Mark's Epic Blog of Randomness

 By Mark Rodriguez For those that don't know, EVO is an annual fighting game tournament hosting several games, held in Las Vegas during the summer. Lately being featured at Evo has become a make-or-break for a game's popularity. Some examples were Capcom rushing Street Fighter 5 out in a bare-bones state just so it would be available in time for that year's EVO, or Marvel VS Capcom Infinite getting the snub by the fans as EVO excluded it from the line-up (and also cause the game was downgrade from MVC3).  Aside from the gaming, the show also has trailers of upcoming games or new DLC characters for existing games. This time around we got DLC reveals for new characters being added to Guilty Gear Strive (Robo-Ky) and Tekken 8 (Bob), and Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star finally became available for Fatal Fury City of the Wolves right after the Finals for that game ended. The most surprising thing this time around were trailers for new DLC characters.... being added to old g...

 By Mark Rodriguez So Dead or Alive 6 Last Round is finally out! And they did what they should have led with from the start. The first all-new character has been announced!  For those that missed out, Dead or Alive 6 has returned with a Last Round upgrade. However the new version barely has anything new if you compare how DOA5 Last Round was an upgrade to DOA5 Ultimate. Everything is mostly the same except for the new OBORO system that improves the lighting and details for the Lost Paradise stage with it being included in later stages down the line, and a new camera system. Kasumi, Ayane, Honoka, Marie Rose and NiCo will be getting a new costume each and there is a pre-order bonus costume for Marie Rose.     The main downside is the cost of Koei Tecmo having to pay for the SNK license to use Mai and Kula a second time. As a result, those two are not available in the base Last Round game and have to be paid for a second time. Luckily the other DLC characters, Nyotengu...

 By Mark Rodriguez This time around things we didn't have that huge of a haul or any other books that came in the mail. We hit up Third Eye after giving the shop a break for a while and here are the picks that we got. There is at least one comic I'm going to have to grab from Hipcomic though. Avengers Armageddon # 1- Red Hulk wants to rule the world in an event that Marvel hints is so huge, there will be a before and after to this. Let's see if any changes actually stick... Black Cat # 11- Now The Punisher is getting involved.  DC X Sonic the Hedgehog- Metal Legion # 2- Dr. Eggman joins the Legion of Doom!! Captain Marvel Dark Past # 3- Captain Marvel and Spider-Woman face off against Desecrator!!  Batman # 10- Batman's adventures continue as he watched over Gotham.  Batgirl # 20- Batgirl is out to solve a murder she never forgot. Barbara Gordon Breakout # 2- Barbara starts to her breakout from prison, but things get complicated! While I heard that there was a ...

 By Mark Rodriguez We finally hit up Third Eye after going all the separate Saturdays to get our free graphic novels. The choice we got was very unexpected but nostalgic. A bunch of comics I ordered also came in the mail at just the right time. So let's check out what we got!   The Amazing Spider-Man # 334- I'm collecting the issues of the Return of the Sinister Six story line. This part one and it looks like Spidey has a run in with Electro to kick things off. The Amazing Spider-Man # 338- Part five of the Return of the Sinister Six story as an all about battle royale breaks out.  Psylocke Ninja # 5- The story continues as we go into Betsy's first adventures in Kwannon's body.  Batman Hush 2 # 163- After many delays, we finally get the conclusion to Batman Hush 2... part one!! When will part two comes out? Who knows!! Superman # 129-   I continue to collect the adventures of Superman during his Electric Blue era! Superman # 130- Superman Blue's adventur...

 By Mark Rodriguez So this is another new series I discovered thanks to Free Comic Book Day. That's one of the benefits of FCBD, you not only get previews of series you already know and heard of, you also discover things you never seen before. Something about the cover made me pick this up, though I'm not sure what. The comic promises thrills and suspense akin to Mission Impossible, John Wick and James Bond. Let's check it out.   The story opens with Joanna Tan visiting her friend Olga, who answers the door while aiming a gun at her face. She lowers her weapon once she sees it's her friend. Joanna asks if her father is home. Olga says he hasn't 'been home' since her brother died. He might live, eat and sleep there but he hasn't been home. Joanna says this is important, and Olga comments that it always is. Joanna fills her in on the whole story. There was an assassination plot in Paris, where her partner was manipulated into killing his own boss, the dire...

 By Mark Rodriguez This time around, Third Eye had an entire pull box full of free DC comics, one for each customer. Naturally since Wendy and I went together, we chose two books. We also got a few things from the pullbox and some stuff came in the mail. Let's check em out.   Venom # 258- Now that the Death Spiral story ended, where do Peter, MJ, Spider-Man and Venom go from here? Sai Dimensional Rivals #5- The final issue of this epic mini-series of the Marvel Rivals version of Psylocke!  Batwoman # 1 - This came out earlier this year, I believe. It's the free issue that Wendy chose.  Detective Comics # 66 reprint- A reprint of the original Detective comics that would introduce that classic villain Two-Face. The original comic was released in 1942. This was the free comic that I chose.   I also swung by Alpha Comics and Games and picked up the following.   JLA/Avengers # 1- This one came out of nowhere. I know there were crossovers in the past so ...

 By Mark Rodriguez One of the books for this year's Free Comic Book Day that got us curious was The Name She Lost- Inanna. She's a new character from Vault Comics but at a quick glance you'd think it's a new Amazon from Themyscira. The cover grabbed our attention so we picked it up, as Wendy grabbed it before I had the chance to do so. Let's check it out.   The story opens 5000 years ago, in the city of Uruk, the first city of Sumer. Soldiers line up at the castle overview to defend the city as a huge army looms over the horizon. One of the soldiers is pretty young and is shaking in his armor. The approaching army say they come in the name of the city-states of Eridu, Sippar and Larak. They call for the death of Uruk. As the army marches towards them, the scared soldier prays to his goddess, the Mistress of Heaven, known for her love of blood, to save them. Suddenly Inanna appears in front of the army, saying she hears the great sound of the young man's fear, wh...