Crossover Cover: The Dogs of War

Kurt Semmler once served in the OAS, a French terrorist group, under Colonel Marc Rodin. Rodin is from Forsyth’s novel The Day of the Jackal, which takes place in the CU via a reference to M’s club, Blades, from Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels.

Crossover Cover: The First Commandment

CIA paramilitary operative Rick Morrell tells his subordinate Mike Raymond he is going to call in a favor from an ex-Department of Justice operative turned book dealer named Malone to verify whether or not former Navy SEAL and current Secret Service agent Scot Harvath is in Zurich.

Malone is Cotton Malone, who appears in thriller novels by Steve Berry. Since Malone is in the CU, this reference brings in Scot Harvath.

Crossover Cover: Trouble in Paradise

Velma and Daphne are invited to Paradise Island by Wonder Woman on Batman’s recommendation, partly to learn the ways of the Amazons, and partly to help them stop the spate of mythological creatures that have been attacking recently. This is somewhat complicated by Fred, Scooby, and Shaggy being unable to set foot on the mainland due to the Olympian gods’ edict. Since the Amazons are canonically immortal, and other stories set in the CU have Wonder Woman active in the 1970s and early '80s, there is no problem with including this story, even though Diana was first active in the 1940s.

Crossover of the Week

October 31, 1921

THE GOTTERDAMMERUNG GAVOTTE

Charles St. Cyprian and Ebe Gallowglass team up with a group of occult detectives to prevent the Great Old Ones from being unleashed upon the world. Appearing or mentioned are: Semi Dual; No. 472 Cheyne Walk; Harley Warren; John Silence; Ravenwood; Sar Dubnotal; de Grandin; Thunstone; Pursuivant; Ms. Crerar; Kirowan; Zarnak; Thomas Carnacki; the Nameless One; a Tibetan lama with an unhealthy fascination for the color green; the Third Ritual of Hloh; Tserpchikopf; the Great Detective; the Hog; the Shambler; the Walker; the Lurker; the Yimghaz Sign; fire vampires; the dust of Ibn Gazi; Naacal; Thorne; openers and closers; the Drones Club; and Captain Drummond.

Story by Josh Reynolds in The Lovecraft eZine #18, Mike Davis, ed., October 2012. Semi Dual is an occult detective created for the pulps by J. U. Giesy. Thomas Carnacki is from William Hope Hodgson’s collection Carnacki the Ghost-Finder. Carnacki lives at No. 472 Cheyne Walk. The Hog is from the Carnacki story of the same name. Harley Warren appears in H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Statement of Randolph Carter,” and is mentioned in “The Silver Key” and “Through the Gates of the Silver Key.” The Naacal language is also from “Through the Gates of the Silver Key.” John Silence is from Algernon Blackwood’s collection of the same name. Ravenwood was the hero of a series of stories by Frederick C. Davis in the pulp magazine Secret Agent X; the Nameless One is Ravenwood’s Tibetan mystic mentor. The Sar Dubnotal was the subject of a French pulp series by an anonymous author who may have been Norbert Sevestre. Tserpchikopf is one of the mystic’s foes. Jules de Grandin is an occult detective created by Seabury Quinn. John Thunstone is the hero of a series of stories by Manly Wade Wellman, as is Judge Keith Hilary Pursuivant. Rowley Thorne is Thunstone’s archenemy. Ms. Crerar is Sheila Crerar, an occult detective appearing in stories by Ella Scrymsour. John Kirowan is a recurring character in the works of Robert E. Howard. Anton Zarnak is an occult investigator created by Lin Carter; his adventures have been continued by a number of other authors. The Tibetan lama is Kendell Crossen’s pulp hero the Green Lama. The Ritual of Hloh and the Yimghaz Sign are from “The Case of the Bronze Door,” one of Margery Lawrence’s stories about psychic detective Miles Pennoyer. The Great Detective is Sherlock Holmes, of course. The Shambler is a reference to Robert Bloch’s “The Shambler from the Stars.” The Walker is Ithaqua (aka the Wind-Walker), from August Derleth’s story of the same name. The Lurker is Lovecraft’s Nyarlathotep; the Lurker appellation is an allusion to Derleth’s The Lurker at the Threshold. Fire vampires are from Donald Wandrei’s story “The Fire Vampires.” The Dust of Ibn Gazi is from Lovecraft’s “The Dunwich Horror.” The openers and closers are from Roger Zelazny’s A Night in the Lonesome October; although the events of that novel have been placed in an alternate universe, there is nothing to prevent the Crossover Universe from having openers and closers of its own. The Drones Club is a recurring London gentlemen’s club in the interconnected works of P. G. Wodehouse. Captain Drummond is H. C. McNeile’s hero Hugh “Bulldog” Drummond.

