Crossover Cover: Cheyne Walk, 1985

 

Are you a Ghostbusters fan?

Then you'll love Josh Reynolds' story in this anthology, which has a nod to that film, as well as strong connections to Reynolds' Royal Occultist series, among others!

For more information, be sure to purchase 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!

Crossover Cover: Full Moonster

 

Are you a Ghostbusters fan?

Then you'll love this novel in Nick Pollotta's Bureau 13 series, which has a reference to that film, as well as Bram Stoker's Dracula!

For more information, be sure to purchase a copy of my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3 when Meteor House publishes it! 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!

Crossover Cover: The Mark of Terror

 

Are you a Ghostbusters fan?

Then you'll love this novel featuring the classic pulp hero Jim Anthony by Joshua M. Reynolds, which has nods to that film and several other works!

For more information, be sure to purchase a copy of my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3 when Meteor House publishes it! Like the first two volumes, this one is an AUTHORIZED companion to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Crossover TV Episode: The Haunting of Heck House

 

In this episode of The Real Ghostbusters, Egon Spengler mentions the haunted Whateley House in Arkham. The Whateley House in Arkham, Massachusetts must once have been the home of relatives of the Whateleys of nearby Dunwich from H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Dunwich Horror.” The Whateley House in Arkham, Massachusetts must once have been the home of relatives of the Whateleys of nearby Dunwich from H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Dunwich Horror.”

This episode is one of hundreds of crossovers that will be 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: Revelations

 

Are you a Ghostbusters fan?

Then you'll love this episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which features a fictional book from that film!

For more details, see my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, to be published by Meteor House! As with the first two volumes, this tome is an official and AUTHORIZED companion to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Crossover TV Episode: A Fright at the Opera

Hey, are you a fan of the Ghostbusters franchise?

Then you'll love this episode of The Real Ghostbusters in which the 'Busters encounter the Phantom of the Opera!

All the details can be found in Crossovers Expanded Vols. 1 and 2, my AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Vols. 1 and 2, coming in less than 3 weeks from Meteor House!

Crossover Covers: The X-Files: Conspiracy

The X-Files: Conspiracy, series of one-shots from IDW Publishing. The Lone Gunmen (who are revealed in The X-Files: Season 10 comics to have faked their deaths) investigate a series of documents from the future that lead them to investigate a series of “urban legends” that turn out to be true, including the Ghostbusters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Transformers, and the Crow. The premise of the Transformers, involving giant robots using Earth as a battleground, is incompatible with the premise the CU resembles the world outside our window, at least on the surface, and therefore I consider this an AU.

Crossover of the Week

2006

DON’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS TITLE

Ash Williams travels to France, searching for the Necronomicon. Ash reached out to several people in the paranormal community for leads on the book, including some Ghostbusters in New York and an elderly Frenchman called the Sâr Dubnotal. Inside the cabin where he believes the Necronomicon to be, he drives off a creature called Baal, ending its alliance with the vampire Countess Irina. Irina’s giant servant says the book Ash seeks is the Necronomicon Ex Mortis, while the book Irina holds is the First Necronomicon, written by the Mad Arab Abdul Alhazred. When Irina asks if he is “the one destined to fight the forces of darkness,” Ash responds, “The same…although I did hear something about a girl named Buffy who hangs out with the band Slayer, I think.”

Short story by Matthew Dennion in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 11: Force Majeure, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2014; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 16), Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Rivière Blanche, 2015. Ash Williams and the Necronomicon Ex Mortis are from the Evil Dead film series. Although this story supposedly takes place in 1993, shortly after the third Evil Dead movie, Army of Darkness, this cannot be correct. In the CU, the films take place from 1982–1983, and Ash spent over twenty years in a mental institution after the events of the comic book miniseries Army of Darkness: Shop ‘til You Drop Dead, only to escape in 2005, as seen in Army of Darkness vs. Re-Animator. Furthermore, 1983 would be well before Buffy Summers (from the movie and TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer) discovered she was the latest in a long line of Slayers. Therefore, I have placed this story in 2006, a year after Ash escaped from Arkham Asylum in Massachusetts. The Ghostbusters in New York are from the movie Ghostbusters and its sequel, as well as the cartoon The Real Ghostbusters. The animated series Extreme Ghostbusters is set in the 1990s, and features a younger group of investigators who have taken up the mantle of the retired original Ghostbusters. Ash probably contacted the latter-day team. The Sâr Dubnotal is an occult investigator who appeared in a French pulp series. Baal is from Renée Dunan’s novel of the same name, which has been translated by Brian Stableford for Black Coat Press. Countess Irina Karlstein is from the film Female Vampire. In the movie, which was made and takes place in the 1970s, Countess Irina is mute. How she gained the ability to speak is unknown. The Necronomicon penned by Abdul Alhazred is from H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, of course.

