Crossover Cover: The Black Bat and the Purple Scar: Faces of Fear

 

The Black Bat teams up with the Purple Scar to investigate dead gangsters seemingly turning up alive thanks to a villain called Mr. Mask. The Bat uses smoke bombs given to him by his friend and fellow crime fighter Captain Hazzard. Lt. McGrath summons Inspector John Burks to the scene of the Bat’s encounter with a group of crooks. Burks says he has heard the Bat gives McGrath as many headaches as he gets from Secret Agent X. Police photographer Dave Dejune meets with Betty Dale of the Herald about the return of one of the gangsters. The Purple Scar, in his secret identity as Dr. Miles Murdoch, is visiting New York City for a medical conference, staying at the Waldorf Anthony. Betty attends a press conference, as does Steve Huston of the Clarion, who says old man Havens had a fit because Betty and the Herald scooped them. Lawyer Paul Westland asks at the conference, “Who elected Agent X, the Black Bat, or the Phantom Detective to hunt down criminals?” The Bat’s gas bombs were made by Professor MacGowen, the head of research at Hazzard Labs. The Black Bat, whose stories were primarily written by Norman A. Daniels, appeared in the pulp magazine Black Book Detective. The Purple Scar’s stories were told by John Endicott in Exciting Detective in the 1940s. Captain Hazzard appeared in a one-shot pulp magazine by “Chester Hawks” (Paul Chadwick). His adventures have been continued in a series of novels by Fortier. Professor Washington “Wash” MacGowen is one of Hazzard’s aides. Secret Agent X appeared in stories by the pseudonymous “Brant House” (originally Chadwick, then other writers) in a titular pulp magazine. Inspector Burks is from that series. Daily Herald reporter Betty Dale is X’s love interest and closest ally. The Waldorf Anthony is the hotel owned by Jim Anthony, whose exploits were written by “John Grange” (a penname used at different times by Victor Rousseau Emanuel, Robert Leslie Bellem, and W. T. Ballard) in the magazine Super-Detective. The Phantom Detective, Steve Huston, the Clarion newspaper, and Frank Havens are from the pulp magazine The Phantom Detective, written by various individuals using the pseudonym “G. Wayman Jones” and then “Robert Wallace.”

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!

Crossover Covers: Final Phase

 

The Black Bat battles the Black Sun Cult alongside the Phantom Detective, I. V. Frost, the Domino Lady, Nighthawk, Ki-Gor and Helene, Captain Hazzard’s aides, and Jim Anthony. The Phantom Detective listens to a radio broadcast by Diane Elliott. Nighthawk is from Fortier’s novel Nighthawk: Burning Skies. This crossover brings him into the CU. Diane Elliott is Operator No. 5’s girlfriend. In an amusing moment that is more of an in-joke than a true crossover, the Domino Lady tells the Phantom Detective that she’s always thought the use of a spotlight signal to summon him was a great idea, and that she’s surprised some other masked mystery man hasn’t stolen it from him, a foreshadowing of Commissioner Gordon’s use of the Batsignal to summon Batman.

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: Cavemen of New York

Captain Hazzard battles mad scientists Professor Marko Steil and Doctor Henry Moreau. Moreau’s grandfather was the subject of a factual book by H.G. Wells that was published under the guise of fiction. FBI agent Ernest Grogan works with Hazzard to end the threat. Pulp writer Lester Dent arranges for Annie Brennan to transport one of Hazzard’s vehicles aboard her tugboat, the Narcissus. Henry Moreau’s grandfather was the subject of H.G. Wells’ novel The Island of Doctor Moreau. Fortier gives Wells’ Moreau the same first name, Alphonse, given to him by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume II. Ernest Grogan is based on Eric Gordon from Donald E. Keyhoe’s Dr. Yen Sin pulp novels. Gordon was a reporter in the original stories, but he and Michael Traile were often aided by the FBI, so it is possible that he joined the Bureau after his and Traile’s last recorded encounter with Yen Sin. “Grogan” first worked with Hazzard in Fortier’s The Citadel of Fear. Annie Brennan is better known as Tugboat Annie from a series of stories by Norman Reilly Raine, and also appeared in three films and a television series, each of which had her being portrayed by a different actress.

Crossover of the Week

Summer 1935-1936

DAY OF THE DESTROYERS

            Jimmie Flint, Secret Agent X-11 of the Intelligence Service Command, battles Colonel Lucian Starliss and his Medusa Council, who seek to oust President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and take over the United States. Along the way, he receives aid from the Phantom Detective (Richard Curtis Van Loan), the Black Bat (Tony Quinn), the Green Lama (Jethro Dumont), and the Gray Face (Owen Tull.) Herald-Tribune reporter Luke Jaconetti moonlights for the Amalgamated Press, which employs Jimmie’s girlfriend Kara Eastland. Luke receives a phone call from Betty Dale. After the Council is defeated, Kara says that Dumont is organizing other wealthy men such as himself, including Van Loan and “that odd chap, Wentworth” for a Patriots for Progress group.

            An anthology of linked stories by Gary Phillips, Tommy Hancock, Aaron Shaps, Jeri Westerson, Ron Fortier, Eric Fein, Joe Gentile, Paul Bishop, and Adam Lance Garcia, edited by Gary Phillips, Moonstone Books, 2015. Luke Jaconetti first appeared in Garcia’s story “The Black Rock Conspiracy,” featuring Lester Dent’s pulp hero Foster Fade; he also appeared in Garcia’s novel The Green Lama: Scions. Reporter Betty Dale is the girlfriend of Secret Agent X, who has no known connection to Secret Agent X-11. “That odd chap, Wentworth” is Richard Wentworth, aka the Spider. This crossover brings Secret Agent X-11 (a character created for this anthology) and the Gray Face (another original character, created by Phillips), into the CU.

