Crossover of the Week

July 1962

OPERATION STARFISH

            James Bellmore is a Marine attached to the Joint Advisory Committee on Korea (JACK) as the assistant to the organization’s number two man, Colonel Doctor Wingate Peaslee, also known as the Terrible Old Man. The name of the agency is a front for their battles against eldritch horrors. Bellmore and Peaslee travel aboard the USS Miskatonic to Johnston Island. Bellmore had a fight with a midshipman who decided to sample a bottle from his case of Remmers Imperial Stout. Bellmore’s friends in London, Steed and Drake, suggested that he develop a hobby. Having taken up cooking, Bellmore sends some of the foodstuffs to his friends, though mostly to Brenner, a Swiss chef he briefly studied under in New York. Bellmore meets Adam Royston of British Experimental Research Group, Unit 3. The Miskatonic uses a Tillinghast Resonator to lure the monsters on the island to be killed, including the Hounds of Tindalos.

            Short story by Peter Rawlik in Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters, Tim Marquitz and Nickolas Sharps, eds., Ragnarok Publications, 2014. Wingate Peaslee is from H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Out of Time.” His nickname of “the Terrible Old Man” is a nod to Lovecraft’s story of the same name. The USS Miskatonic is named after the Miskatonic Valley, the setting of many of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos tales. Remmers is Rex Stout’s detective Nero Wolfe’s favorite beer. Wolfe’s Swiss chef is Fritz Brenner. Steed is British spy John Steed from the television series The Avengers and The New Avengers, while Drake is John Drake from the television series Danger Man (aka Secret Agent.) Adam Royston is from the movie X the Unknown. The Tillinghast Resonator is from Lovecraft’s story “From Beyond.” The Hounds of Tindalos are from Frank Belknap Long’s titular tale.

Crossover Cover: The Shadow over Innsmouth

The Shadow and Margo Lane battle what appear to be Deep Ones in Innsmouth. The “Deep Ones” turn out to be bootleggers disguised as the creatures spoken of in the legends of the area. A surviving bootlegger refers to a Shadow, inspiring H.P. Lovecraft to write “The Shadow over Innsmouth.” The implication that Lovecraft’s story is fictional, and based on legends rather than actual events, places this story in an AU.

Crossover Cover: Blood Queen vs. Dracula: World Painted Blood

Dracula encounters Elizabeth Bathory, also known as the Blood Queen. This crossover features the version of Elizabeth Bathory seen in the Dynamite comic Blood Queen. At some point after this series, Elizabeth becomes a vampire herself, as seen in the movie Daughters of Darkness and other accounts.

Crossover Covers: Millennium

Frank Black is aided by Fox Mulder in his efforts to keep the Millennium Group from recruiting his daughter Jordan. This series is a sequel to the television series Millennium and The X-Files episode of the same name, which wrapped up some dangling plot threads from that show.

Crossover Cover: All Things Under the Moon

In this novel, written by C.J. Henderson under a pen name, Teddy London’s battle with a millennia-old werewolf leads him to the Tibetan monastery of A’alshirie. Several of Henderson’s stories featuring Lin Carter’s occult detective Anton Zarnak refer to Zarnak having studied under the masters of A’alshirie.