Crossover TV Series: The Middleman

Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Les McClaine's comic The Middleman features the title character and his sidekick Wendy Watson battling threats to the world for the Organization Too Secret to Know (O2TSK). There have been several Middlemen throughout history. In the story "The League of Professional Jealousy," Dr. Van Helsing and Jonathan Harker set out to destroy Dracula, only to find they have been beaten to the punch. Soon after, Phileas Fogg returns to the Reform Club after finishing his eighty-day trek around the world, only to find out his time has been beaten by the same person who stole Van Helsing’s thunder: the Middleman. Van Helsing enlists Nikolai Tesla to help him and Fogg get their revenge, which involves Van Helsing spreading rumors of a demonic hound in the moors of Devonshire. However, Tesla actually helps the Middleman outwit Van Helsing and Fogg. Learning there are now reports of a seemingly real "Hound of the Baskervilles" in Devonshire, the Middleman later sends a letter to Holmes and Watson telling them he has already solved the mystery, and he is off to the high seas, where a maniac has been ramming cargo ships with a submarine. This story is a parody, and Van Helsing and Fogg are both out of character. Additionally, the year is given as 1897, whereas in the CU Dracula took place in 1887, Around the World in Eighty Days in 1872, The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1888, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 1866–1868. Therefore, I place the comics in an AU. However, the comic does have a TV adaptation with crossover references of its own, which fits much better into the CU. The O2TSK is also mentioned in The Librarians episode "The Librarians and the Apple of Discord."

In "The Sino-Mexican Revelation," the Middleman and Wendy visit Schlermie Beckerman Memorial Square and Alfred Necessiter Memorial Hospital. Beckerman and Necessiter are from the movie The Man with Two Brains. In "The Manicoid Teleportation Conundrum," the Middleman has a rendezvous with Wendy at Lyon Estates. Wendy discovers a bomb is hidden at Twin Pines Mall. Ida, the Middleman’s android assistant, says a headless murder victim lived at Eastwood Ravine Drive. Lyon Estates and Twin Pines Mall are from the film Back to the Future. Eastwood Ravine Drive is named after the Eastwood Ravine from Back to the Future Part III. In "The Ectoplasmic Panhellenic Investigation," Eleanor Draper’s honors include the Egon Spengler Memorial Award and the Ivo Shandor Medal. Both individuals are from the movie Ghostbusters. In "The Clotharian Contamination Protocol," a NASA employee is named Lethbridge-Stewart. A "Zygon-Rated" containment box appears. The Nakatomi Protocol expands the vents in Middleman HQ to human size, allowing the Middleman to crawl through them in case of an emergency. A Clotharian bomb has writing on it in Aurebesh. Lethbridge-Stewart is probably related to the CU counterpart of Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart from Doctor Who. The Zygons are an alien race also seen in Doctor Who. The Nakatomi Protocol appears to have been inspired by John McClane crawling through the vents of the Nakatomi Plaza building, as seen in the movie Die Hard. The Aurebesh language is from the Star Wars film series. In "The Palindrome Reversal Palindrome," the Middleman and Wendy investigate the theft of a Beryllium Sphere and an Oscillation Overthruster. A collection of stolen doll eyes is made of polydichloric euthimal. The Middleman has a phased polaron cannon in his weapons archive. Beryllium spheres are from the movie Galaxy Quest, while the Oscillation Overthruster is from the movie The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension. Polydichloric euthimal appears in the movies Outland, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and The Relic, based on Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child’s novel Relic. Outland must take place in an alternate future. The future seen in the Terminator movies is also an alternate timeline to the established future of the CU. The novel Relic has already been established as taking place in the CU, so the events of the movie must occur in an alternate reality as well. Phased polarons are from Star Trek.

