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 Cover: Cthulhu Unbound Volume 2

This Cthulhu Mythos anthology includes four stories with crossovers. In Douglas P. Wojtowicz's "The Hunters within the Corners," the masked vigilante Skaramine battles August Shorer, the last of Keziah Mason’s students and coven. Skaramine was mentored by an old man named Kent, who gave him his twin Colt .45s, and taught him how to heal his own wounds, change his appearance, blend into the shadows, and throw his laugh. Kent is said to have been "a shadow hunting shadows" in another era. Kent is Kent Allard, aka the Shadow. In Patrick Thomas' "Surely You Joust," Sir Dagonet, jester and Knight of the Round Table, and the mage Ganieda (Gani for short), Merlin’s twin sister, journey to the kingdom of Lyonese to recruit a knight of its court to join the knights of Camelot, but wind up nearly being sacrificed to Father Dagon. Sir Dagonet (aka the Infinite Jester) appears in Thomas’ Murphy’s Lore series and its spinoffs, which have already been incorporated into the CU, as you can see by clicking on  the Murphy's Lore label. In Mark Zirbel's "Santiago Contra el Culto de Cthulhu," the masked Mexican wrestler Santiago battles Cthulhu. Talking about the villains he encounters a regular basis, Santiago says, "One week, the great-great-great-grandson of Doctor Frankenstein is trying to steal my brain to turn his monster into the World Heavyweight Champion, the next week, some voodoo priestess wants to eat my heart in order to gain control of a legion of masked wrestler zombies." Santiago’s match with Cthulhu is rather tongue-in-cheek; he immediately defeats the Great Old One by punching him in the testicles. Therefore, it seems safe to say this story takes place in an AU. In "Nemo at R'lyeh" by crossover-loving author Joshua Reynolds, Captain Nemo and the crew of the Nautilus explore the resurfaced island of R’lyeh, and narrowly avoid an encounter with the dreaded Cthulhu himself. Robur is also mentioned.