Crossover Cover: The Bone Clocks

As I've discussed in previous posts, the connected works of author David Mitchell are in the CU through references in Joe Hill's novel NOS4A2, which also has references to Hill's father Stephen King's work. In this novel, the following appear or are mentioned: Dr. Marinus; Alan Wall; Hugo Lamb; Dominic Fitzsimmons; Felix Finch; Jonny Penhaligon; Kilmagoon Special Reserve; Elijah D’Arnoq; Spyglass magazine; Dwight Silverwind; and The Voorman Problem. Dr. Marinus, who is capable of reincarnation, is from The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. This incarnation of Marinus debuted in Mitchell’s libretto for Michael Van der Aa’s opera Sunken Garden. Johnny Penhaligon is a descendant of the Captain Penhaligon that appears in The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. Alan Wall, Hugo Lamb, and Dominic Fitzsimmons are from Black Swan Green. Felix Finch and Spyglass magazine are from Cloud Atlas. The Afterword included in the paperback edition of this novel reveals Elijah D’Arnoq is the son of Mr. d’Arnoq, a minor character in Cloud Atlas. Kilmagoon Special Reserve is a fictional whiskey that recurs in Mitchell’s works. Dwight Silverwind is from Ghostwritten. The book The Voorman Problem is the basis for the movie of the same name in number9dream. The section of the book entitled “Sheep’s Head: 2043” takes place on an Earth ravaged by climate change, and therefore must represent an alternate future, which also appears to be the setting of Mitchell’s story “The Siphoners.” This section also has an appearance by Mo Muntervary from Ghostwritten.

Crossover Cover: Brimstone

Aloysius Pendergast encounters Count Isidor Ottavio Baldassare Fosco. Fosco is identical in name, appearance, and personality to Count Fosco from Wilkie Collins’ novel The Woman in White, which he actually refers to at one point. Therefore, the contemporary Fosco is probably a descendant of his earlier namesake.

Crossover Covers: The Luke Challenger series

This series features Luke Challenger, Professor Challenger's grandson. The first book, Return to the Lost World, takes place in May–July 1933. 14-year-old Luke and his cousin Nick Malone, who is the same age, travel to Maple White Land to rescue Luke’s mother, Lady Harriet Challenger, from the Sons of Destiny, a multinational group dedicated to allowing fascism to rise so they can take over the world. The second book in the series, Return to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, takes place in June–August 1934. Challenger Industries is contacted by Jessica Land, the 16-year-old great-granddaughter of Ned Land, who has found out her great-grandfather had been willed the Journals of Captain Nemo by Professor Aaron X. Perrier (who Jules Verne disguised as Pierre Aronnax). Luke and Nick join the expedition to locate the Nautilus in a race against the Sons of Destiny to gain the nuclear secrets of the submarine. It is possible references to the Nautilus being nuclear-powered and The Mysterious Island being fictional are influenced by Professor H. W. Starr’s essay “A Submersible Subterfuge, or, Proof Impositive.” The third book, Return to King Solomon’s Mines, takes place from December 1934–January 1935. Luke and Nick go to Ethiopia to visit Luke’s mother on an archaeological dig. Accompanying them is Elsa Fairfax, great-granddaughter of Allan Quatermain. The expedition comes across Kukuanaland, and discovers the people were ruled by the reincarnation of the High Priestess Gagool after the death of King Ignosi. Nick Malone is the son of Ned Malone and the late Enid Challenger. If he and Luke are both 14-years-old in 1933, they would’ve been born around 1919. However, Ned and Enid fell in love during the events of Doyle’s The Land of Mist, which Rick Lai has dated to 1926. Combined with the dismissal of The Mysterious Island as fictional, this argues against placement of these books in CU continuity.