Crossover Cover: Two Mites Make It Wrong

Batman and Robin and Mystery, Inc.’s attempts to apprehend the Spook and False Face are disrupted when the Fifth Dimensional imps Bat-Mite and Scooby-Mite, Batman and Scooby-Doo’s self-proclaimed biggest fans, appear. Scooby-Mite uses his magical powers to make Mystery, Inc. more “contemporary,” including providing them with “high-tech ghost-chasing gear!” After the Dynamic Duo and Scooby and the Gang convince the two pests to leave, another imp named Larry appears, proclaiming himself Robin’s biggest fan. Mystery Inc.’s high-tech “ghost-chaser” uniforms are clearly based on the Ghostbusters’ uniforms, placing this story in the ’80s. Per CU, continuity, this story features the third Batman and Robin team. Scooby-Mite also turns the gang into ponies briefly. Rather than treating this as a crossover connection to My Little Pony, it is preferable to interpret this as Scooby-Mite being familiar with the original toy line, which ran from 1981-1993. Larry is the CU counterpart of the character of the same name from the cartoon Teen Titans.

Crossover of the Week

1940

THE BLACK BAT AT BAY

Jim Anthony comes out of retirement when he is tasked by the N.Y.P.D. with capturing the Black Bat, who has been framed for murder. Anthony was recommended to Commissioner Warner by FBI agent Dan Fowler, with whom Anthony has worked before. Anthony also tells Warner, “A famous member of my fraternity once said that pertinence is purely a matter of perspective.” The Bat attacks a group of criminals at the wrecked Comet Club, which was once owned by a man named Suydam, who died in 1921 in the same fire that destroyed the club. Gangster Gentleman Jack Schulz has a penthouse in the Shandor Building.

Short story by Josh Reynolds in Black Bat Mystery, Volume 2, Airship 27 Productions, 2012. The Black Bat and Jim Anthony appeared in the pulp magazines Black Book Detective and Super Detective, respectively. FBI agent Dan Fowler’s stories appeared in G-Men Detective. Fowler and Anthony previously met in Erwin K. Roberts’ story “Neighborhood in Peril” and Reynolds’ tale “Proof of Supremacy.” The fellow sleuth quoted by Anthony is either Sherlock Holmes or C. Auguste Dupin. Suydam is a relative of Robert Suydam from H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Horror at Red Hook.” The Shandor Building is from the movie Ghostbusters. Anthony must have permanently resumed his adventurous career after this, given his appearances in “The Carolingian Stone” and other stories.

Crossover Movie Poster: Casper

Dr. Raymond Stantz unsuccessfully attempts to make Casper and his uncles leave the mansion they are haunting. Father Guido Sarducci also appears. Dr. Stantz is from the movie Ghostbusters and its sequel, as well as the cartoon The Real Ghostbusters. Since the Ghostbusters are in the CU, this crossover brings in a version of Casper. Father Guido Sarducci is a character created by comedian Don Novello, who has portrayed him in several TV series (including Blossom, Married…with Children, and Unhappily Ever After) and specials.

Crossover Cover: Terovolas

Dr. Abraham Van Helsing travels to Texas to deliver the cremated remains of Quincey Morris to his brother Coleman, encountering werewolves in the process. Van Helsing twice refers to an adventure he had with his colleague Hamish and his famous friend, the Great Detective. Apparently Van Helsing prefers calling Dr. John Hamish Watson, Sherlock Holmes’ best friend and biographer, by his middle name. The afterword describes how Erdelac discovered Van Helsing’s papers at the University of Chicago in 1997. The papers had been earmarked for the Ravenwood Collection. The Collection is named for Abner Ravenwood, Indiana Jones’ archaeology professor at the University of Chicago and the father of his future wife Marion. Among the names listed in the acknowledgments are Dr. Byron McFynn Jr., History Department, Marshall College, Connecticut (the school Indy taught at); Professor Stanislaus Laff, History Department, Empire State University, New York City, New York (the college attended by Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man); and Professor William Wallace Spates III (the grandson of Professor Alfred William Wallace Spates from Erdelac’s Merkabah Rider books, himself based on a reference to “Spates’s catalog” in the movie Ghostbusters), Special Collections, Miskatonic University, Arkham, Massachusetts (the site of numerous Cthulhu Mythos stories by H.P. Lovecraft and others.) Quincey Morris’ body being recovered and cremated does not fit with the events of P.N. Elrod’s novel Quincey Morris, Vampire, which Win included in the original volumes, and so this book, while very good, unfortunately cannot be included in the CU.

