The Crossover UniverseTM is a companion blog to the books Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1-2 by Win Scott Eckert, and the forthcoming Crossovers Expanded Volumes 1-2 by Sean Levin. Material excerpted from Crossovers Volumes 1 & 2 is © copyright 2010-2014 by Win Scott Eckert. All rights reserved. Material excerpted from Crossovers Expanded Volumes 1 & 2 is © copyright 2014-present by Sean Levin. All rights reserved.
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!
Late July 1912
THE RETURN OF THE WINCHESTER MAN
Criminologist Professor Craig Kennedy and his friend and biographer, reporter Walter Jameson, travel from New York City to Chicago at the behest of the leader of the White Hand, a group of businessmen who oppose the Italian American Black Hand criminal organization, whose brother has been murdered by, apparently, the Black Hand’s assassin, the Winchester Man. In the process, they meet Sherlock Holmes, who is in Chicago disguised as the Irish American Altamont. After solving their own case, Kennedy and Jameson help Holmes thwart an arson attempt at the Republican Convention, orchestrated by Von Bork. Crime in New York has become relatively mundane, except for a new safecracker calling himself the Gray Seal. The leader of the White Hand mentions “that little punk Colombo.”
Short story by Walter Jameson, edited by Greg Gick in The Further Crossovers of Sherlock Holmes, Richard Dean Starr and E. R. Bower, eds., Moonstone Books, 2017. Craig Kennedy and Walter Jameson are from Arthur B. Reeve’s detective novels. Holmes’ time in Chicago as Altamont was alluded to in “His Last Bow,” in which he defeated Von Bork. Jimmie Dale, aka the Grey Seal, is the hero of a series of novels by Frank L. Packard. “That little punk Colombo” is Chicago gangster Spats Colombo from the movie Some Like It Hot.
This crossover is one of hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, coming from Meteor House in August! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!
Summer 1940
LADIES’ DAY
Ellen Patrick (aka the Domino Lady) and her friend Diana are at a hair salon when the shop is held up by criminals led by a woman called Madame Orchid, who is looking for the owner. Ellen came to New York on the S.S. Claridon. Diana is romantically involved with a man named Kit, who “comes and goes like a ghost.” Other customers at the salon include a matronly society woman named Mrs. Claypool; Miss Dawn, a nightclub singer who’s been seeing a gang boss named Rocco; Jean Moray, and a former FBI agent who now works for a private citizen who specializes in taking down criminals like Madame Orchid and likes to stay in the shadows. The latter woman puts on makeup to appear Chinese and calls herself “Ming.” Madame Orchid seeks to collect ransom from the globetrotting cousin of the salon’s owner. Said owner is a tall, gorgeous woman with deeply tanned skin and bronze hair. Madame Orchid turns out to be Millicent MacGyver, a vengeful former employee of the salon.
Short story by Matthew Baugh in Gentlemen Prefer Domino Lady, David Boop and Kim Perisin, eds., Moonstone Books, 2020. The Domino Lady is from Lars Anderson’s stories in the “spicy” pulps. Diana is Diana Palmer, the girlfriend (and later wife) of Kit Walker, aka the Phantom and the Ghost Who Walks. The S.S. Claridon is from the movie The Last Voyage. Mrs. Claypool is from the Marx Brothers movie A Night at the Opera. Gaye Dawn and Johnny Rocco are from the film Key Largo. Jean Moray is the assistant of scientific detective I. V. “Ivy” Frost, who appeared in stories by Donald Wandrei in the magazine Clues Detective Stories. The former FBI agent is an agent of the shadowy pulp hero, and frequently assumes the guise of a Chinese woman named Ming during her investigations. The salon’s owner is the bronze man’s cousin. Millicent MacGyver is presumably a relative of Angus MacGyver from the television series MacGyver. “Ming” became an agent of the shadowy vigilante in the novel The Invincible Shiwan Khan, which Rick Lai placed in late September 1939, so this story probably takes place in the early 1940s.
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!
