Crossover Cover: All the Devils Are Here

 

In this story by Jonathan Maberry, Joe Ledger and rare book specialist Lizzie Corbett team up to stop cultists in Turkmenistan who worship Atlach-Nacha. Said cultists are trying to open a door to another world and unleash the Tripod Riders onto our world. Ledger speculates that H. G. Wells must have encountered the Tripods before he wrote his book. This crossover brings together two of Maberry’s series characters, Joe Ledger and Lizzie Corbett. Atlach-Nacha is from Clark Ashton Smith’s Cthulhu Mythos story “The Seven Geases.” The tripods are from H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds.

This crossover is one 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 of the Week

Summer 1936

THE FROST WOLF 

Harry Dickson meets with Prime Minister Caius Keyes and his wife Angelique. Keyes introduces Dickson to Doctor Omega and Captain Gullivar Jones. An object like a comet or meteor has crashed in Clapham Common, which Keyes initially assumed was a precursor to an alien invasion, being as familiar with the historical works of H. G. Wells as anyone. Omega says he is aware of a dog-like wolf with human-level intelligence which manifests itself at certain points in history, calling it the Hound of the Baskervilles, the Hound of Death, and the Beast of Gevaudan. Dickson has enough firearms to equip a fair-sized dinosaur-hunting party to the Lost World. Omega describes lights they see as the Aether’s spatio-temporal vortex. The inhabitant of the crashed time machine, injured from the mesonychid wolf’s attack, identifies himself as Heracles Danby. The injured Omega, Jones, and Danby, as well as another man, are treated in a high dependency ward run by a Dr. Mannering from Cardiff. The third man’s belongings bear the legend Catharus Mine, while his dog tags identify him as Adam Oberstein. Dickson witnesses a scene of horror that reminds him of the Miller’s Court Triptych painted by Walter Sickert depicting the death of the final victim of Jack the Ripper that he had been shown back when he was a member of the Roebuck Cabal. The Prime Minister says he used to be part of the Home Office’s elite Gordian Squad, but Dickson thinks that surely one of the Great Men of Baker Street or Rouletabille would have told him about it. The Frost Wolf is killed by Pandora, who is accompanied by Liandra Ritter and her son Kulath Jr., who refers to Danby as “grandfather.” Omega warns Dickson about Total Security Management and the Cull Men. 

Short story by Martin Gately in Exquisite Pandora and Other Fantastic Adventures, Black Coat Press, 2020. Harry Dickson appeared in pulp stories by Jean Ray and others. Caius Keyes, Angelique Datura, and the Gordian Squad first appeared in Gately’s “The White Box.” Doctor Omega is the title character of Arnould Galopin’s science fiction novel. Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier’s translation of that book identified Omega with Doctor Who. The lights are the Time Vortex from Doctor Who. Gullivar Jones is from Edwin L. Arnold’s Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation. The H. G. Wells reference evokes The War of the Worlds. The wolf first appeared in Gately’s “Wolf at the Door of Time.” The Hound of the Baskervilles is from the titular Sherlock Holmes novel. The Hound of Death is from Agatha Christie’s story of the same name. The Lost World is from Arthur Conan Doyle’s eponymous book. Heracles Danby, Liandra Ritter, and Kulath Sr. are from Gately’s “The Cataclysm Will Not Be Televised.” Dr. Frank Mannering is from the movie Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. The Catharus Mine is from Gately’s “Rouletabille and the New World Order,” and is associated with the Catharus Society, a precursor to THRUSH from the TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Adam Oberstein is related to spy Hugo Oberstein from Doyle and Watson’s Sherlock Holmes tales “The Adventure of the Second Stain” and “The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans.” The Roebuck Cabal is from Gately’s eponymous story. As established in Gately’s stories about Gaston Leroux’s journalist and detective Rouletabille, the Great Men of Baker Street are Sherlock Holmes, Sexton Blake, Seaton Begg (from the works of Michael Moorcock), and Victor Drago (from the British comic book Tornado). Pandora is from Gately’s “Exquisite Pandora.” Total Security Management and the Cull Men appear in another story by Gately, “The Unfettered Man,” set in one of the many possible futures for the CU. 