Crossover Cover: Quest for Mystery!

Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Fred, Velma, and Daphne team up with Jonny Quest, Hadji, and Race Bannon to rescue Dr. Quest from the clutches of Dr. Zin.

Crossover Cover: Fortunehead!

The 50th and final issue of the DC Comics series Secret Origins featured the origin stories of several DC heroes, including the Western hero Johnny Thunder (not to be confused with the Justice Society member of the same name.) In this story, Johnny rescues his father, Sheriff Bill Tane, from a criminal named Rand. A flashback shows Johnny preventing a bank robbery as Rand rides into town. Rand asks a witness who the hero is; the man begins telling a story of a group of Texas Rangers who were massacred. The only survivor swore a vow. Another bystander contradicts him, saying Thunder “wasn’t thet guy.” As this discussion takes place, an image of a masked cowboy clad in blue and wearing a badge is shown. The bystander has confused Johnny Thunder with his fellow lawman, the Lone Ranger. Presumably, he has heard rumors of the Ranger’s origins.

Crossover Cover: Cold Days

Queen Mab of the Fae tests Harry Dresden by making a number of creative attempts to murder him, which he must survive. A ticking crocodile is mentioned as one of them. This must be the same one seen in J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan.

Crossover of the Week

December 1896

CUT THE BRANCH

Appearing or mentioned are: the Black Coats; Joséphine Balsamo; the House of Crafts; Dr. Antonio Nikola; Catarina Corbucci; Count Salvatore Corbucci; Professor James Moriarty; Madame Fourneau’s College for Young Women; Norman Head; Noel Moriarty; Irina Putine; the Chupin Detective Agency; Urania Caber; the golden ram crest of the Cagliostro family; the Gentlemen of the Night; Orianne Coyatier; Rochelle Moreau; Ramirez; Professor Chavain; Madame Sara (aka Sarah Warrender); Colleen Pegler; the White Lodge; Frank Moran; Colonel Sebastian Moran; Patrick Dickson; Hamish Webb; Stangerson’s Disassociation of Matter Through Electricity; the Brotherhood of the Seven Kings; Gordo Reloj; Pilar; Aguilar; the All-Father; Dominick Moriarty; Marga Sandorf; Aristide Orlowsky Sandorf; Baron Von Schulenberg; Manny Bennet; Solly Bennet; Corben Caine; Wilmot Rogers; Jefferson Gonzales; the Lanky Gunman; the Yankee Whistler; a friend of Gordo’s; Dupont-Verdier (aka Satanas); Jillian Blake; Leonard; Etienne Cressy Raimond D’Arcourt; Sharita; the Duchy of Strackenz; the Thuggee cult’s alliance with Naga worshippers; Achmet Genghis Khan; Gruesome Clayton; Carfax Abbey; Dracula; and Ballmeyer.

