Crossover Cover: Year of Shadows

 

This collection of stories by Teel James Glenn features his character Anton "Dr. Shadows" Chadeaux, who is already in the CU through various connections. One of the stories included here is "The Eye of Darkness," which I covered in Crossovers Expanded Volume 1. Here's a rundown of the new stories with crossovers.

In "A Personal Demon," Dr. Shadows has Ham Brooks working on getting papers for him and his aides to go to Manchuria. He also has a throwing knife named Ike. Thomas “Trigger” O’Leary tells Chadeaux he owes the hero after he got him out of “that Skullmask murder thing last year.” Akemi Oyama calls Dr. Shadows’ friend and mentor Ki Nam Hoon “your Kato,” but he tells her Hoon is not a servant. The hero didn’t even know what prejudice was until he saw how the neighborhood teens treated his childhood friend Marguerite Sancre when she visited from her native Martinidad. When Chadeaux fakes his death, Moxie Donovan writes a color piece on the adventurer. Brooks is one of the bronze man’s five aides. Dr. Shadows’ knife Ike must be named after the avenging hero with malleable skin’s knife. The Skullmask and Martinidad are from Glenn’s book Weird Tales of the Skullmask. Kato is the Green Hornet’s chauffeur and partner. Moxie Donovan appears in a series of books by Glenn.  

In "Forbidden City Blues," Dr. Shadows says that when he started his career, he thought Clark Savage’s whole attitude toward publicity for himself was missing a chance to reach so many more people. Shadows’ lover Han Ku Lee (“Hank”) tells him, “You think Clark or Dr. Pali don’t fail?” Clark needs no introduction. Kendell Foster Crossen’s pulp hero the Green Lama often assumes the guise of Buddhist priest Dr. Charles Pali.

In "Grave Mistake," Dr. Shadows battles escaped convicts. Pat Chambers is the spokesman for the New York Police. The island of Martinidad is mentioned. Pat Chambers is from Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer novels. 

In "Isle Macabre," Dr. Shadows is recruited for a mission in Martinidad by Secret Service agent Rex Bennett. Chadeaux says he can get either Clark Savage or Richard Wentworth to provide him with a cover story. Bennett replies that Wentworth-Cranston Limited made land purchases in Martinidad two months ago. Rex Bennett is from the movie serials G-Men vs. the Black Dragon and Secret Service in Darkest Africa. Savage is the bronze-skinned pulp hero. Richard Wentworth is better known as the Spider. Wentworth-Cranston Limited was first mentioned in Weird Tales of the Skullmask. The co-owner of the company must be Wentworth’s half-brother, another well-known shadowy crimefighter, in one of his favorite disguises. 

These crossovers are four 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 Cover: The Eye of Darkness

As those who've read some of my previous posts know, Teel James Glenn's pulp-era hero Dr. Shadows in the CU through connections to other pulp heroes. You can click on the Teel James Glenn label at the bottom of this post to see what I've shared here in the past about his work. In this story, aboard a ship bound from Hong Kong to San Francisco, Dr. Shadows hunts a killer who is trying to get his hands on precious medallions found on an archaeological expedition led by Dr. Henry Gordon. The other surviving members of the expedition, including Gordon’s daughter Nyoka, are also on the ship. The Gordons are from the 1942 serial Perils of Nyoka.

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

October 29-November 1, 1937

THE DEADLY PUPPETS

            A doorman from the Cobalt Club is killed by what appears to be living puppets, who are having a gun battle with the vigilante known as the Skullmask. The doorman received a tip from Reid, the publisher of the Daily Sentinel, who was in town for a publishers’ convention. Reporter Moxie Donovan’s coworker Fran Striker tells him that their paper, The Daily Star, will ignore the puppet aspect of the story because that is what Commissioner Weston wants. Donovan remembers covering “that gun fight on the pier that bronze guy had with those silver-suited guys,” and taking lead in the shoulder “when the hunchback in the fright-wig stopped the take-over at Grand Central.” Donovan also refers to a shootout at Chinatown in June which that Shadows guy was at.

