Crossover Cover: The Society of United Magicians

In this story, which takes place in 1936, the Shadow battles a group of corrupt magicians who are attempting to force Bess Houdini to contact the spirit of her late husband Harry, seeking secrets he has learned on the other side. A poster for Mandrake the Magician is seen in the Society’s headquarters. It is also revealed that Houdini is the one who taught the Shadow the art of escapology.

Crossover Cover: Of Spiders and Serpents/A King Comes Riding

Crossover Cover: The Night Lakota Died

In this issue, Dr. Adam Spektor encounters Dr. Solar, who had his own series from Gold Key in the 1960s. It is revealed that Solar now works for government intelligence, reporting to a man named Nick. A text piece in The Occult Files of Dr. Spektor #23 identifies the agency Dr. Solar works for as "the law-enforcement division for international espionage, supreme headquarters." The implication is that Solar works for S.H.I.E.L.D., answering to Nick Fury.

Crossover of the Week

May 1937

THE DEVIL’S TIGER

            An article by Moxie Donovan in The Daily Star says that Commissioner Weston will not discuss the so-called “Green Claw Deaths” that have occurred in recent months, and that several private criminologists have been called in, including Anton Chadeaux, aka Dr. Shadows. When Dr. Shadows began fighting crime, he thought Clark Savage’s whole attitude toward publicity for himself was missing a chance to reach many more people. Traveling to the Philippines, Dr. Shadows and his comrade Slugger Harris have lunch with a detective acquaintance, Jo Gar, who gets them tickets to a baseball game. Dr. Shadows, using a device to short out the lights in his foe the White Tiger’s headquarters, hopes that Mr. Roberts is the electrical whiz he says he is. He later states that George Chance, Ardini, or Dr. Pali could outdo a trick performed by the White Tiger, but it did have a flawless setup and execution. Dr. Shadows speculates that maybe in time Andy Mayfair or his boss will find a way to synthesize clay used by the White Tiger as an explosive, so that it can be used instead against the Japanese.

            Short story by Teel James Glenn in Shadows of New York: The Mysterious Adventures of Dr. Shadows, BooksForABuck.com, 2011. Daily Star reporter Moxie Donovan has been featured in two short story collections by Glenn, Deadline Zombies: The Adventures of Maxi and Moxie and Headline Ghouls: The Further Adventures of Maxi and Moxie. Commissioner Ralph Weston is from the Shadow novels. Electrical expert Major Thomas J. “Long Tom” Roberts is one of Clark “Doc” Savage’s five aides, as is Lt. Col. Andrew Blodgett “Monk” Mayfair. Spanish-Filipino detective Jo Gar appeared in stories by “Ramon Decolta” (Raoul Whitfield) in Black Mask. George Chance is the alter ego of G.T. Fleming-Roberts’ pulp hero the Ghost (aka the Green Ghost.) Ardini is a magician-cum-detective who appears in Walter Gibson’s novel A Blonde for Murder. Dr. Pali is a false identity assumed by “Richard Foster’s” (Kendell Crossen) pulp hero the Green Lama.

Crossover Cover: Master of the World

Crossover Covers: The Black Trail

This novel is part of one of the many series of westerns written by a circle of British authors dubbed "the Piccadilly Cowboys." As with many of those books, there are references to other series. In this novel, there is a reference to tales of outlaws such as Jed Herne (from John J. McLaglen's Herne the Hunter series), Edge (from novels by George G. Gilman), Jack Ryker (from Charles C. Garrett's Gunslinger books), Cuchillo Oro (from William M. James' Apache series), and Crow. Since Edge is in the CU through a couple crossovers Win included in Volume 1, Crow and the other characters are in as well. There is also a reference to an American Western film in this book. It is stated that Crow has a creed that requires killing enemies before they have a chance to kill him, “which meant he didn’t have any enemies. Like a nervy shootist named Lee once said. Lee had gotten himself killed swatting some flies away from a little village south of the border against Calveras. With Chris and a half dozen others. He’d said he had no enemies. Alive.” Lee, Calveras (originally Calvera), and Chris are from The Magnificent Seven.

Crossover Cover: The Black Coat & Athena Voltaire

Crossover Cover: The Haunting of Thallus

In the first part of this storyline from Marvel Comics' first Star Trek series, written by Marv Wolfman, a number of monsters attack the starship Enterprise, including what appears to be Dracula. Spock cites legends that in the 20^th Century, vampire slayer Quincey Harker destroyed Dracula. The monsters are eventually revealed in the second part, written by Mike W. Barr, to have been created with a Klingon “thought-enhancer” device. Spock's reference to Dracula's death at Quincey Harker's hands bolsters the inclusion of Wolfman's series Tomb of Dracula in the CU.