Short story by Rick Lai in Sisters of the Shadows: The Cagliostro Curse, Black Coat Press, 2013. The Black Coats are a criminal conspiracy featured in novels by Paul Féval. Orianne Coyatier is the granddaughter of Jean-François Coyatier (aka the Marchef), who acted as the Black Coats’ executioner. The All-Father is the leader of the Black Coats. The Gentlemen of the Night are from Féval’s The Mysteries of London. Joséphine Balsamo battled Arsène Lupin in Maurice Leblanc’s The Countess of Cagliostro. Leonard is also from that novel. The House of Crafts is an allusion to the criminal organization known as Krafthaus in John Buchan’s The Power-House. Dr. Antonio Nikola is a scientist and criminal mastermind featured in novels by Guy Boothby. Catarina Corbucci is meant to be Madame Koluchy from L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace’s The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings. Norman Head is also from Meade and Eustace’s novel. Madame Sara is from Meade and Eustace’s The Sorceress of the Strand; her alias of Sarah Warrender is meant to imply she is the mother of Miss Warrender from Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Uncle Jeremy’s Household.” Achmet Genghis Khan was identified as Miss Warrender’s father in Doyle’s tale. Count Salvatore Corbucci dueled with A. J. Raffles in E. W. Hornung’s “The Fate of Faustina” and “The Last Laugh.” Professor James Moriarty is Sherlock Holmes’ archenemy. Noel Moriarty (whose full name is James Noel Moriarty) is the Professor’s younger brother mentioned in The Valley of Fear. Colonel Sebastian Moran is Professor Moriarty’s second-in-command from “The Adventure of the Empty House.” In The Power-House, the Krafthaus’ leader Andrew Lumley lives in a house called the White Lodge; the implication of the White Lodge reference in Lai’s story is Lumley is actually Noel Moriarty. Madame Fourneau’s College for Young Women is from the Spanish horror film La Residencia. Irina Putine is an alias for Irene Tupin from the same film. Professor Chavain is based on Madame Fourneau’s reference to her former student, a noted botanist. The Chupin Detective Agency, run by Victor “Toto” Chupin, is from the works of Emile Gaboriau. Urania Caber is meant to be Urania Moriarty, the Professor’s daughter, whose existence was revealed by Philip José Farmer in Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. Jillian Blake is based on a reference to a Jill Fagin who married a Blake in Farmer’s book. The golden ram crest of the Cagliostro family is from the animated Lupin III film The Castle of Cagliostro. Rochelle Moreau is the daughter of H. G. Wells’ Dr. Moreau and the niece of Bernard Moreau, who is mentioned in La Residencia. Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez is from the film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. “Colleen Pegler” is an alias for Peg Cullane from Louis L’Amour’s The Man Called Noon. Frank Moran is Francis “Colt” Moran from the film Today It’s Me…Tomorrow You! Patrick Dickson is meant to be Tricky the Gambler from the movie The Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe. Hamish Webb is meant to be James Webb from the movie Black Killer. Stangerson’s Disassociation of Matter Through Electricity is from Gaston Leroux’s first Rouletabille novel, The Mystery of the Yellow Room. Ballmeyer is Rouletabille’s father. Gordo Reloj is meant to be Gordo Watch from the film Arizona Colt (aka The Man from Nowhere); “reloj”is Spanish for “watch.” Pilar and Aguilar are from the film A Stranger in Town. Dominick Moriarty is meant to be Dominick Medina from John Buchan’s The Three Hostages. Marga Sandorf is the niece of the title character of Jules Verne’s novel Mathias Sandorf. Aristide Orlowsky Sandorf is meant to be the Hungarian villain Orlowsky from the movie Django Strikes Again. Baron Von Schulenberg is from the movie The Big Gundown. Manny Bennet is meant to be Manuel from the film Cemetery Without Crosses. Corben Caine and Wilmot Rogers are Ben Caine and Will Rogers from the same film. Solly Bennet is Solomon “Beauregard” Bennet from the movie Face to Face. Jefferson Gonzales is from the film Ringo and His Golden Pistol. The Lanky Gunman is Hank “Lanky” Fellows from the movie A Taste for Killing. The Yankee Whistler is the title character of the movie Yankee. Gordo’s friend is Frank Talby from the movie Day of Anger. Satanas is from Louis Feuillade’s film serial Les Vampires; in the English language translation of the serial, Satanas’ real name is given as Claude Dupont-Verdier. Etienne Cressy Raimond D’Arcourt and Sharita are from Gardner F. Fox’s novel Woman of Kali. The Duchy of Strackenz is from George MacDonald Fraser’s Royal Flash; here, it is implied to be the same country as the Duchy of Cagliostro from The Castle of Cagliostro. The alliance between the Thuggee and Naga worshippers is from Emilio Salgari’s Sandokan novels. Gruesome Clayton is Sir William Clayton from Farmer’s Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. Carfax Abbey is from Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Crossover Cover: The Flaming Curse

In this issue's installment of his feature, the masked and winged hero Hawkman, looking into the background of a supposedly cursed man, receives some help from a retired detective who deduces his true identity. The detective, though unnamed, is clearly meant to be Sherlock Holmes. This crossover brings a version of Carter Hall, the Golden Age Hawkman, into the CU.