In "Penny Dreadful," Kolchak teams up with private investigator Domino Patrick, the Domino Lady’s daughter, to investigate a killer who is imitating the Manson family murders. Domino Patrick, created by Nancy Holder, would be the older half-sister of Helen Benson, the daughter of the Domino Lady and the avenging pulp hero, from Philip José Farmer and Win Scott Eckert’s The Evil in Pemberley House and Eckert’s The Scarlet Jaguar. References to Charles Manson being transferred to San Quentin Prison and Richard Ramirez’s “Night Stalker” killings place this story in 1985.
In "Time Stalker," Kolchak meets the time-lost superpowered hero Zero, as well as a past incarnation of his old foe, vampire Janos Skorzeny. Tony Vincenzo tells Kolchak, “I want you to go to Albuquerque. A major drug kingpin has been exposed, and the lid has been blown off a meth empire that’s been operating all over the Southwest. This guy is implicated in at least a dozen murders, and there may be an international angle. He’s still at large, but they know who he is, and they’re expecting an arrest soon.” At the end of this adventure, Carl says, “the fugitive drug lord had returned to Albuquerque, where he confronted a gang of white supremacists with whom he had issues. A fierce gun battle had erupted, and everybody on the premises—the neo-Nazis and the meth kingpin—had been killed.” Zero is loosely based on the short-lived pulp hero Captain Zero, although their powers are very different. Captain Zero is in the CU through Farmer’s Greatheart Silver and Lin Carter’s The Earth-Shaker. It seems hard to believe there were two superhuman heroes in the CU in the same era with the word “Zero” in their names who both had girlfriends named Doro Kelly. The meth kingpin in Albuquerque is Walter White from the television series Breaking Bad. That show takes place in the 2000s, by which point Kolchak would be in his eighties, and probably retired from journalism. Therefore, I consider this second story an AU.
These crossovers are two 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!
Then you'll love this anthology graphic novel, which has stories that tie in with Frankenstein, The X-Files, Richard Matheson's Hell House, Dracula, The Munsters, and Nosferatu!
For more information, be sure to pick up a copy of 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!
Then you’ll love this comic, which has crossovers with other pulp heroes, a Golden Age comic book hero, and a New Pulp character!
For more information, make sure to pick up a copy of 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!
June 1981
KUMIHO
Carl Kolchak encounters the fox-maiden from Korean mythology, which can assume the form of a beautiful woman. Tony Vincenzo sends Kolchak to Chicago to cover the de Grandin Metaphysical Symposium. Tony tells Carl there are going to be some important metaphysical speakers there, including John Thunstone, William Sebastian, and Harry Snowden. The moderator is a tall, blonde man named Rhodes. The Kumiho’s former lover shows Kolchak a book called The Darkness Out of the East. Captain Joseph “Mad Dog” Siska is learning tai chi from Master Li Sung. An old contact of Kolchak’s lends him a dog named Casca.
Short story by Matthew Baugh in Kolchak the Night Stalker: Passages of the Macabre, Dave Ulanski and Tracey Hill, eds., Moonstone Books, 2016. The de Grandin Metaphysical Symposium is named after Seabury Quinn’s occult investigator Jules de Grandin. John Thunstone is one of Manly Wade Wellman’s occult detectives. Thunstone’s The Darkness Out of the East appears in the Jules de Grandin story “The Green God’s Ring.” William Sebastian is from the TV movie Spectre. Harry Snowden is from the TV movies Fear No Evil and Ritual of Evil. Dr. Michael Rhodes is from the TV series The Sixth Sense. Li Sung is a blind martial arts master played by Mako in The Incredible Hulk episodes “Another Path” and “The Disciple.” Mako also played a Triad leader named Li Sung in the Kung Fu: The Legend Continues episodes “Tournament” and “Veil of Tears.” This Li Sung could see and was a descendant of the emperor’s nephew killed by the first Kwai Chang Caine in the original Kung Fu. The two Li Sungs are probably related. Casca is named after the immortal mercenary from Barry Sadler’s novels. This story takes place during Kolchak’s tenure with the Hollywood Dispatch, in a year where June 4 falls on a Thursday. 1981 is the first year after the original run of Kolchak: The Night Stalker that fits that parameter.
