Mark's Epic Blog of Randomness

By Mark Rodriguez When I forgot got back into the WWE around 2015 they were lots of advertisements regarding WWE Immortals, made by Netherrealms, the guys behind the newer Mortal Kombat games and Injustice Gods Among Us. It was a free phone app game, so why not? Now in 2018 the game is still kicking somehow, with occasional updates here and there. The game's overall story revolves around Bray Wyatt trying to obtain a mystical version of his famous lantern, but The Authority doublecross him and try to use that power for themselves. Doing so accidentally unleashes several different and powerful versions of WWE superstars. The characters mostly go by literal representations of their gimmicks, names or catchphrases, like making The Rock an actual stone golem, Daniel Bryan into a goatman, Kane into a literal demon and Paige into a banshee. You have an interesting set of characters to unlock, both old and new like The Bella Twins, Trish Stratus, Big Show, John Cena and Roman Reigns, and

By Mark Rodriguez Udon comics have done an impressive job with the Street Fighter story. They put in as much lore from the games as they possibly can while quickly adapting to the next game Capcom puts out, and their art is so good, it's been used for the ending of Capcom Fighting Jam as well as Super SF 2 Turbo HD Remix and Ultra SF2 The Final Challengers. This 2017 annual is based on the on-going Street Fighter Unlimited series. Before we go forward, I just noticed that the following short stories were originally bonus stories added in the hardcover graphic novels based on Chun Li, Sakura, Ibuki and Street Fighter 4. They all take place before the current comics storyline. The annual has stories from the SF4 era but the characters are wearing their modern SF5 outfits to keep it fresh Chun Li in 'Miss Brutality' We start in Hong Kong as the final 12 contestants in the Hong Kong Beauty contest are about to see who will win several prizes including a new car with a mill

By Mark Rodriguez The Shredder wants to run New York and wants to defeat any rival gangs and also kill off the Turtles and Splinter. Kitsune, Alopex and Foot Ninjas capture Casey Jones and purposely let Raphael get away to tell the others. When the heroes arrive to rescue him, Shredder gets their attention by ramming his blades into Casey's gut. A fight breaks out and during the commotion, Leonardo gets captured. The heroes don't have time to rescue him since Casey is moments away from death. This issue was also cool cause Johnny was in town visiting me and when I showed him Bent Wookee, this was the issue that so happened to be on sale at the time. City Fall Part 2 starts off with a double-montage of the heroes and villains hurrying off to their pressing matters. April drives her van as Splinter, Raph, and Angel watch over a dying Casey Jones. Elsewhere, a Foot Ninja drives a black van as Shredder, Karai and Alopex watch over an unconscious captured Leonardo. The heroes ar

By Mark Rodriguez So the Power Rangers.... I know that by now there are tons of different incarnations of the Power Rangers, ranging from Dino Thunder to Time Force to I think... Ninja Steel which is the latest incarnation before they release Beast Morphers in 2019.... but for most of us, we'll always remember the first one, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Jason, Zack, Billy, Kimberly, Trini and Tommy, teaming up to stop Rita Repulsa and her evil plans that range from world domination, to just messing with them. Boom Studios recently released comics based on the original Power Rangers before all the season changes. I haven't read any yet, but it looks like a free comic is a great way to start. The issue begins with Drakkon having defeated the Samurai Rangers and taken their Morphers. Zordon and Alpha watch this from their Command Center. Zordon says reality has been broken and Drakkon's army grows stronger. He must request an audience. Alpha warns him of the consequences, and

By Mark Rodriguez Under the Red Hood is one of my favorite all time Batman animated movies. I still remember being in high school when they announced the vote to kill off Jason Todd and I was still confused in discovering that the Robin I saw in the comics was not the Robin from the Adam West show, since Dick Grayson had moved on to become Nightwing. Then the vote came, and the fans wanted him dead, or were at least curious to see if DC would actually pull it off. They did... Under the Red Hood featured the tale of Jason Todd coming back with his new persona, and seeking revenge on the Joker. The animated movie was awesome and I watched it countless times. I dragged Peter into watching it. I dragged Moore into watching it. And I even dragged Paige into watching it. I do admit the chases scenes were a little long, but it was all worth it for the final scenes between Batman, Jason and the Joker. I got back into the Batman comics around this time and after a while I asked myself, how did

By Mark Rodriguez It's time for a whole new line up of Avengers as they start a whole new adventure. The Free Comic Book Day issue explains how centuries ago, several heroes killed a Celestial, and now in modern day, thanks to Loki, it is coming back for revenge. The issue opens with Odin and descendants of Iron Fist, The Sorcerer Supreme, Ghost Rider, The Black Panther and Starbrand, who looks a lot like the Hulk, celebrating their victory over the Celestial. Odin seems pleased but the others are worried that this one was wounded and weakened and they fought in self defense, but the ones that might come will not be. The female Iron Fists asks Agamotto, the Sorcerer Supreme if they have any hope of victory. The Sorcerer responds that they are currently the most powerful forces on the face of the planet, and they are still not enough for the battle that is coming. As the Celestials arrive, Agamotto says something strange is happening to the planet, and they should not be worried abo

By Mark Rodriguez I think it's safe to say that for many people, Spider-Man is their favorite Marvel superhero, just like Batman is the favorite DC superhero for most. Both are parts of superhero teams but are awesome as solo heroes, and both have the most memorable villains. Spider-Man's changed a lot over the years, between clones, between Dock Ock taking his body for a year, to co-existing with Miles Morales, the Spider-Man from an alternate universe. I wonder what's happening to him in 2018 in this Free Comic Book Day story. The comic opens with Spider-Man swinging throughout the city, remarking that while he did become Spider-Man due to getting bitten by a radioactive spider, the tragedy of the loss of uncle Ben and the feeling to do what's right... he also does it to have the wonderful view above the city. Something he can't afford as Peter Parker. When I first saw 'The Views', I thought that was some kind of YouTube reference We see Parker looking for