Crossover Cover: Monster Hunter International

After accountant Owen Pitt kills his boss upon learning that he is a murderous werewolf, he is recruited by Monster Hunter International (M.H.I.), a company that kills monsters to cash in on secret government bounties. Owen is told that Creature from the Black Lagoon was based on a true story, and that both H.P. Lovecraft and J.R.R. Tolkien based their works on stories they heard from monster hunters. M.H.I. battles the Old Ones. Upon hearing the main villain referred to as “C.O.,” Owen thinks, “After having seen him, and feeling a taste of his power, calling the evil creature something so innocuous seemed a little silly. The residents of Tokyo didn’t call Godzilla “Big G.” Earl Harbinger compares the agents of M.H.I. to famous monster hunters of the past, including Odysseus, St. George, Beowulf, and “Van Helsing with firepower.” Julie Shackleford mentions “the Vanni Fucci incident in Dothan a while back.” The references to Lovecraft, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and Abraham Van Helsing link Monster Hunter International and its sequels into the CU. There is a CU version of Godzilla, as seen in Emmanuel Gorlier’s story “Twilight” and Nick Pollotta’s novel Doomsday Exam, but he appears to have spent his existence in the 20^th and 21^st centuries in captivity. “The Vanni Fucci incident in Dothan” is a reference to Dan Simmons’ short story “Vanni Fucci is Alive and Well and Living in Hell,” itself a follow-up to Dante’s Inferno.

Crossover Cover: Cutting the Mustard

Valerie Cooper, the government liaison to the mutant superteam known as X-Factor, says “I have a brother who’s an FBI agent, and I am so tired of him telling me about these exciting cases he gets…like for instance, this girl they found. She was dead…wrapped in plastic…” The implication is that Val’s brother is Special Agent Dale Cooper from the television series Twin Peaks. The existence of X-Factor and other mutant superhero teams is not compatible with CU continuity, so this story takes place in the Marvel Universe, but not the CU. In addition, Scott Frost’s book The Autobiography of FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper: My Life, My Tapes explicitly states that Dale’s only sibling is an older brother named Emmet.

Crossover Cover: Angel Spotlight: Doyle

Doyle is confused for someone named Mark Healy, which he says happens all the time. Mark Healy is from the television series Roseanne. Healy was played by Glenn Quinn, who also played Doyle on Angel. This crossover brings Roseanne into the CU, and by extension The Jackie Thomas Show. The final episode of Roseanne implied that the entire series was actually a story written by Roseanne Conner that told a greatly distorted account of her life. Obviously, this should be disregarded for the purposes of incorporating Roseanne into the CU.

Crossover Covers: Two Red Eyes

The ancient vampire “Nosferatu” travels to Los Angeles and picks a fight with monster-hunting P.I. Cal McDonald. “Nosferatu” is clearly Graf Orlok, the vampire from F.W. Murnau’s film Nosferatu, ein Symphonie des Grauens.