“Tales of the Shadowmen: Grand Guignol” (2010) is the sixth volume of this eclectic anthology series from Black Coat Press.
This collection fits into Philip José Farmer‘s “Wold Newton” concept.
This collection kicks off with an intro on the Grand Guignol in Paris.
The stories in this collection are:
• Christopher Paul Carey: “Caesar’s Children” is a different story that instead of a crossover with character, it is a crossover with various literary utopias.
• Win Scott Eckert: “Is He in Hell?” has the Scarlet Pimpernel going up against the Black Coats (the French criminal organization).
• Emmanuel Gorlier: “Out of Time” deals with the Nyctalope (an early French proto-superhero) that explains how in the novel “Belzebuth” the hero and his friend travel to the future via suspended animation, but someone he winds up back home after waking up.
• Matthew Baugh and Micah Harris: “The Scorpion and the Fox” starring Becky Sharp (who we last saw in Volume 3) on further adventures, including going up against the Yellow Shadow (a foe of French adventurer Bob Morane).
• Travis Hiltz: “The Treasure of the Ubasti” has Sâr Dubnotal (an early occult detective from the French pulps) traveling India in the “Behemoth,” a steam-powered elephant. With him is American Dr. Henry Jones, and along the way they met Mowgli.
• Rick Lai: “Incident in the Boer War” focuses on the death of A.J. Raffles (amateur cracksman), who is killed by Fantômas (the French super-criminal).
• Roman Leary: “The Children of Heracles,” set in 1949 when the Nyctalope was wandering the American southwest (after leaving Argentina), explains what wiped out the French colony on Mars. It ties in with the Martian capsule seen in “Quatermass and the Pit” and this story has Prof Quatermass as well as The Master (from “Doctor Who”).
• Jean-Marc Lofficier: “J.C. in Alphaville” has Michael Moorcock‘s Jerry Cornelius visiting Alphaville, the strange city from the French avante-garde film of the same name.
• Randy Lofficier: “The Spear of Destiny” is another story with the Phantom Angel, introduced in previous volumes.
• Xavier Mauméjean: “The Man for the Job” is another strange short (very short) story.
• William P. Maynard: “Yes Virginia There is a Fantômas” is a sequel to the movie serial “Fantomas in America” where NY cop Frederick Dickson purses Fantômas back to Paris. Will he succeed in stopping his latest crime?
• John Peel: “The Biggest Guns” set in WWI, has Doc Ardan (an early French adventurer who is used as an alias for Doc Savage) on a mission that has him involved with The Gun Club (from Jules Verne) and Lord Roxton (from Conan Doyle).
• Neil Penswick: “The Vampire Murders” stars Harry Dickson (the “American Sherlock Holmes” created as a Holmes pastiche in Europe) going up against another vampire. Or does he?
• Dennis E. Power: “No Good Deed…” stars Phileas Fogg‘s assistants at a young age, involved with armchair detective Pere Tabaret.
• Frank Schildiner: “Laurels for the Toff” has Jean Kariven, a French hero who investigates ancient astronaut matters before getting involved in an intergalactic war between the good Polarians and the evil Denebians. He is in England, and is assisted by The Toff, an English hero created by John Creasey.
• Bradley H. Sinor: “Where the Shadows Began…” is a horror tale that has Inspector Legrasse (created by H.P. Lovecraft) going up against further horrors.
• Michel Stéphan: “The Red Silk Scarf” also has Harry Dickson, this time going up against Madame Atomos (the vengeful Japanese scientist from the French series of books).
• David L. Vineyard: “The Children’s Crusade” another Arsene Lupin tale (the French gentleman thief) meeting up with Harry Lime (from the book and film “The Third Man”) and Gregory Arkadin (created by Orson Welles).
• Brian Stableford: “Where Zombies Armies Clash by Night” is part five of “The Empire of the Necromancers.”
At the end of the volume is information on the characters used and who created them, though this may not help point you to where they are from. (Wikipedia is most useful here, along with Black Coat Press’s French Wold Newton site and Cool French Comics site). The “Starring” lists the characters who appear in the story, “Co-starring” lists characters mentioned in the story, and “Also Starring” lists places and things that appear or are mentioned in the story.
I have all the past volumes and look forward to the next in this annual series.
