Crossover of the Week

Winter 2005

BETTER THE DEVIL 

The members of Caballistics, Inc. must find who is targeting the organization for extermination. Appearing or mentioned are: the Templars Resurgent; the Starry Wisdom; Delta Green; the Cult of the Black Sun; Hobb’s End; the British Rocket Group; the Wild Hunt; The Carnacki-Silence spectrum generator; the Lamp of Alhazred; Exham Priory; Drax Industries; Flaxton Hall; Cavorite; Wenley Moor; Norrell; Stable Mews; Steed; the Ministry; Frank Marker; Arthur Daley; “Randall and...a partner’s name that had been scrubbed out long ago”; and the Brigadier. 

Novel by Mike Wild, 2000 AD, 2007. The Templars Resurgent are a reference to the Templi Resurgentes Equites Synarchici from Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum. The Starry Wisdom Church is from H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Haunter of the Dark.” Exham Priory is from Lovecraft’s “The Rats in the Walls.” Delta Green is from the titular supplement for the role-playing game Call of Cthulhu. The Cult of the Black Sun is a CU version of the group seen in Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell’s superhero comic Zenith. Hobb’s End and the Wild Hunt are from the movie Quatermass and the Pit. Professor Bernard Quatermass is the head of the British Experimental Rocket Group. The Carnacki-Silence spectrum generator is named after the title characters of William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder and Algernon Blackwood’s John Silence. The Lamp of Alhazred is from August Derleth’s titular Cthulhu Mythos story. Drax Industries is from the film version of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel Moonraker. Flaxton Hall is from the television series The Flaxton Boys. Cavorite is from H. G. Wells’ The First Men in the Moon. Wenley Moor is from the Doctor Who serial “Doctor Who and the Silurians.” The Brigadier is the Doctor’s ally, Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart. Norrell is Gilbert Norrell from Susanna Clarke’s alternate history fantasy novel Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Wild describes Norrell as having “a kind of otherworldliness,” implying he comes from an alternate universe. In the television series The Avengers, Ministry agent John Steed lived at 3 Stable Mews. Frank Marker is from the TV series Public Eye. Arthur Daley is from the show Minder. “Randall and...a partner’s name that had been scrubbed out long ago” refers to the show Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). 

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: Toys in the Attic

 

The first appearance of the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths version of Superman’s foe the Toyman. The Man of Steel is told about the villain by two unnamed British intelligence agents who are clearly John Steed and Emma Peel. In general, it is preferable to keep the few superheroes in the CU in their original publication era. This, combined with the fact that the end of the story ties in with a companywide crossover event called Millennium, makes this comic an AU. 

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 TV Episode: Death of a Great Dane

 

In this episode of The Avengers, John Steed identifies Sir James Mann's car as a '61 Hirondel. The Hirondel is the fictional automobile driven by the Saint in Leslie Charteris' novels.

This crossover 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 official and fully AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Crossover Cover: Toys in the Attic

 

The first appearance of the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths version of Superman’s foe the Toyman. The Man of Steel is told about the villain by two unnamed British intelligence agents who are clearly John Steed and Emma Peel. In general, it is preferable to keep the few superheroes in the CU in their original publication era. This, combined with the fact that the end of the story ties in with a companywide crossover event called Millennium, makes this comic an AU. 

This crossover is one of hundreds included in my book Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3! Much like the first two volumes, this one will be published by Meteor House, and is an AUTHORIZED companion to Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2 by Win Scott Eckert!

Crossover of the Week

June 1968

PASSENGER 

Chief Inspector Thursday’s daughter Joan tells him she and her mother Win are going to buy a new lamp and have lunch at Burridges. During his investigation, Detective Sergeant Morse visits the Crossroads Motel in Kings Oak, where a cleaner called Mrs. T is mentioned. Several train stations are referenced, including Chadwick, Hamingwell Halt, Pudham, Whimperley, and Norborough. A Hammond & Sons Hauliers truck appears. 

Episode of Endeavour broadcast February 18, 2018. Burridges Department Store is from the movie Trouble in Store and has been mentioned on Endeavour previously. The Crossroads Motel and Kings Oak are from the TV series Crossroads. Amy Turtle was the motel’s cleaner. Chadwick Station is from August Derleth’s Solar Pons story “The Adventure of the Lost Locomotive.” Hamingwell Halt and Pudham Stations are from the movie The Great St. Trinian’s Train Robbery. Whimperley Station is from Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot novella “Dead Man’s Mirror.” Norborough Station is from The Avengers episode “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Station.” Hammond & Sons Hauliers is a reference to the 1972-1976 TV series The Brothers. In the show, the Hammond family’s business was called Hammond Transport Services, but it’s not unlikely that they could have changed the name in the intervening years. 