Crossover Cover: Video Nasties

Ghostbusters Egon Spengler and Peter Venkman discuss the inclusion of a flux capacitor in the Ecto-3, which may be of use “if Godzilla came to call.” Flux capacitors are originally from Back to the Future, thus bringing that film and its sequels into the CU, though clearly all the timeline tampering in the CU has averted that series’ version of the year 2015. Although the massive destruction seen in the Godzilla films does not fit in with Crossover Universe continuity, Emmanuel Gorlier’s story “Twilight” and Nick Pollotta’s novel Doomsday Exam establish that Godzilla does have a Crossover Universe counterpart, though he appears to have spent most of his existence in captivity.

Crossover Cover: Sleepy Hollow: Children of the Revolution

A tie-in novel for the television series Sleepy Hollow, in which Ichabod Crane is reinterpreted as a Colonial soldier who comes back to life in the 21^st century after being killed by the Headless Horseman in 1781. He battles the Horseman, who also has been resurrected, and two occult groups who seek to bring about the apocalypse. Tobin’s Spirit Guide, a book from the movie Ghostbusters, is mentioned in the novel. I consider the series an AU.

Crossover Covers: Ghost of a Chance

J.C. Chance, Melody Chambers, and Happy Jack Palmer are field agents of the Carnacki Institute, a group devoted to investigating ghostly activity. Their latest case, a haunting in London’s Oxford Circus Tube Station, bring them into contact with the ghost of a young woman named Kim Sterling, with whom J.C. falls in love; Natasha Chang and Erik Grossman, two members of the Institute’s rival, the Crowley Project; and the Great Beast known as Fenris Tenebrae. J.C. boasts, “Remember…when the Ghostbusters have a headache; when the Scooby gang are having a panic attack; when Mulder and Scully don’t want to know and the psychic commandos of the SAS are sitting in a corner crying their eyes out…Who do you send for? The specially trained field agents of the Carnacki Institute!” Melody refers to other Great Beasts, such as the Hogge or the Serpent. The head of the Institute, Catherine Latimer, refers to J.C.’s recent acquisition of a folio copy of the damned and utterly poisonous play The King in Yellow. Happy says that they are not trained, equipped, or armed enough to deal with Great Beasts or Outer Monstrosities, or any of the Abominations. Natasha reminds Erik of the Case of the Horse Invisible, last year. J.C. doesn’t know anyone who’s actually encountered Frankenstein tech in the field before. He also has a Hand of Glory made from a monkey’s paw. The Carnacki Institute is named for Thomas Carnacki from William Hope Hodgson’s book Carnacki the Ghost-Finder. The Hogge is a reference to the titular being from the Carnacki story “The Hog.” The Outer Monstrosities are mentioned in both “The Whistling Room” and “The Hog.” The Case of the Horse Invisible must be connected to the Carnacki story “The Horse of the Invisible.” The Ghostbusters are from the film of the same name and its sequel. The Scooby Gang is the nickname Buffy Summers and her allies use for themselves on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Mulder and Scully are from the TV series The X-Files. The Serpent may be the Serpent in the Sun from Green’s novel Drinking Midnight Wine. The play The King in Yellow is from Robert W. Chambers’ short story collection of the same name. Frankenstein tech is named after the scientist from Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. The Hand of Glory made from a monkey’s paw is a nod to W.W. Jacobs’ short story “The Monkey’s Paw.”

Crossover Cover: What in Samhain Just Happened?

A television producer seeks out the Ghostbusters to clear a ghost out of his home, so that he can capture the bust on film. A DeLorean appears outside the ’Busters’ firehouse. After the Ghostbusters turn him down, the producer mentions that he’s heard of two brothers who are good at handling ghosts, “Remington…something like that.” A copy of the Necronomicon also appears. The DeLorean is probably the car from the Back to the Future film series. The brothers mentioned by the producer are Sam and Dean Winchester from the TV series Supernatural. IDW’s Ghostbusters comics must take place in the early ’90s, shortly after the end of the animated series The Real Ghostbusters. The Winchester brothers were children in the 1990s, and unlikely to have a reputation as monster hunters. However, they’ve magically time traveled many times over the course of the show, visiting the ’70s, the ’40s, the Old West, and a post-apocalyptic future, and have dealt with the fallout of an angel going back and saving the Titanic (though the timeline was restored by the end of the episode), so it’s not impossible that they may have spent some time in the early ’90s as well, possibly even traveling to that era in the DeLorean. The copy of the Necronomicon seen here is visually based on the one in The Real Ghostbusters episode “The Collect Call of Cthulhu.”