Crossover of the Week

Summer 1903

A PIRATE’S LIFE 

Dr. Eric Palmer is brought before Captain Nemo and Robur, who need his help to investigate a murder at the Pirate’s Conference they are hosting, which is held every fifty years, and whose attendees include sea and air pirates. James Gunn and Archibald Haddock escort Palmer to the scene of the crime. The dead man is the Dread Pirate Roberts, who is supposedly over three-hundred-years-old, but part of a succession of men who have used that identity. Others attending the conference include the German Captain Mors and members of the Singh Brotherhood. Palmer asks Gunn about pirate dynasties, and the latter names the Turners and Sala’s band of women. Gunn introduces Palmer to the Nautilus’ first mate, Mister Ishmael. Captain James Hook asks Palmer about his progress on the case. The alleged Dread Pirate Roberts was really Manfred von Warteck, whose family aspires to rival the great criminal brotherhoods of Europe, such as the Black Coats. 

Short story by Travis Hiltz in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 16: Voir Dire, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2020; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 27), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2020. Dr. Eric Palmer is from Paul Féval, fils’ novel Felifax, the Tiger-Man. Captain Nemo and his submarine, the Nautilus, are from Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues under the Sea and The Mysterious Island. Robur is from Verne’s Robur the Conqueror and Master of the World. James Gunn is a descendant of Ben Gunn from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Archibald Haddock is from Hergé’s comic The Adventures of Tintin. The Dread Pirate Roberts is from William Goldman’s The Princess Bride. Captain Mors is a German pulp hero. The Singh Brotherhood and Sala’s group, the Sky Band, are from Lee Falk’s comic strip The Phantom. The Turners are from the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. Ishmael is from Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s comic book The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen portrayed Ishmael as the Nautilus’ first mate. Captain James Hook is from J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. Manfred von Warteck is related to Baron Glô von Warteck, the villain of Jean de La Hire’s The Nyctalope vs. Lucifer. The Black Coats are from a series of novels by Paul Féval. 

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

1881

THE WAR SHAMAN

The Merkabah Rider gives his ally Kabede a pistol with the Elder Sign imprinted on its side. Kabede refers to their conflict with the Great Old Ones. The two of them, along with the Rider’s old friend Dick Belden, are visited by Shar-rogs pa, the blue abbot of Shambhala, aka Faustus Montague. The monk Chaksusa told the Rider of the abbot when he’d battled Shub-Niggurath, the Yiggians, and the Black Goat Man. Faustus’ brother is Mun Gsod. Faustus tells the Rider, Kabede and Belden of stories that are true: a whaler with an Indian figurehead pursuing a pale leviathan to the doom of her crew and her scarred captain; a young boy putting his hand on a sword and drawing it lightly from a stone, becoming the greatest king the world has ever known; and thirteen heroes with two hearts between them, who set themselves between an insignificant world and all the evil that time and space can muster. He further states a word Chaksusa taught to the Rider, when combined with the Star-Stones of Mnar, is doubly detrimental to the Great Old Ones. The Apache Piishi has seen the Rider’s old acquaintance Misquamacus. Ten of Faustus’ disciples died battling Adon’s Creed on a mesa at a place called Stallions Gate in New Mexico. Among the allies of the Merkabah Riders are the Kun-Sun-Dai and the Watchers. Faustus thinks Misquamacus may be serving Nyarlathotep. The Rider’s own claustrophobia reminds him of his boyhood friend Aloysius Monkowitz’s many phobias. The Rider and Piishi faced Shub-Niggurath and the Cold Ones together. Misquamacus has manipulated the Billington family in the past. The geometric patterns in sand-images made by a group of skinwalkers remind the Rider of the diagrams in the Book of Zylac. Misquamacus summons Ossodagowah.

Short story by Edward M. Erdelac in Merkabah Rider: Have Glyphs Will Travel, Damnation Books, 2011. The Elder Sign, the Great Old Ones, Shub-Niggurath, and Yig are from H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. The Star-Stones of Mnar are from August Derleth’s The Lurker at the Threshold. Misquamacus is from both The Lurker at the Threshold and Graham Masterton’s Manitou novels. The Lurker at the Threshold mentions both Misquamacus’ devotion to Nyarlathotep and his conjuring of Ossodagowah. The Billington family is also from The Lurker at the Threshold. “Shar-rogs pa” and “Mun Gsod” are Tibetan approximations of “Darkness Slayer” and “East-helper,” the English translations of the names of the blue wizards Morinehtar and Rómestámo from J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. This story reveals Rómestámo and Misquamacus are the same being. The whaler is the Pequod from Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. The boy who drew the sword from the stone is King Arthur. The thirteen heroes with two hearts between them are the various incarnations of the Doctor, of Doctor Who fame. While most of the Doctor’s exploits take place in an alternate universe, it has been established the Doctor has a CU counterpart, who often goes by the name of Doctor Omega. Stallions Gate, New Mexico, is the future site of Project Quantum Leap, from the television series Quantum Leap. The Watchers (more properly the Watchers’ Council) are from the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, while the Kun-Sun-Dai (whose full name is the Order of the Kun-Sun-Dai) are from the “Awakening” and “Calvary” episodes of the Buffy spin-off Angel. Aloysius Monkowitz is an ancestor of obsessive-compulsive private investigator Adrian Monk from the television series Monk. The Cold Ones and Zylac appear in Cthulhu Mythos fiction by Clark Ashton Smith. Zylac’s book, The Wisdom and Sacred Magic of Zylac the Mage, appears in stories by Joseph S. Pulver.

Crossover TV Series: Goober and the Ghost Chasers

Goober and the Ghost Chasers are a group of youths who investigate supernatural occurrences a la Scooby-Doo and Mystery, Inc. However, most of the ghosts Goober (a talking dog) and company face are real, and they work for a magazine on the supernatural, rather than being private investigators. Perhaps Goober is a relative of Scooby’s, explaining their common talent for speech, though Scooby doesn’t share Goober’s ability to turn invisible when scared. Perhaps someone fed Goober a variant on John Hawley Griffin’s serum. In the episode "Assignment: The Ahab Apparition," they come to the aid of the Partridge kids, who are vacationing in Peaceful Cove, where a mansion is haunted by the ghosts of Captain Ahab and Moby Dick.Moby Dick and Captain Ahab are already firmly in the CU; therefore, this crossover brings in Goober and the gang. The Partridge kids are from The Partridge Family, thus bringing that show and its spin-off Getting Together into the CU. The Partridges appeared in eight of the sixteen episodes of Goober and the Ghost Chasers. Subsequent episodes have more crossovers. In "Brush Up Your Shakespeare," Goober and pals come to the Partridge kids’ aid when their concert is canceled due to Macbeth’s ghost attacking the Globe Theatre. In "The Singing Ghost," Frankenstein’s Monster III tricks the Partridge kids into coming to his mansion so he may steal Danny Partridge’s voice. Goober and the Ghost Chasers prevent this from happening. It is as yet unknown which of the many monsters created by members of the Frankenstein family is "Frankenstein’s Monster III." In "Is Sherlock Holme?," Goober and pals travel to England to investigate a series of thefts at a haunted mansion, aided by Detective Sergeant Roger Sherlock, a relative of Sherlock Holmes. Since Sherlock Holmes is not known to have any ancestors with the surname Sherlock, it is possible Roger’s full name is Roger Sherlock Holmes, and he shortened it for professional reasons.