I chose to highlight an Endeavour episode because the series finale, "Exeunt," airs today in the U.K. In nine seasons, this show racked up a truly impressive number of shout-outs to other works. Major props to show creator Russell Lewis and his team for their role in expanding the rich tapestry that is the Crossover Universe!!!

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, the new volume is an AUTHORIZED companion to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Crossover Covers: Batman '66 Meets Steed and Mrs. Peel

Batman and Robin join forces with John Steed and Emma Peel to battle the Cybernauts, Mr. Freeze, and Lord Ffogg. Batman says, “As a noted crime-fighting predecessor once observed, ‘the weeds of crime bear bitter fruit!’” Batman’s crime-fighting predecessor is the pulp hero of the shadows. The Batman and Robin seen here are Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne, Jr.

This crossover is one of hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3! Much like the first two volumes, this book 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!

Crossover Covers: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Tempest

Are you a fan of Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's comic book The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? 

Then you may enjoy this final chapter of the series, picking up directly after the events of Volume 3: Century!

For a fuller write-up of this comic, check out the appendix on alternate universes in my forthcoming book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3! As with the first two volumes, this book is an AUTHORIZED companion to Win Scott Eckert's invaluable tomes Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2 and will be published by the awesome folks at Meteor House!

Crossover Cover: The Unnatural Inquirer

Hey, like spy fiction such as the James Bond novels, The Avengers, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and Get Smart?

Then you'll love this entry in Simon R. Green's Nightside series, in which characters from all those series have an unnamed cameo at Strangefellow's Bar and Grill, though their gadgetry makes their identities clear. And that's far from the only crossover in this book!

For all the details on the crossovers in this, the other Nightside novels, and most of Green's other works, read my books Crossovers Expanded Vols. 1 and 2, AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Vols. 1 and 2, available from Meteor House in late July!

Crossover Cover: The Secret Service

Spy Jack London trains his nephew Gary in the art of espionage. After Jack is shot and killed, Gary toasts his uncle with London’s own trainer, Rupert Graves, who says, “Your uncle and I toasted a lot of old pals over the years. Steed. Gambit. Even some of the old timers like Drake and Templar." Apparently John Steed (The Avengers and The New Avengers), Mike Gambit (also from The New Avengers), John Drake (Danger Man/Secret Agent and The Prisoner), whose birthday is today, and Simon Templar (aka the Saint) have all died or faked their deaths by the time this story takes place. The year is 2009 based on a reference to Elton John trying to adopt. The Secret Service is supposed to take place in the same universe as several of Millar’s other comic books, including Wanted, Kick-Ass, Nemesis, MPH, Superior, and Supercrooks. However, including all of these series would bring in many more superheroes and supervillains than can smoothly fit into the Crossover Universe. Furthermore, Wanted portrays the world as secretly controlled by supervillains, which also does not fit with CU continuity. Therefore, the events of The Secret Service must have occurred in both the CU and the “Millar-verse.”

For the record, I'm not a fan of Millar's writing, and Civil War in particular is one of my most hated comics of all time, so much so that I'm glad they're jettisoning most of Millar's plot for the film. That said, my policy is not to exclude works that have a valid link to the CU simply because I dislike them or their author. I know my tastes are not everyone else's, and there are works I love that are in the CU that not everyone in my circle of friends enjoys as much as I do.

Upcoming crossovers: Batman '66

Although DC Comics' ongoing Batman '66 series based on the Adam West show is coming to a close, there are crossovers in the works with The Avengers (as in John Steed and Emma Peel) and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. I won't have time to include these in the books, but they sound like worthy additions to the CU, and I will absolutely read them anyways.

Crossover of the Week

July 1962

OPERATION STARFISH

            James Bellmore is a Marine attached to the Joint Advisory Committee on Korea (JACK) as the assistant to the organization’s number two man, Colonel Doctor Wingate Peaslee, also known as the Terrible Old Man. The name of the agency is a front for their battles against eldritch horrors. Bellmore and Peaslee travel aboard the USS Miskatonic to Johnston Island. Bellmore had a fight with a midshipman who decided to sample a bottle from his case of Remmers Imperial Stout. Bellmore’s friends in London, Steed and Drake, suggested that he develop a hobby. Having taken up cooking, Bellmore sends some of the foodstuffs to his friends, though mostly to Brenner, a Swiss chef he briefly studied under in New York. Bellmore meets Adam Royston of British Experimental Research Group, Unit 3. The Miskatonic uses a Tillinghast Resonator to lure the monsters on the island to be killed, including the Hounds of Tindalos.