Crossover Covers: Inspector Wilkins

This series of novels is an affectionate pastiche of 1930s locked room mystery novels, with Inspector Wilkins repeatedly having to investigate murders at the home of the unlucky Earl of Burford. All three novels have references to detective fiction of that era, which treat the characters mentioned as real people. In The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy (published in 1975), Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot is referred to by Wilkins. The Affair of the Mutilated Mink (1983) has several references: Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey; Michael Innes' Sir John Appleby (along with Richard Eliot's book The Spider Bites Back from the Appleby novel Stop Press); Ngaio Marsh's Inspector Roderick Alleyn; Agatha Christie's Ariadne Oliver (from the Hercule Poirot books, as well as the non-series novel The Pale Horse) and her book Death of a Debutante (mentioned in Mrs. McGinty's Dead); and The Screaming Bone by Annette de la Tour, the pen name of Mr. Judd in Edmund Crispin's Gervase Fen novel Buried for Pleasure. The third and final Wilkins novel, The Case of the 39 Cufflinks, refers to Lord Peter Wimsey once again, along with his manservant Bunter.

Crossover Cover: War Machine

In this issue of Iron Man, Tony Stark tricks the attacking ninjas known as the Masters of Silence into entering his simulation room, which he proceeds to plunge into darkness. One of the Masters counsels his teammates, “Remember the words of Master Zatoichi—‘A warrior’s eyes are the least of his senses.’” Zatoichi is the blind masseur and swordsman played by Shintarō Katsu in a long-running series of Japanese films. Since Zatoichi is in the CU through references in stories by Matthew Baugh and Rick Lai, this reference further confirms Iron Man's presence. Although this story was published in 1992, I have placed it in 1982 to accommodate a more realistic timeline for Iron Man's exploits.

Crossover of the Week

July 1944-January 1945

TO DUST AND ASHES IN ITS HEAT CONSUMING

            Five airplanes, including one piloted by Group Captain Victor Carroon, trail UFOs that have appeared above London. One saucer is followed by a plane flown by Flight Lieutenant Tug Carrington. In Mission Control, Captain Boothroyd and Air Commodore Lord George Beltham give orders to the pilots. Professor Bernard Quatermass dismisses Beltham’s claim that one of his fellow investigators is an enemy agent. Harry Dickson breaks up the argument. Dickson’s protégé is a sergeant seconded from the Marine Police, Stanley Bulman, who mentions his nephew George.

            Short story by Nigel Malcolm in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 9: La Vie en Noir, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2012; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 13), Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Rivière Blanche, 2014. Professor Bernard Quatermass is the protagonist of several British television serials and films, including The Quatermass Experiment, which also features Victor Carroon. Tug Carrington is an ally of aviator James “Biggles” Bigglesworth in novels by W.E. Johns. Captain Boothroyd is the future Major Boothroyd, service armorer for the British Secret Service in the James Bond novels. Lord George Beltham is a later holder of the title once belonging to Lord Edward Beltham in Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre’s Fantômas novels. Harry Dickson, “the American Sherlock Holmes,” appears in pulp stories by Jean Ray and others. Stanley Bulman is the uncle of Detective Sergeant George Bulman, who appears in the TV series The XYY Man, Strangers, and Bulman.

Crossover Covers: A Case of Blind Fear

Crossover Covers: Then Came the Monster!

Crossover Cover: The New Adventures of Thunder Jim Wade Volume Two

Pro Se Press has just released this novella by my buddy Frank Schildiner, who has stated on Facebook that the Hyperborea in question is Robert E. Howard's version. Frank also did a story for The New Adventures of Thunder Jim Wade Volume One that had strong Cthulhu Mythos ties, as well as a reference to another pulp hero, Richard Knight. I look forward to buying a copy of Volume Two at Pulpfest/FarmerCon, and having Frank sign it. :)

Crossover Covers: Doc Savage: Doom Dynasty

In this two-issue miniseries, Doc Savage battled Dr. Nikola, a villain created by Guy Boothby. There was also a reference to Johnny Littlejohn being at "that weird university in Massachusetts," a reference to Farmer's theory that Johnny taught at Miskatonic University, from H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.