Crossover Cover: Big Trouble in Merrie Olde England

 

Jack Burton and friends recently had a battle aboard a submarine with Petty Officer Talbot, a werewolf. An MI-5 agent named Pellinor shows Margo Litzenberger and Eddie Lee portraits of his illustrious predecessors, one of whom is a man so unhappy his lips are curved almost into a snarl, and who wears a black jacket with white piping and a large badge of a penny-farthing bicycle. Felix “Wart” Kingfisher says the Wing Kong blackmailed the British authorities to leave them alone and go after their rivals, such as the Si-Fan and the Red Dragon Tong. Petty Officer Talbot must be a relative of Larry Talbot from the movie The Wolf Man and its sequels. It has been well-established that lycanthropy runs in the Talbot family. The agent in the black jacket is Number 6 from the classic TV series The Prisoner. The Si-Fan is Dr. Fu Manchu’s criminal organization in Sax Rohmer’s novels. The Red Dragon Tong is from the Hammer film The Terror of the Tongs. 

This novel is one of hundreds of crossovers covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, which will be published by Meteor House! 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 of the Week

November 5-7, 1964

FROM PARIS WITH HATE 

Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, OSS 117, is assigned by his boss Armand Lesignac to rescue the French Minister of Justice from Fantômas. Lesignac says Lupin supposedly has a grandson running around Tokyo, and that Fantômas has already put Malloy, aka 077, in a body cast. 117 sets a trap to lure criminals who can help him against Fantômas using the Pink Panther diamond with the help of Inspector Clouseau. Diabolik and Eva Kant show up, as well as Anthony Logan, aka Kriminal. 117 tells Kriminal if he refuses to cooperate, he has arranged with the British government for him to spend the rest of his life in a high security “Village.” 117 calls Diabolik and Kriminal third-rate knockoffs of Fantômas, along with Satanik and Killing. 

Short story by Nathan Cabaniss in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 13: Sang Froid, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2016; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 22), Jean-Marc Lofficier, ed., Rivière Blanche, 2018. OSS 117 is the protagonist of Jean Bruce’s spy novels. Armand Lesignac is from the movies OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies and OSS 117: Lost in Rio. Fantômas is Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre’s master villain. Maurice Leblanc’s gentleman thief Arsène Lupin is the grandfather of the title character of Kazuhiko “Monkey Punch” Katō’s manga Lupin III. Dick Malloy, Secret Agent 077, was played by Ken Clark in three Italian spy films. The Pink Panther diamond and Inspector Clouseau are from the Pink Panther film series. Diabolik and Eva Kant are from the comic series created by Angela and Luciana Giussani. Kriminal is the antihero of an Italian comic book by Max Bunker and Magnus, as is Satanik. The Village is from the classic television series The Prisoner. Killing is the title character of an Italian photo comic (“fumetti”) series.  

This crossover writeup is one of hundreds included in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, to be published by Meteor House! All three volumes are official and AUTHORIZED companions to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Crossover Cover: Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth

John Taylor returns from the past to stop his mother from destroying the Nightside. Appearing or mentioned are: Rollerball t-shirts (referring to William Harrison’s story “Roller Ball Murder,” which depicts a corporation-driven future that is one of several possible futures for the CU); a cyborg with golden eyes from an alternate future (one of the Hadenmen from Green’s Deathstalker books); a sonic screwdriver (from the TV series Doctor Who); a Water Baby (from Charles Kingsley’s novel The Water Babies); the Yellow Sign (from Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, and incorporated into the Cthulhu Mythos by H. P. Lovecraft in the short story “The Whisperer in Darkness”; Sneaky Pete (Pete Hutter from the television Western The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.); the Holy Hand Grenade of St. Antioch (from the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, although the events seen in that movie must have been exaggerated for comedic effect) ; the Doormouse (a member of a group of shapeshifting mouse hippies from Green’s novel Drinking Midnight Wine); the Bazaar of the Bizarre (from Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser short story of the same name); Shadows Fall (from Green's novel of the same name); Carcosa (from Ambrose Bierce’s short story “An Inhabitant of Carcosa,” which H. P. Lovecraft incorporated into the Cthulhu Mythos); Old Father Time (from Shadows Fall); the Street of the Gods (from Green’s Hawk and Fisher novellas Winner Takes All and The God Killer); a Kandarian punch dagger (connected to the Kandarian demons from the Evil Dead film series); Julien Advent, the Victorian Adventurer (intended to be Adam Adamant from the TV series Adam Adamant Lives!; in fact, at one point in the novel he is referred to as Adamant); Alf’s Button Emporium (a reference to W. A. Darlington’s fantasy novel Alf’s Button); faeries hiding from the hordes of the Adversary (from Bill Willingham and Lan Medina’s comic book series Fables, which is set in an AU); the Traveling Doctor (Doctor Who); Colonial Marines (from the science fiction film Aliens, setting up the Alien franchise as another possible future of the CU.); the Eaters of the Dead (from Michael Crichton’s titular novel); Worms of the Earth (from Robert E. Howard’s short novel of the same name); Time Tower Square (from Shadows Fall); Elder Spawn (from Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos); Dead-Eye Dick, who was featured in a series of dime novels (a reference to an episode of the television Western The Virginian entitled “Dead-Eye Dick;” although the episode does not mention the Dead-Eye Dick dime novels are based on the adventures of a real person, it doesn’t say they aren’t either); Rats’ Alley (from T. S. Eliot’s poem “The Waste Land”); Haceldama (from Green’s Deathstalker books); a blazer belonging to a retired secret agent, which has a button with the number six on it (from the cult TV series The Prisoner); and the Prospero and Michael Scott Memorial Library (Prospero being from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest.)

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.

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.

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. :)