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! Like its predecessors, this volume is an AUTHORIZED companion to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!
February-March 1946
TOIL AND TROUBLE
The Avenger and the Domino Lady once again battle the Iron Skull, who is now allied with the mysterious Dr. Karl Walden. Rosabel Newton’s father is taking care of her and Josh’s twins. The Iron Skull plans to infiltrate the recently formed U.N. security force, the global law enforcement organization, replacing its leaders and agents with his robots. Lenni Blau-Montag, the Skull’s daughter, says Dr. Sprechen and the others at a so-called hospital in Montreal merely ignited Benson’s peculiar condition (his malleable flesh), which was already inside him. Walden provided the Iron Skull and Lenni with samples of polymorphic flesh like those of his companion, Countess Lilya Zarov. Cole Wilson asks Benson if he can imagine someone else using the Iron Skull’s technology to create an army of “fem-bots” resembling the Domino Lady, placed strategically to seduce world leaders. Benson says Walden is, perhaps other than Sun Koh, the most dangerous adversary Justice, Inc. has ever faced.
Part V of Hunt the Avenger by Win Scott Eckert, Moonstone Books, 2019. The Domino Lady is Lars Anderson’s pulp heroine. Dr. Karl Walden and Countess Lilya Zarov are meant to be Baron von Hessel and Countess Lili Bugov from Philip José Farmer’s official prequel to the Doc Savage series, Escape from Loki. The name Zarov suggests the Countess is related to General Zaroff from Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game.” Rosabel’s father is Julius, Katherine Maxwell Harvard’s servant in Varick Vanardy’s Night Wind novels, as established in Christopher R. Yates’ Behold the Night Wind. The recently formed U.N. security force is the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement, or U.N.C.L.E. for short. Dr. Sprechen’s role in Benson’s origin was revealed in the comic book miniseries Justice, Inc.: Faces of Justice by Kyle Higgins, Joe Gentile, and Alex Shibao. Cole’s musings suggest the Fembots created by British spy Austin Powers’ archenemy Dr. Evil were based on the Iron Skull’s technology. Sun Koh is a German pulp character created by Paul Alfred Müller. Benson and Justice, Inc. battled him in Matthew Baugh’s The Sun King and “The Curse of Kukulkan.”
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!
Spring 1876
SOUL OF THE EAST
The Lone Ranger and Tonto deliver some outlaws to Marshal Dave Bliss, who is grateful he listened to Marshal County and trusted them. One of the best witnesses against the outlaws was killed in a gunfight with Swifty Morgan. Bliss says Morgan is one of the fastest guns, along with Herod, Mortimer, Grimm, Hickok, Holliday, and the Ranger himself. The Ranger, Tonto, and an Asian man whose life they saved are confronted by Sheriff Amos Polk, who will soon be leaving his post to become a judge. The Japanese man, Sora Nagamasa, tells the Ranger his would-be killers’ client, Clive Cooper, is one of the junior partners of the Cooper-Tillman Company, an American trading firm based in China, who are treated as underlings by the most powerful company there, Struans. Nagamasa is really Sora Minamoto, spy and soldier for the Emperor of Japan, who usually works under the shortened version of his name, Moto.
Short story by Frank Schildiner in The Lone Ranger and Tonto: Frontier Justice, Matthew Baugh, ed., Moonstone Books, 2018. Marshal Dave Bliss is from the movie Hang 'Em High. Marshal County is the father of the title character of the television series The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. Swifty Morgan is from the movie Support Your Local Gunfighter. John Herod is from the movie The Quick and the Dead. Colonel Douglas Mortimer is from the film For a Few Dollars More. Judge Amos Polk is from the TV movies The Over-the-Hill Gang and The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again. The Cooper-Tillman Company and Struan and Sons are from James Clavell’s Tai-Pan. Sora Minamoto is an ancestor of John P. Marquand’s Japanese spy Mr. Moto, who appears under the name Minamoto in Schildiner’s chapbook Watch Your Back, Mr. Minamoto.