Crossover Covers: Inferior Five

This series features a team of incompetent second generation superheroes. Parodies of various CU characters appear, including Reed Victor, the Yellowjacket, and his chauffeur Plato (Britt Reid, the Green Hornet, and Kato); Caesar Single and Kwitcha Belliakin of C.O.U.S.I.N.F.R.E.D. (Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin of U.N.C.L.E.); John Claypool, Lord Gravestone, aka Darwin of the Apes (the jungle lord); Sir Chauncey Berkeley, the Crimson Chrysanthemum (Sir Percy Blakeney, the Scarlet Pimpernel); and Allergy Queen (Ellery Queen). Parodies of several Marvel heroes also appear. While Dennis E. Power did a Wold Newton article regarding this series, for CU purposes, I consider it an AU.

Crossover Cover: Who's Scared?

When the Scarecrow douses Mystery, Inc. and the Mystery Analysts of Gotham City with his fear gas, it’s up to Scooby-Doo and Ace the Bathound, who as non-canines are unaffected by the drug, to save the day. The Mystery Analysts present for the meeting include Batman and Robin, Roy Raymond, Mysto, Doctor Thirteen, Kaye Daye, Slam Bradley, and Jason Bard. Paintings of Detective Chimp and Sam Simeon are also seen. Roy Raymond, TV detective, appeared in Detective Comics from 1949–1961. Mysto, Magician Detective appeared in his own back-up feature in the same series in 1954. Doctor Terrence Thirteen, “the Ghost-Breaker,” appeared in Star-Spangled Comics from 1951-1952. Kaye Daye is one of the original Mystery Analysts of Gotham City that appeared in Batman in the 1960s and 1970s. Slam Bradley appeared in Detective Comics from 1937–1949. Slam’s older brother Biff Bradley was involved in an affair on Dinosaur Island alongside several other adventurers in 1927, as seen in Guns of the Dragon, while Slam himself had an adventure with the third Batman and Robin team, the Elongated Man, and an elderly Sherlock Holmes in 1986, as seen in “The Doomsday Book.” Jason Bard first appeared in a Batgirl story in Detective Comics in 1969 before spinning off into his own back-up feature, which ran until 1973. Detective Chimp (Bobo, a chimpanzee skilled at solving crimes) had a back-up feature in The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog from 1952–1959. Sam Simeon, a talking ape who works as a P.I. with the curvaceous and brilliant Angel O’Day, was featured in the comic Angel and the Ape. These characters are all CU counterparts of their equivalents in the DC Comics Universe.

Crossover Cover: Kill Fee

N.Y.P.D. Lieutenant James Murtaugh attempts to apprehend a contract killer named Pluto, who picks his targets first and seeks money from people who stand to profit by their deaths only after the hit. Murtaugh went on to appear in Paul’s Marian Larch novels. Win included Paul's novel The Fourth Wall in Volume 2 due to references to Archie Goodwin and Dr. Vollmer from the Nero Wolfe series, and noted that some of the characters from that novel went on to appear in the Larch series.

Crossover Cover: Sherlock Holmes: The Game's Afoot

This anthology contains three stories with crossovers. In M.J. Elliott's "The Adventure of the Hanging Tyrant," set in 1894, Holmes investigates a case that involves Oswald Crawshay, who learned the art of housebreaking from his uncle, a suspect in the theft of the Melrose Necklace. Oswald's uncle is Reginald Crawshay from E. W. Hornung’s Raffles stories "Gentlemen and Players" and "The Return Match," both of which are included in the collection The Amateur Cracksman. In Christopher Sequeira's "The Adventure of the Haunted Showman," set in October 1897, Inspector Lestrade brings a potential client to Holmes, who says he is engaged in a pressing affair involving an unclaimed rare book recently auctioned after the sale of the Al Hazred Collection, and he shall not be free until a courier returns from Amsterdam with a message he requires. After the woman and Lestrade leave, Holmes admits to Watson he was lying about the prior case. Despite Holmes’ falsehood, he must be aware of the real "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred, the author of the Necronomicon in H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. "The Return of the Sussex Vampire," also by Sequeira, is set in 1926. The elderly Holmes and Watson investigate a case of vampirism plaguing Josiah Ferguson’s daughters, similar to a case involving Josiah’s nephew Bob’s infant son that occurred years ago. Bob Ferguson is from Doyle’s "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire." Watson is uncertain what to do with notes from some of Holmes’ cases, including that of the Nikola Formulae. This is a reference to Guy Boothby’s master criminal Doctor Nikola. Watson has grown children (including at least two sons) and young grandchildren at the time of this case. However, in Farmer’s The Adventure of the Peerless Peer, Watson states Nylepthah is the only one of his four wives to bear him a son, that child being born in November 1918. Combined with a reference to Watson attending Mycroft Holmes’ funeral in 1919, this places Sequeira’s tale in an alternate reality to the CU.