            Short story by Teel James Glenn in Weird Tales of the Skullmask, BooksForABuck.com, 2009; reprinted in Deadline Zombies: The Adventures of Maxi and Moxie, BooksForABuck.com, 2010. The Cobalt Club and Commissioner Ralph Weston are from the Shadow novels. Britt Reid, the publisher of The Daily Sentinel, is also known as the Green Hornet. Moxie’s reference to the Sentinel as a Chicago newspaper is mistaken, as Britt lived and operated in Detroit. Moxie Donovan appears in his own series of stories by Glenn, which are collected in Deadline Zombies and its sequel, Headline Ghouls. Fran Striker is named after the real radio and comic writer who worked on The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet, among others. “That bronze guy” is Doc Savage, who battled a group of silver-suited villains in the pulp novel Death in Silver. “The hunchback in the fright-wig” is the Spider. A few Spider novels have action scenes set at Grand Central Station; Moxie could have received a bullet wound in the shoulder during any one of them. “That Shadows guy” is Glenn’s hero Anton “Dr. Shadows” Chadeaux, who appears in the books Shadows of New York: The Mysterious Adventures of Dr. Shadows and Manchurian Shadows. The incident in Chinatown in June is an allusion to Manchurian Shadows, although Donovan does not make a physical appearance in that story.

Crossover Cover: The First Synn: The Bloodstone Confidential

Major Gideon Synn attempts to end an alleged curse on the Bloodstone family, having failed in that task seven years ago. Synn recommends to his comrades that they call Ham Brooks, since they will need a lawyer to clear them of any possible murder charges regarding the ninjas they just battled, who have committed suicide. An article about the battle by Moxie Donovan appears in the Daily Star. Synn often takes over teaching the martial art Sulsa Do to students at the Shadows Foundation building when his friend and teacher Anton Chadeaux is away. Synn once explained the Sulsa Do secret of self-concealment to his acquaintance Lamont Cranston, who seemed to understand what he was saying. Synn’s sister Kathy recounts to him a dirty joke she heard from Monk Mayfair. Synn tells Kathy that they’ll have to lay a network of the black light/body heat sensors that Long Tom designed for him around the Bloodstone mansion. Ham, Monk, and Long Tom Roberts are three of Doc Savage's five aides. Moxie Donovan and Anton Chadeaux (aka Dr. Shadows) are two of Teel James Glenn's other series characters. Lamont Cranston in this instance is probably the Shadow posing as the real Cranston.

Crossover of the Week

May 1937

THE DEVIL’S TIGER

            An article by Moxie Donovan in The Daily Star says that Commissioner Weston will not discuss the so-called “Green Claw Deaths” that have occurred in recent months, and that several private criminologists have been called in, including Anton Chadeaux, aka Dr. Shadows. When Dr. Shadows began fighting crime, he thought Clark Savage’s whole attitude toward publicity for himself was missing a chance to reach many more people. Traveling to the Philippines, Dr. Shadows and his comrade Slugger Harris have lunch with a detective acquaintance, Jo Gar, who gets them tickets to a baseball game. Dr. Shadows, using a device to short out the lights in his foe the White Tiger’s headquarters, hopes that Mr. Roberts is the electrical whiz he says he is. He later states that George Chance, Ardini, or Dr. Pali could outdo a trick performed by the White Tiger, but it did have a flawless setup and execution. Dr. Shadows speculates that maybe in time Andy Mayfair or his boss will find a way to synthesize clay used by the White Tiger as an explosive, so that it can be used instead against the Japanese.

            Short story by Teel James Glenn in Shadows of New York: The Mysterious Adventures of Dr. Shadows, BooksForABuck.com, 2011. Daily Star reporter Moxie Donovan has been featured in two short story collections by Glenn, Deadline Zombies: The Adventures of Maxi and Moxie and Headline Ghouls: The Further Adventures of Maxi and Moxie. Commissioner Ralph Weston is from the Shadow novels. Electrical expert Major Thomas J. “Long Tom” Roberts is one of Clark “Doc” Savage’s five aides, as is Lt. Col. Andrew Blodgett “Monk” Mayfair. Spanish-Filipino detective Jo Gar appeared in stories by “Ramon Decolta” (Raoul Whitfield) in Black Mask. George Chance is the alter ego of G.T. Fleming-Roberts’ pulp hero the Ghost (aka the Green Ghost.) Ardini is a magician-cum-detective who appears in Walter Gibson’s novel A Blonde for Murder. Dr. Pali is a false identity assumed by “Richard Foster’s” (Kendell Crossen) pulp hero the Green Lama.

Crossover Cover: Manchurian Shadows

Manchurian Shadows is the second book featuring Teel James Glenn's New Pulp character Anton "Dr. Shadows" Chadeaux. I am currently reading the book, and there are allusions to Doc Savage, the Shadow, the Spider, Thunder Jim Wade, the Green Ghost (George Chance), and the Green Lama (under his alias of Dr. Pali, misspelled "Pauli" here.) The Dr. Shadows story take place in the same universe as Glenn's collection Weird Tales of the Skullmask and his books about journalist Moxie Donovan, both of which also have crossover references to classic pulp characters. In addition, Glenn's e-book Secret of Wolf Island, which is set in the present day, features private eye Jonathon Shadows, Dr. Shadows' son.