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!
Autumn 1939
THE GREEN LAMA: CRIMSON CIRCLE
The Green Lama battles a scientific enclave called the Collective that threatens not only him, but his aides as well, and has recruited several of his former allies and enemies. Lt. John Caraway wonders where Rick Masters is when you need him. The Lama broke the central tenet of his faith when he murdered Karl Heydrich in R’lyeh. The Collective can confirm his work against the Medusa Council in 1935. An unpublished article by Betty Dale of the Herald-Tribune correctly postulates that the Lama is really Jethro Dumont. The hero tells Gary Brown and his wife Evangl Stewart-Brown about his battle with Cthulhu. The Collective is based in Black Rock. Morgue attendant Dan Rohn refers to the Tipton murders. When Dumont left America years ago, there were more pressing matters to deal with, such as whether Wentworth and Van Sloan would ever get married. Not too long before the Green Lama debuted, a predecessor of his encountered a killer matching the description of Collective member Omega. In a flashback, Evangl reminds herself to ask her friend Diane Elliott of the Amalgamated Press about the Lama’s battle with the Medusa Council, and Evangl’s mother says vigilantism “seems to be going around with the bat fellow and that doctor gentleman.” The Lama’s lover Jean Farrell remembers running from a shoggoth in R’lyeh. At the Herald-Tribune offices back in the present, Betty Dale talks to her fellow journalist Luke Jaconetti. Commissioner Woods has an impassioned conversation with former Commissioner turned Governor Kirkpatrick. Detective Crevier says, “When it comes to vigilantes, copycats are a dime a dozen. You remember how many guys we had running around with a black fedora and trenchcoat back in the day?” Dr. Barry Dale, a researcher on atomic energy and Betty’s brother, meets with the President to brief him on the Collective, and tells him the Intelligence Service Command has denied any knowledge of them. Nyarlathotep appears before the Collective.
Novel by Adam Lance Garcia, Moonstone Books, 2015. The Green Lama is Kendell Foster Crossen’s pulp hero. Rick Masters had his own backup feature in Spark Publications’ Green Lama comic. R’lyeh, Cthulhu, the shoggoth, and Nyarlathotep are from H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. The Lama’s battle against the Medusa Council was seen in the anthology Day of the Destroyers, edited by Gary Phillips. The Intelligence Service Command is from the same book. Reporter Betty Dale is Secret Agent X’s girlfriend. Black Rock first appeared in Garcia’s story “The Black Rock Conspiracy,” included in the anthology The New Adventures of Foster Fade, the Crime Spectacularist. Fade appeared in stories by Lester Dent in All Detective Magazine. In “The Black Rock Conspiracy,” Fade battled an unnamed Omega. The Tipton Murders are a reference to Garcia’s other story from that anthology, “Dead Men’s Guns.” Wentworth and Van Sloan are Richard Wentworth, aka the Spider, and his beloved Nita Van Sloan. Governor (formerly Commissioner) Stanley Kirkpatrick is also from the Spider novels. Diane Elliott is Operator #5’s girlfriend. “The bat fellow” is the Black Bat, while “that doctor gentleman” is the pulp hero commonly known as “Doc.” Luke Jaconetti first appeared in “The Black Rock Conspiracy” before appearing in Garcia’s The Green Lama: Scions, as well as Day of the Destroyers. Detective Crevier is referring to the shadowy hero, the Spider, and possibly others. Barry Dale is the alter ego of another Spark Publications hero, Atoman, created by Crossen and Jerry Robinson. His appearance here foreshadows his future superhuman identity.
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!
Than you'll love this anthology, which consists of stories teaming the Great Detective with not only historical figures, but also fictional ones such as Catherine Louisa Pirkis' Loveday Brooke, Baroness Orczy's Lady Molly of Scotland Yard, and Arthur B. Reeve's Craig Kennedy!
For more information, check out 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!
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!
Then you'll love this anthology of new stories about his pulp scientific detective Professor I. V. Frost, which includes encounters with the likes of Doctor Satan, the Moon Man, the Phantom Detective, and the Green Ghost!