Crossover Cover: Man Bat and Robbin'

Scooby and the gang go to Gotham City to investigate monster sightings, and wind up working with Batman and Robin to pursue the source of the sightings, the Dynamic Duo's old foe Man-Bat. I am planning on reading the rest of this series in order to determine which stories can fit into CU continuity and which cannot. It's probably safe to say the ones featuring the Super Friends, the animated version of the Teen Titans, and Secret Squirrel don't take place in the CU. This story takes place a few years after The New Scooby-Doo Movies, and Fred refers to Mystery Inc. and Batman and Robin previously encountering the Joker and the Penguin.

Crossover of the Week

Early January–May 4, 1891

THE PROBLEM OF THE FINAL ADVENTURE

Colonel Sebastian Moran recounts the events leading to Professor Moriarty’s battle with Sherlock Holmes at the Reichenbach Falls. Appearing or mentioned are: Watson; Colonel Moriarty; the third James Moriarty; “an Irish spinster scribbler”; the Fat Man of Whitehall; the Diogenes Club; Billy the Page; Charlie Vokins; Lestrade; Mackenzie; MacDonald; Simon Carne; the Ranee of Ranchipur; the Lord of Strange Deaths; Fal Vale; Sophy Kratides; Harold Latimer and Wilson Kemp; Charles Milverton; Dan Levy; Les Vampires; the Grand Vampire; Irma Vep; Kingstead Cemetery; La Castafiore; Thomas Carnacki; Van Helsing; Bulstrode & Sons; Baron Maupertuis; quap; Mr. Beebe; the Daughter of the Dragon; Doctor Nikola; Madame Sara; Margaret Trelawny; the Hoxton Creeper; Doctor Mabuse; Alraune ten Brincken; Arthur Raffles and Bunny Manders; Théophraste Lupin and Joséphine Balsamo, Countess Cagliostro; Doctor Jack Quartz and Princess Zanoni; Rupert of Hentzau; Irene Adler; the Si-Fan; Queen Tera; the Jewel of Seven Stars; the Black Pearl of the Borgias; the Duke of Shires; Dr. Syn; Barchester Cathedral; the Forsyte tomb; Colonel Clay; Jim Lassiter; Diggory Venn; Sir Augustus Moran; Von Herder; a skull-faced “ghost” in the khanum’s palace at Mazenderan; Parker; the Reverend John Jago; the Mountmains; Colonel Sapt; Princess Flavia; Birdy Edwards; Grimesby Roylott; John Clay; Bert Stevens; Fred Porlock; Birlstone Manor; Paul Kratides; Ruritania; Rudi; Michael; Rassendyll; The Englischer Hof; and Peter Steiler. The endnotes to the story reveal Kate Reed ghosted for her friend and later lover, Charles Beauregard, and the Diogenes Club traded as Universal Exports in the 1950s. Paul Forrestier is mentioned in the same endnote.