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: Centipede '63

 

The vigilante known as the Black Centipede and Captain Marla Bartowski, the daughter of his old friend Stan Bartowski, attempt to thwart the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The Centipede’s foe Adrian Countenance is executed at Winnemac State Prison in Zenith. The town of Zenith, located in the fictional state of Winnemac, is from the works of Sinclair Lewis. The Centipede reaches out to ex-cop turned private eye Ace Harlem for info. Ace appeared in a story by John Terrell in the one-shot All-Negro Comics in July 1947. The Centipede and his allies Raoul and Marie Unknown discuss the Martian War of 1897. The Martians came to Earth in cylinders. Of course, this is a reference to H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. The Centipede receives a call from his ex-wife Anonymoushka, the precognitive daughter of Professor Moriarty. In the Black Centipede’s universe, Moriarty is really Sherrinford Holmes, Sherlock’s brother. He was bitten by Count Dracula, and as a result came back as a vampire after his death at Reichenbach Falls. He then killed Dracula and took his mantle as Lord of the Vampires. This is obviously incompatible with CU continuity and makes the Black Centipede books an AU. Marla contacts her friend, FBI agent Jill Trent. Jill Trent, Science Sleuth was the protagonist of a feature in Nedor Publishing’s titles Fighting Yank and Wonder Comics from 1943-1948. The Centipede calls his friend Gregor Samsa, the protagonist of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. He also says about a foe, “He was a criminal at heart, and as somebody once said, criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot.” “Somebody” is Batman. 

This crossover is one of over a thousand covered in my book Crossover 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: Night Train to Murder

 

Are you a Sherlock Holmes fan?

Then you'll love this novel in Simon R. Green's Ishmael Jones series, which has a reference to Holmes and Dr. Watson, as well as the Martians from H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds!

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: The Invaders from Mars?

 

Dr. Strongfort Stearn, aka Mr. Monster, battles the latest invasion attempt by the Martians. Their previous attacks were in the nineteenth century, the '30s, and the '50s, by which time they had incredibly sophisticated war machines that utilized force fields. As it turns out, the inhabitants of Grover’s Mill are forcing the would-be invaders to work as farmhands. The Martians are from H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. The '30s invasion is a reference to Orson Welles’ adaptation of Wells’ novel for The Mercury Theatre, while the '50s attempt is a reference to George Pal’s 1953 film version. Doc Stearn, aka Mr. Monster, created by Michael T. Gilbert, is the son of Dr. Jim Stearne, the original Mr. Monster, whose stories were published by the Canadian comics company Bell Features in the 1940s. This crossover brings both Mr. Monsters into the CU. 

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

Crossover Cover: Some of These Cons Go Way Back

This issue includes a Nightside story by Simon R. Green. Conman Harry Fabulous is tricked by a fallen angel into murdering a woman. Taduki (from H. Rider Haggard’s Allan Quatermain novels and stories), tanna leaves (from Universal Studios’ original series of Mummy films), Martian red weed (from H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds), black centipede meat (from William S. Burroughs’ novel Naked Lunch), and the Jekyll and Hyde formula (from Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) are mentioned.

Crossover of the Week

Yesterday, I had the immense pleasure of attending a midnight showing of one of my favorite movies, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. As with the previous showings I attended, the audience participation was great, as was sharing the experience with people who love RHPS as much as I do. In honor of this great experience, here's my write-up of the novel that brings the movie into the CU.

2003

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UNCANNY

John Taylor escorts an elf across the Nightside, helps deceased P.I. Larry Oblivion look for his brother Tommy, and refuses to take Walker’s place as agent of the Authorities that rule the Nightside. Appearing or mentioned are: Hydes; a cyborg from some future timeline with eyes glowing golden, mainlining a fierce and nasty future drug called Blood; taduki; Martian red weed; Queen Mab; Oberon and Titania; the Street of the Gods; Puck; the Sonic Assassin; the Time Tower; the Deep School; Salvation Kane; Old Mother Shipton; Indiana Jones; Mr. Stab; Miss Eliza Fritton, who used to run a private girl’s school; the Carnacki Insitute; the Droods; the Vril Power Gang; the Nazi Skull; Jacqueline Hyde; the worms of the Earth; a stuffed water baby; giant albino penguins; an old-fashioned grandfather clock, with a cobwebbed human skeleton propped up inside it; a lizard serum; Julien Advent; Rats’ Alley; Dr. Delirium; Wu Fang; and a Hand of Glory made from a monkey’s paw.