Crossover Covers: The Shadow/Green Hornet: Dark Nights

In this mini-series by Michael Uslan and Keith Burns, the Shadow and his agents join forces with the Green Hornet and Kato in Spring 1939 to rescue President Roosevelt from the clutches of Shiwan Khan. Roosevelt was given a silver bullet as a child by Britt Reid's great-uncle John, a Texas Ranger (aka the Lone Ranger.) The Shadow has an office in a building that also contains offices for the Hidalgo Trading Company (from the Doc Savage novels), Timely Comics Group (the company later known as Marvel Comics), Nick Carter P.I., Benson Industries and Justice, Inc. (from the Avenger pulps), and Supersnipe Ltd. (from Supersnipe Comics, a comic book published by Street & Smith.) In Ron Fortier and Jeff Butler's comic book Sting of the Green Hornet, which takes place in 1942, the Hornet meets F.D.R. and an unnamed Shadow for what is clearly the first time. This, combined with the death of the Shadow's agent Cliff Marsland, places this story in an AU.

Crossover of the Week

July 2-4, 1941

HOMEFRONT

            Lance Star investigates the murder of a Department of Justice agent during the annual charity air show hosted at his home base, Star Field in Long Island. Lance’s operations manager Walt Anderson tells him that Mr. Barnes has cancelled, as he had to take an unexpected trip to South America. The pilots who are able to attend the show include Dalton, Santini, and Howard M. Murdock. Ferris Air, whose owner is named Carol, has a pilot demonstrating a new plane they’re planning to introduce next year. Detective Barney Bishop works with Lance to find the murderer. Bishop’s old acquaintance Ellen Patrick attends the show, and indicates that it has been a few years since she was last able to attend Lance’s benefit.

            Short story by Bobby Nash in Lance Star: Sky Ranger Volume 2, Ron Fortier, ed., Cornerstone Book Publishers, 2009. Air ace Lance Star is a character from the Canadian pulps. Mr. Barnes is Bill Barnes, who appeared in pulp stories by George L. Eaton. Dalton is the father of Jack Dalton from the television series MacGyver. Santini is the title character of Pat Conroy’s novel The Great Santini. Howard M. Murdock is the father of H.M. “Howling Mad” Murdock from the TV show The A-Team. Ferris Air (also known as Ferris Aircraft) and its owner Carol Ferris are from the comic book exploits of the Green Lantern, though it is unconfirmed whether a CU version of the company’s test pilot Hal Jordan ever donned an emerald ring that generated energy constructs and was powered by his own willpower. However, Jordan’s predecessor as the Green Lantern, Alan Scott, has been established to have existed in the CU. Ellen Patrick is the alter ego of Lars Anderson’s pulp heroine the Domino Lady. Detective Barney Bishop previously appeared in Nash’s “Target: Domino Lady” and Ron Fortier’s “The Claws of the Cat,” both included in the anthology The Domino Lady: Sex as a Weapon. “Target: Domino Lady,” set a few years before “Homefront,” mentions Ellen attending one of Lance’s air shows.

Crossover Cover: The Pulptress

This anthology features the Pulptress, the daughter of two of the greatest (unidentified) pulp heroes of all time, who after being orphaned as an infant was trained as a crimefighter by her parents' colleagues. Several of the stories are crossovers with other New Pulp heroes, most of whom are in the CU through other crossovers. Derrick Ferguson's "Black Mask, Big City" features a guest appearance by Derrick's hero Dillon, who is revealed to be one of the Pulptress' former teachers. In Ron Fortier's "Butcher's Festival," the Pulptress joins forces with Ron's undead vigilante Brother Bones. Erwin K. Roberts' "Voice to a New Generation" has the Pulptress working with Roberts' hero the Voice, also a second generation pulp hero, and Dillon is mentioned. "The Bone Queen" by Andrea Judy has the Pulptress battling the titular supernatural villain, whose origin Judy later revealed in the novel The Bone Queen. Derrick also has a Dillon novel in the works that has appearances by the Pulptress and his character Fortune McCall. As that link shows, Derrick also has a crossover in the works between Dillon and Elisa Hill of Percival Constantine's Myth Hunter series. The Li Shoon mentioned in the plot synopsis for that book is a Yellow Peril villain created by H. Irving Hancock, who appeared in the pulp Detective Story Magazine.

BTW, this is my 100th post on this blog!

Crossover Cover: Ghost Squad: Rise of the Black Legion

This novel by Ron Fortier and Andrew Salmon describes the formation of the Ghost Squad, who battle a Nazi society called the Black Legion. One of the members of the Squad is stage magician Arlene Kane, aka Lady Arcane; Arlene first appeared in Fortier's story "Lady Arcane: The Mistress of Magic," which Win listed in the original volumes. At one point, Squad member and pilot Alan Hale works with FBI agent Dan Fowler, from the pulp G-Men Detective. He also receives some help from boxer Mad Chad Hardin, who once worked with Jim Anthony, who has his own feature in the pulp magazine Super Detective. Finally, the leader of the Black Legion is a major villain of the Crossover Universe, but since his true identity is not revealed until the book's last line, I won't spoil it.

Crossover Cover: The Hounds of Hell

D

This novel pits Frederick C. Davis' pulp hero the Moon Man against Paul Ernst's villain Doctor Satan, who was the subject of his own feature in Weird Tales.