For more information, be sure to purchase my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which is to be published by Meteor House! As with its predecessors, this volume is an AUTHORIZED companion to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!
Late January 1944
THE GLASS LADY
The Avenger and the Domino Lady meet for the first time as they team up against Benson’s old foes Dr. Ulrich Blau-Montag, aka the Iron Skull, and Werner Konrad. The Domino Lady, as Ellen Patrick, attends a masked ball at the Schildiner mansion, wearing the Spang diamonds. One of the guests, a Marine with white-blonde hair, admires Ellen’s figure. Other guests include the Charleses, who have taken a break from detective work and come to Los Angeles from San Francisco for the party; Dix Steele; an up-and-coming actress named Betty, accompanied by a handsome brown-haired stunt-pilot who works at Chaplin Airfield; Norma; and Veronica Balza. A thief brings down the chandelier, which is compared to the Phantom’s grand chandelier at the Paris Opera House. Ellen calls Cole Wilson’s fiancée Heather Brail at the Chance Theater in New York. Sims, a reporter for the Long Beach Press-Telegram, writes an article about the latest dustup between Cynthia Furnois, socialite daughter of film director Abelard Furnois, and bleach blonde actress Mavis Arden. During Benson’s convalescence following an explosion, the members of Justice, Inc. get a second opinion from Clark. Heather has been offered a starring role in a remake of a Rhonda Terry jungle movie.
Part I of Hunt the Avenger by Win Scott Eckert, Moonstone Books, 2019. The Domino Lady appeared in stories by Lars Anderson in the “spicy” pulps. The Avenger first battled the Iron Skull in Ron Goulart’s novel The Iron Skull. The villain escaped to battle Benson again in Goulart’s story “The Return of the Iron Skull,” escaping Benson’s clutches once more in the conclusion. Werner Konrad, a Nazi spy, battled Benson in Goulart’s novel The Glass Man; like the Iron Skull, he was still at large at the end of the book. The Spang diamonds are a reference to Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel Diamonds Are Forever. The Marine is Richard S. Prather’s future private eye Shell Scott. Nick and Nora Charles are from Dashiell Hammett’s The Thin Man. Dixon “Dix” Steele is from Dorothy B. Hughes’ novel In a Lonely Place. Betty and her boyfriend are Betty Page and Cliff Secord from Dave Stevens’ comic book The Rocketeer and subsequent comics and prose stories from IDW Publishing. Norma Desmond is from the movie Sunset Boulevard. Balza and Ms. Terry are from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan and the Lion Man. The Furnoises are from Tarzan at the Earth’s Core. The Phantom is Erik from Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera. The Chance Theater is owned by George Chance, also known as the Green Ghost. Fred Sims is a friend and contact of G. G. Fickling’s female private eye Honey West. Mavis Arden is from the movie Go West, Young Man. Clark is the bronze man.
This crossover write-up is one of hundreds found in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! As with the first two volumes, this one is an AUTHORIZED companion to Win's books Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!
Then you'll love this anthology from Moonstone Books of stories teaming her with the likes of the Black Bat, Secret Agent X, the Green Ghost (written by Win Scott Eckert), and more!
For more information, be sure to read my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which shall be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are AUTHORIZED companions to Win's books Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!
Then you'll love this decades-spanning graphic novel which features various characters published by Moonstone, from the Spider to Sheena!
For more information, check out my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3! Much like the first two volumes, this new tome is an 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!
Then you'll love this comic, in which Carl Kolchak meets the protagonist of the 1982 show The Phoenix!
All the juicy details can be found in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! Much like the first two volumes, this new one is an AUTHORIZED companion to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!
Then you'll love this anthology of new stories featuring the character published by Moonstone Books, which includes tales in which the Bat encounters the Domino Lady, the Green Lama, Doctor Satan, the Golden Amazon, and the Purple Scar!
For more details, see my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, to be published by Meteor House! Much like the first two volumes published in 2016, this book is an AUTHORIZED companion to Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2 by my dear friend Win Scott Eckert!
