Crossover of the Week

Early June 2015

TOMMY HANCOCK’S BRANSON NON-ADVENTURE 

While New Pulp publisher and author Tommy Hancock is being treated at the Nettles Clinic for congestive heart failure, assassin and master of disguise Mirror Image is targeting another patient, Morton Vickers, an analyst for a multiagency task force operating against various loosely allied organized crime organizations. Vickers is the grandson of legendary 1930s G-Man Lynn Vickers. After hearing about the assassination plot, the Voice, long semi-retired, called Curt Van Loan’s covert network for help. A woman equally adept at disguise pits herself against Mirror Image. Lemuel Barnes of the Treasury Department is monitoring Vickers’ operation. The woman, Emily, later introduces herself to Hancock. 

Short story by Erwin K. Roberts in Legends of New Pulp Fiction, Ron Fortier, ed., Airship 27 Productions, 2015. Tommy Hancock is a real person, and this story is inspired by a medical crisis he suffered in real life on June 8, 2015. Lynn Vickers, Agent G-77, appeared in nine stories by Bryan James Kelly in the pulps Public Enemy and Federal Agent from 1935-1938. The Voice is the protagonist of a series of novels and stories by Roberts. The hero is implicitly the son of Secret Agent X. Curt Van Loan, another of Roberts’ creations, is the son of Richard Curtis Van Loan, aka the Phantom Detective, and Muriel Havens. Emily is the Pulptress, a second-generation heroine who has appeared in novels and anthologies from Hancock’s company, Pro Se Productions. Lemuel Barnes is likely a descendant of Bromley Barnes, a Treasury Department agent who appeared in stories, novels, and collections by George Barton from 1909-1920. 

This crossover writeup is one of over a thousand included 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 Air Loom

 

The Pulptress battles the Air Loom Gang, who have been causing people to experience sudden madness in England, including her old teacher, Peter Knight. Helping her is Knight’s grandson Roger, a New Scotland Yard inspector. Knight is said to have fought “the ungodly” as early as the Roaring Twenties. Roger describes his grandfather as “the modern Robin Hood.” The Pulptress asks Roger, “Did your grandfather ever tell you about his really strange adventures? The story about the giant bugs or the one about Loch Ness?” At the end of the case, the elder Knight tells Emily and Roger, “The two of you did well...Although you realize, you owe it all to my teaching.” Emily responds, “As the actress said to the bishop.” The Pulptress is already in the CU through meetings with Derrick Ferguson’s character Dillon, Erwin K. Roberts’ hero the Voice, and Ron Fortier’s undead vigilante Brother Bones. “Peter Knight” is a thinly disguised version of Simon Templar, the Saint.
This crossover is one of hundreds covered in my book Crossovers Expanded: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 3, winging your way in the future from Meteor House! Much like the first two books, this one is an AUTHORIZED companion to Win Scott Eckert's Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volumes 1 and 2!

Crossover Cover: Blood and Bone

The Pulptress has her final battle with the Bone Queen. The Pulptress first battled the Bone Queen in Judy’s story “The Bone Queen,” which is described here as having taken place nearly a year ago. I posted about that story and others in the anthology The Pulptress in 2014. (By the way, despite what I mistakenly wrote in that post, “Black Mask, Big City” is by Tommy Hancock, not Derrick Ferguson, though Derrick's character Dillon does make an appearance in it.) Judy elaborated upon the undead Bone Queen’s origins in a novel also entitled The Bone Queen.

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!