television series was Britt Reid II, the original Hornet’s nephew. Therefore, Britt Reid II is actually John Reid’s great-grandnephew, not his grandson. The bat-shaped metal throwing weapon is one of Batman’s batarangs.

Crossover Cover: Secret Agent X: The Sea Wraiths

 

Secret Agent X battles a diabolical Nazi plot to attack the U.S. The Clarion and Jim Anthony’s New York Star are mentioned as rivals to the Herald newspaper. Agent X, disguised as FBI Agent Wesley Greaves, requests aid from Commander Miles Messervie, Chief of Operations for the Special Intelligence Service, who playfully refers to his secretary as “Miss Tuppence” and “Miss Ha’penny,” and has her send for Lieutenant Tanner, who can help get “Greaves” behind enemy lines. Tanner and “Greaves” are flown to France by Lance Star and his Sky Rangers. Secret Agent X appeared in a titular pulp magazine. The Clarion newspaper is from the Phantom Detective pulp novels. Jim Anthony, the owner of the New York Star, appeared in the pulp magazine Super Detective. “Commander Miles Messervie” is better known as Vice Admiral Sir Miles Messervy (aka M) from Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels. John Pearson’s James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007 states that Messervy did not become head of the British Secret Service until January 1946, so the reference to Messervy as head of the SIS must be in error, though he probably did work for some government agency in 1941. Messervy’s secretary is Miss Moneypenny, also from the Bond novels. Bill Tanner is MI6’s Chief of Staff in the Bond novels. Apparently the three were reunited when they joined the Secret Service. Lance Star and his Sky Rangers are Canadian pulp characters who have been revived by modern authors, notably Bobby Nash. This book takes place in late summer, between the German invasion of France in May-June 1940 and the United States’ entry into World War II in December 1941.

Crossover of the Week

1939

JAZZ

            Occult detective Ravenwood opens a jazz club. Guests at the grand opening party include a famed industrialist named Stark and his much younger fiancée, A.J. Martin from the Associated Press, a scientist named Dr. Erskine and his wife, and former actress Margaret Grace, who was flown to New York by ace pilot Lance Star. Ravenwood remembers a recent visit to Los Angeles where a thrilling golden-haired woman came to his aid against some shady characters.

            Short story by Bobby Nash in Ravenwood: Stepson of Mystery, Ron Fortier, ed., Cornerstone Book Publishers, 2010. Ravenwood was the subject of a series of stories by Frederick C. Davis in the pulp magazine Secret Agent X. Journalist A.J. Martin is one of Secret Agent X’s many aliases. The industrialist named Stark and his fiancée are the future parents of Tony Stark, aka the Marvel Comics superhero Iron Man. Dr. Erskine is meant to be the same scientist who created the super-soldier serum that empowered another Marvel hero, Captain America. In the original account of Cap’s origins, “Meet Captain America,” the scientist’s name was given as Dr. Reinstein. Later writers revealed that “Reinstein” was an alias given to him by the United States government, and that his true name was Dr. Abraham Erskine. However, the Dark Horse Comics miniseries The Shadow and Doc Savage: The Case of the Shrieking Skeletons, set in 1937, has him answering to the name Reinstein (along with his daughter Bernie) well before Doc Savage tells him about the Super-Soldier Project at the conclusion of the adventure. In the CU, Reinstein was likely his true name and Erskine the alias, rather than vice versa as in the Marvel Universe. Also, Bernie Reinstein stated in The Shadow and Doc Savage that her mother was long dead. Reinstein must have remarried in the two years between his encounter with the Shadow and Doc and his attendance of Ravenwood’s gala opening. The year of this story is conjecture, but it must take place before Steve Rogers was injected with the serum in 1940, in the aftermath of which event Reinstein was fatally shot by a Nazi agent. The golden-haired woman is the pulp adventuress the Domino Lady, whose stories in the “spicy” pulps were chronicled by an author using the nom de plume “Lars Anderson.” Margaret Grace is mentioned in Nash’s story “Target: Domino Lady,” and also appears in his Box 13 story “The Mystery of the Menacing Manuscript.” Ostensibly a character from the Canadian pulps, Lance Star is actually an original character created by Nash.

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.