Short story by Colonel Sebastian Moran, edited by Kim Newman in Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the d’Urbervilles, Titan Books, 2011. Moriarty, Moran, Holmes, Watson, the Fat Man of Whitehall (Sherlock’s brother Mycroft), the Diogenes Club, Billy the Page, and Lestrade are from the Sherlock Holmes stories. Further references from the Holmes stories: Colonel Moriarty, Inspector Patterson, the Englischer Hof, and Peter Steiler from “The Final Problem”; the third James Moriarty (the stationmaster, later known as the second Professor Moriarty), MacDonald, Birdy Edwards, Fred Porlock, and Birlstone Manor from The Valley of Fear; Sophy Kratides, Harold Latimer, Wilson Kemp, and Paul Kratides from “The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter”; Charles Milverton from “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton”; Baron Maupertuis, mentioned in “The Adventure of the Reigate Squire”; the Black Pearl of the Borgias from “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons”; Sir Augustus Moran, Von Herder, and Parker from “The Adventure of the Empty House”; Grimesby Roylott from “The Adventure of the Speckled Band”; John Clay from “The Adventure of the Red-Headed League”; and Bert Stevens from “The Adventure of the Norwood Builder.” Moran’s claim he shot Moriarty as the latter grappled with Holmes at Reichenbach must be considered spurious; Holmes would surely have noticed, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen depicts Moran and Campion Bond tending to Moriarty after his plunge down the falls. Moran must have lied to conceal the fact the Professor survived his painful fall. The “Irish spinster scribbler” is Kate Reed, a “deleted” character from Dracula who appears in several stories by Newman, and also has a counterpart in the Anno Dracula Universe. Charlie Vokins is from “The Horizontal Witness,” an episode of the television series Cribb. Arthur Raffles, Bunny Manders, and Mackenzie are from the Raffles stories by E. W. Hornung. Dan Levy is from the novel Mr. Justice Raffles. Given that Philip José Farmer identified Raffles as the father of Arthur Upfield’s Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, Moran and Sophy must be mistaken about Raffles and Bunny’s sexual orientation. Simon Carne is from Guy Boothby’s collection of stories A Prince of Swindlers. Ranchipur is from the film The Rains of Ranchipur. The Lord of Strange Deaths is Fu Manchu; the Si-Fan is the criminal organization Fu Manchu runs. The Daughter of the Dragon is presumably meant to be Fu Manchu’s daughter, Fah Lo Suee; however, this conflicts with Fah’s established birthdate of 1896. Fu must have had another daughter before Fah Lo Suee. Fal Vale is from Arnold Ridley’s play The Ghost Train. Les Vampires, the Grand Vampire, and Irma Vep are from Louis Feuillade’s serial Les Vampires. Kingstead Cemetery and Van Helsing are from Stoker’s Dracula. La Castafiore is Bianca Castafiore from Hergé’s Tintin comics. Thomas Carnacki, “the Ghost-Finder,” was created by William Hope Hodgson. Bulstrode & Sons is a reference to the British sitcom That’s Your Funeral. Quap is a radioactive compound from H. G. Wells’ novel Tono-Bungay. Mr. Beebe is from E. M. Forster’s novel A Room with a View. Doctor Nikola is the master criminal created by Guy Boothby. Madame Sara is from L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace’s The Sorceress of the Strand. Rick Lai has identified Madame Sara as the mother of Miss Warrender from Doyle’s short story “Uncle Jeremy’s Household” in his own fiction, and therefore Moran is wrong about Sara’s sexuality as well as Raffles and Bunny’s. Margaret Trelawny, Queen Tera, and the Jewel of Seven Stars are from Bram Stoker’s The Jewel of Seven Stars. The Hoxton Creeper is from the Sherlock Holmes film The Pearl of Death. Doctor Mabuse is the subject of fiction by Norbert Jacques, as well as a film trilogy by Fritz Lang. Alraune ten Brincken is from the novel Alraune by Hanns Heinz Ewers. Théophraste Lupin is the father of Maurice Leblanc’s gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, while Joséphine Balsamo is Arsène’s future nemesis. Doctor Jack Quartz and Princess Zanoni are foes of dime novel detective Nick Carter. Rupert of Hentzau, Colonel Sapt, Princess Flavia, Ruritania, Rudi (Rudolf V), Michael (Black Michael), and Rassendyll (Rudolf Rassendyll) are from The Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of Hentzau by Anthony Hope. The Duke of Shires is from the Sherlock Holmes film A Study in Terror. Dr. Syn, aka the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh and Captain Clegg, is from the series of novels by Russell Thorndike. Barchester Cathedral is from Anthony Trollope’s Chronicles of Barsetshire novels. The Forsyte Saga is a series of novels by John Galsworthy. Colonel Clay is from the novel An African Millionaire by Grant Allen. Jim Lassiter is from Zane Grey’s novel Riders of the Purple Sage. Diggory Venn is from Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native. The skull-faced “ghost” in the khanum’s palace at Mazenderan is the Phantom of the Opera, from the novel by Gaston Leroux. The Reverend John Jago is an ancestor of Anthony Jago from Newman’s novel Jago, and also has a counterpart in the Anno Dracula Universe. Paul Forrestier is also from Jago. The Mountmains are likely kin to the Mountmains who appear in Newman’s Seven Stars. Charles Beauregard is from Newman’s Diogenes Club stories, and has a counterpart in the Anno Dracula Universe. In Billy Wilder’s film The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, the Diogenes Club was portrayed as a front for the British Secret Service, a theory Newman has adopted for his own fiction; here, it is revealed the Club eventually became Universal Exports, the front for the BSS in Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels. However, the BSS must have still privately used the Club’s name at times, as demonstrated by Richard Jeperson’s exploits.