            Short story by Peter Rawlik in Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters, Tim Marquitz and Nickolas Sharps, eds., Ragnarok Publications, 2014. Wingate Peaslee is from H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Out of Time.” His nickname of “the Terrible Old Man” is a nod to Lovecraft’s story of the same name. The USS Miskatonic is named after the Miskatonic Valley, the setting of many of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos tales. Remmers is Rex Stout’s detective Nero Wolfe’s favorite beer. Wolfe’s Swiss chef is Fritz Brenner. Steed is British spy John Steed from the television series The Avengers and The New Avengers, while Drake is John Drake from the television series Danger Man (aka Secret Agent.) Adam Royston is from the movie X the Unknown. The Tillinghast Resonator is from Lovecraft’s story “From Beyond.” The Hounds of Tindalos are from Frank Belknap Long’s titular tale.

Crossover Cover: Steed and Mrs. Peel: We're Needed #2

A while back, I posted about a potential crossover with The Prisoner in this storyline. Unfortunately, the seaside town of Silver Sands is clearly not the Village, although it is a community for retired spies. Unlike the Village, Silver Sand's inhabitants choose to stay there, and are not barred from leaving. We can assume that Silver Sands was set up for agents who were considered less risky to have at liberty than Number 6 and the others in the Village. However, there is a reference to two fictional locations. Mrs. Peel drives past a sign that reads "St. Mary Mead, 25 Miles; Walmington-on-Sea, 50 Miles; Silver Sand, 10 Miles." St. Mary Mead is the home of Miss Marple, while Walmington-on-Sea is the setting of the British sitcom Dad's Army, which is set during World War II.

Crossover Covers: The Prisoner: Shattered Visage

In this comic book set twenty years after the end of the cult classic television series The Prisoner, John Steed and Emma Peel are glimpsed at a spy's funeral. According to Wikipedia, James Bond (with Sean Connery's likeness), Napoleon Solo, and Illya Kuryakin are also at the funeral. I haven't read the series myself, and Wikipedia can't always be trusted, so I don't know whether this is true or not. There is also a reference to another spy being a master interrogator, trained by Mr. Smiley himself. This is a reference to John le Carré's George Smiley.

Crossover Cover: Night of the Trilobites

This tie-in novel for the 1960 sci-fi show The Invaders, written by Peter Leslie and set in Wales, features a gossip columnist with the unique name Trewithick Polgadden-Warr. Trewithick first appeared in Leslie's novel Deadline (written as by Patrick Macnee), a tie-in for the classic British spy show The Avengers. Since the latter show is firmly in the CU, so is The Invaders. Author Emmanuel Gorlier has also done two stories for Black Coat Press where a 17th century ancestor of Jean de La Hire's hero the Nyctalope encounters members of the alien race seen in The Invaders.

Crossover Covers: Batman/Hellboy/Starman (with Some Notes on the Knight Family in the CU)

In his 1980s series All-Star Squadron, Roy Thomas established that Ted Knight, the original Starman and father of Jack Knight, the Starman who appears in this story, was the cousin of Sandra Knight, aka Phantom Lady, one of several characters DC acquired from the defunct comic company Quality. Phantom Lady is in the CU through two crossovers: "The Olympic Saboteurs," a story from the Fox Features incarnation of Phantom Lady where she refers to Sherlock Holmes in a context that suggests he is a real person, and a story featuring her successor in Action Comics Weekly that reveals that one of the former students at a university run by Sandra is Mrs. Emma Peel of The Avengers fame. Since Ted and Sandra Knight both have CU counterparts, I'm inclined to say their genealogical relationship applies to those versions as well as their DCU equivalent. It is worth noting that Mrs. Peel's maiden name was Knight, and her father was Sir John Knight. However, Art Sippo's story "How Art Thou Fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer" depicts Sun Koh, "the Nazi Doc Savage," having sex with a married MI5 agent named Lady Felicity Knight. Art has confirmed for me that Emma Knight-Peel is therefore Lady Felicity's illegitimate daughter by Sun Koh, and therefore Mrs. Peel has no actual relation to the Knight family.

Upcoming (Possible) Crossover: Steed and Mrs. Peel

The comic company Boom! is putting out a new Steed and Mrs. Peel comic. (For obvious reasons, they can't use the title The Avengers.) The plot description indicates that this will be a tribute to, and/or unofficial  crossover with, The Prisoner. I certainly hope it is, so I can include it in the books. :)