Novel by Simon R. Green. The Hydes are individuals who use the formula that turned Dr. Henry Jekyll into Edward Hyde as a narcotic. Jacqueline Hyde is a descendant of Jekyll’s who takes her ancestor’s serum, which turns her into a male Hyde. The cyborg from a future timeline with eyes glowing golden is one of the Hadenmen from Green’s Deathstalker series, which takes place in one of many possible futures for the CU. The Blood drug is also from the Deathstalker books. The drug Taduki is from H. Rider Haggard’s novels and stories about hunter Allan Quatermain. Martian red weed is from H. G. Wells’ novel The War of the Worlds. Queen Mab is from William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, while Oberon, Titania, and Puck are from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The Street of the Gods is from Green’s Hawk and Fisher novellas Winner Takes All and The God Killer. The Sonic Assassin is Michael Moorcock’s secret agent Jerry Cornelius, an incarnation of the Eternal Champion. The Time Tower is from Green’s novel Shadows Fall. Salvation Kane is probably meant to be Robert E. Howard’s heroic puritan Solomon Kane. The Deep School is an extradimensional school for sorcerers seen in Manly Wade Wellman’s John Thunstone stories. Old Mother Shipton, Mr. Stab, and the Droods are from Green’s Secret Histories series. Dr. Delirium goes on to become one of the main villains of the fourth Secret Histories novel, From Hell with Love. The Indiana Jones reference can be interpreted as a reference to either a real person or a fictional character, but since both Indy and John Taylor are firmly established as being in the CU, we can accept this as a legitimate crossover. Miss Eliza Fritton must be the same Miss Fritton who was the headmistress of St. Trinian’s, a private school for girls, in illustrated cartoons by Ronald Searle. The Carnacki Institute is featured in Green’s Ghost Finders series. The Vril Power Gang is a reference to the Vril power from Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s The Coming Race. The Nazi Skull is a reference to Captain America’s Nazi archenemy, the Red Skull. The worms of the Earth are from Robert E. Howard’s Bran Mak Morn story of the same name. The giant albino penguins are from Lovecraft’s novella At the Mountains of Madness. The stuffed water baby is a reference to Charles Kingsley’s children’s book The Water Babies. The old-fashioned grandfather clock with a cobwebbed human skeleton propped up inside it is from the movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show, bringing that film and its sequel, Shock Treatment, into the CU. The lizard serum is probably the one used by the Lizard, a foe of the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man. Julien Advent, a recurring character in the Nightside books, is meant to be adventurer Adam Adamant from the British television series Adam Adamant Lives! Rats’ Alley is from T. S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land.” Wu Fang is a pulp villain created by Robert J. Hogan. The Hand of Glory made from a monkey’s paw is a reference to W. W. Jacobs’ story “The Monkey’s Paw.”

Crossover Cover: From Hell with Love

The Droods go to war with Doctor Delirium and the Immortals over the Apocalypse Door. Appearing or mentioned are: U.N.C.L.E. and THRUSH (from the TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E.); James Bond and S.P.E.C.T.R.E.(from Ian Fleming's novels); a Martian tripod (from H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds); a Crystal Egg (from another story by Wells); the Danse Academy in the German Black Forest (from Dario Argento's horror film Suspiria); Dracula (from Bram Stoker's novel); the Nightside (the setting of another series by Green); Shadows Fall (from Green's novel of the same name); a Time War (possibly the CU version of the war seen in Doctor Who); the Carnacki Institute (from Green's Ghost Finders books); Bradford-on-Avon, Carys Galloway, the Waking Beauty, Jimmy Thunder, God for Hire, and Nicholas Hob, the Serpent’s Son (all from Green's novel Drinking Midnight Wine, though this Bradford-on-Avon is a fictionalized version of the real town of that name, where Green lives); Doctor Faustus (from Christopher Marlowe's play); Indiana Jones; the Djinn Jeannie (from the television series I Dream of Jeannie); the recently dead Griffin in the Nightside, the Lord of Thorns, the Speaking Gun, and the Collector (all from the Nightside books); Old Father Time (also from Shadows Fall); a Kandarian amulet (a reference to the Kandarian demons from the Evil Dead films); Castle Frankenstein (from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein); the Bride of Frankenstein (from the Universal film of the same name); Area 52 (located in the Antarctic, and therefore presumably the same one seen in a titular miniseries published by Image Comics); and a bizarre alien city inside an Arctic mountain (possibly a reference to Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness.)