Crossover Cover: Don't Ask

John Dortmunder once again crosses paths with guards working for the Continental Detective Agency. The country of Klopstokia is mentioned, as is the Frankenstein family. The Continental Detective Agency is from Dashiell Hammett’s stories about the Continental Op. The Frankenstein family needs no explanation at this point. Klopstokia is from the film Million Dollar Legs.

Crossover Cover: The Templar Salvation

FBI agent Sean Reilly tells his girlfriend, archaeologist Tess Chaykin, about his friend Cotton Malone, a former government agent who has retired, moved to Copenhagen, and opened an antique bookshop. Cotton Malone, who appears in a series of novels by Steve Berry, is already in the CU. Therefore, this crossover brings in Reilly and Chaykin.

Crossover Movie Poster: Friday the 13th

A reboot of the horror franchise. An obnoxious jock named Trent is one of Jason Voorhees’ victims. This is meant to be Trent DeMarco from the movie Transformers, directed by Friday the 13^th producer Michael Bay. Travis Van Winkle played Trent in both films. The events of the Transformers films, involving giant shape-changing robots engaging in very public and destructive battles, are incompatible with CU continuity, and therefore I consider those films and this one as taking place in an AU.

Crossover Cover: Impostors

Mark Baldwin, the CEO of a communications empire that includes the Boston Commoner newspaper, is friends with lawyer Roger Kidd. The fictional Boston Commoner appears in a number of Higgins’ books, including his series about lawyer Jerry Kennedy, who is already in the CU via a reference to Robert B. Parker's private eye Spenser in the first novel, Kennedy for the Defense. Roger Kidd is a supporting character in the Kennedy books.

Crossover Audio Drama: Frostbite

In New York City on Christmas Eve 1947, Dorian Gray encounters a woman in blue, who poisons him, though it does not kill the immortal. Before leaving, the woman identifies herself as Mina Harker. Mina’s reason for attacking Dorian is as yet unrevealed, as is why she is using her maiden name, despite having divorced Jonathan Harker nearly fifty years ago, as referenced in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Crossover Cover: Deeper

Captain Joe Bierden takes a research team, including parapsychologists Jacob and Mary Parsons, to the town of Golden Cove to embark upon a month-long diving expedition, only to encounter the Deep Ones and ghostly pirates. Joe’s wife is from Black Stone Bay. Golden Cove is allegedly built on the site where Innsmouth, which allegedly was completely demolished by the FBI in their raid on the town, once stood. Since Innsmouth is shown as still existing after the events of Lovecraft’s story in several accounts, this must be considered fictionalization in order to maintain CU continuity. More likely, Golden Cove is actually a neighboring town to Innsmouth, since many of its citizens possess “the Innsmouth look.” Jacob and Mary Parsons first appeared in The Pack, the second novel in Moore’s Serenity Falls Trilogy; the trilogy's protagonist, Jonathan Crowley, is in the CU through other crossovers. Black Stone Bay is the setting of Moore’s novels Blood Red and Blood Harvest.

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.”