Crossover Cover: The Spy Who Haunted Me

Edwin Drood is chosen to compete against several other agents to solve a series of mysteries; the winner will gain all the secrets of Alexander King, the legendary Independent Agent. Appearing or mentioned are: Vril Power, Inc. (a reference to Edward Bulwer-Lytton's The Coming Race); the Salvation Army Sisterhood, Harry Fabulous, the London Knights, the Walking Man, John Taylor, Walker, the Authorities, the Collector, Strangefellows, Cathy Barnett, and Lilith (all from Green's Nightside series); the Tracey Brothers (from the TV series Thunderbirds, which probably takes place in an alternate future; in the show, their name is spelled "Tracy"); MI13 and Black Air (the CU equivalents of the British intelligence groups seen in the Marvel Universe); Leo Morn (from Green's novel Drinking Midnight Wine); smoked black centipede meat (from William S. Burroughs' novel Naked Lunch); full-strength Hyde (from Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; Martian red weed and Martians on huge metal tripods with metal claws, heat rays, and poisonous black smoke; (from H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds); Universal Exports (from Ian Fleming's James Bond books); Oz (from the novels by L. Frank Baum); SAS combat sorcerers (from Warren Ellis' comic book Gravel); Shadows Fall (from Green's novel of the same name); Oberon and Titania, Peaseblossom, Puck, Mustardseed, Cobweb, and Moth (from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream); the Djinn Jeannie (from the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie); the Traveling Doctor (aka Doctor Who); the Old Wolf of Kabul (Bill Sampson, a British comic book character who debuted in the 1920s as the Wolf of Kabul); a small statuette of a black bird (the Maltese Falcon); two Pickman paintings (from Lovecraft's "Pickman's Model"); several copies of the Painting that Devoured Paris (a CU version of the Painting That Ate Paris from Grant Morrison's run on the superhero team comic book Doom Patrol); a stuffed Morlock (from Wells' The Time Machine); a mummified monkey’s paw (from W.W. Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw"); a small black lacquered puzzle box (the Lament Configuration, from the Hellraiser film series); the talking beavers of Narnia (from C.S. Lewis' novels); Frankenstein monsters (from Mary Shelley's novel); the Lone Ranger and Tonto (from the classic radio series); Crouch End Towen (the fictional Lovecraftian dark side of the real London neighborhood Crouch End, from Stephen King's story "Crouch End"; use of a sword-umbrella as an old tradition in the British spy game (a reference to John Steed from the TV series The Avengers); and Queen Mab (from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.)

Crossover Cover: Tales from the Nightside

This collection reprints all of Simon R. Green's short stories set in the milieu of his Nightside series, which is firmly in the CU. Naturally, several of these stories have crossovers of their own. For instance, in "The Difference a Day Makes," John Taylor sees a lipstick-red Plymouth Fury with a dead man grinning at the wheel (the titular car from Stephen King's novel Christine) and a great black beauty of a car, driven by an Oriental in black leathers, and a man in the back in a green face mask and a snap-brimmed hat (the Green Hornet and Kato; per CU continuity, this is probably the most recent duo to use those names, Paul Reid and Kono Kato), among other references in that story. "Some of These Cons Go Way Back" refers to taduki (from H. Rider Haggard's Allan Quatermain tales), tanna leaves (from Universal's original Mummy film series), Martian red weed (from H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds), Hyde formula (from Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, of course), and black centipede meat (from William S. Burroughs' novel Naked Lunch.) There is also a new novella pitting Taylor against Sir Francis Varney from James Malcolm Rymer's Varney the Vampire.

Crossover Cover: Encounters of Sherlock Holmes

This anthology from Titan Books has a few crossovers. In Stuart Douglas' "The Adventure of the Locked Carriage," an actor tells Holmes that he considers him a superior detective to Hewitt and "that foreign chap Dupin," referring to Arthur Morrison's Martin Hewitt and Edgar Allan Poe's C. Auguste Dupin. Mark Wright's "The Property of a Thief" pits Holmes against gentleman thief A.J. Raffles. Since Holmes and Raffles' creators were brothers-in-law, it is perhaps not surprising that there have been many crossover pastiches involving the two over the years. Paul Magrs' "Mrs. Hudson at the Christmas Hotel" reveals that as of 1925, Mrs. Hudson is now Professor Challenger's housekeeper. However, she must have gone back to working for Holmes at some point, since she is his housekeeper in Manly Wade Wellman's 1941-set story "But Our Hero Was Not Dead." Given Challenger's formidable temper, it's easy to guess why Mrs. Hudson's tenure as his housekeeper did not last. All of these stories fit into Crossover Universe continuity, but there are also three tales that have to take place in alternate universes. Editor George Mann's story "The Curse of the Night Crawler" has Watson working with Sir Maurice Newbury, agent of the Crown, and his assistant Veronica Hobbes. Newbury and Hobbes appear in a series of novels by Mann, which are set in a Steampunk London where Queen Victoria is kept alive by a crude life-support system, airships are common, and automatons perform menial jobs for lawyers, the police and journalists. A few of Mann's other books are set in the same universe as the Newbury and Hobbes books. Nick Kyme's "The Post-Modern Prometheus" has Holmes and Watson joining forces with Frankenstein's monster to defeat Dr. Henry Jekyll (aka Edward Hyde), who is using Victor Frankenstein's work for his own twisted purposes. Jekyll's activities and death in this story conflict with his role in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Finally, Eric Brown's story "The Tragic Affair of the Martian Ambassador" takes place in an alternate reality where the Martians from The War of the Worlds made a second, peaceful voyage to Earth, and settled there after overcoming their vulnerability to terrestrial germs.