Mark's Epic Blog of Randomness

 By Mark Rodriguez I picked this up some time ago, and finally found the time to give it a look. It's become a very popular anime and it even had a crossover event in Street Fighter 6 (though not in the way people were hoping for). In this story a master spy, Agent Twilight, is forced to take on a wife and child for his mission. What he didn't know was the wife he chose is an assassin and the kid he chose is a telepath. Let's check it out. Mission one opens with a diplomat in Ostania dying in a car accident due to cut brakes. An organization suspect it was an assassination carried out by the East's political party. They want a war in Westalis so they must know what they're planning in the east. They decide to call the best agent they have, Agent Twilight. Elsewhere a man in a trenchcoat hands over some photos proving that a foreign minister wears a hairpiece to a man in a suit.. The man in the suit says he can use this to make him resign. After the man leaves, the ...

 By Mark Rodriguez Vampire have gathered together all over the world, forming a cult called The Structure. They managed to make all of the Darkforce users in the world explode into portals to the Darkforce Dimension, blocking out the sun. With this happening worldwide, all of the Marvel superheroes have their hands full, and some of them decided to form a team. The story opens on Broadway and Hewes Street in Brooklyn as a couple decide to check out an old movie theater that is still open. They want to hurry and get there before any film students show up looking for extra credit. Just then a bunch of vampires show up, telling them that they're not going to make it. The couple says they have never done anything to vampires, and don't even read those 'sparkly vampire books'.  Suddenly the Blood Hunters arrive, composed of Hallow's Eve, Elsa Bloodstone, White Widow and Dagger. Dagger says they're not missing much from those sparkly vampire books, but she does have s...

 By Mark Rodriguez Marvel has always had vampires running around, which is why we have characters like Blade to keep them in check. Even Jubilee was a vampire for a while. Blood Hunt is the story where all of Marvel's vampires decide to team up to the point where even Dracula is asking for help. This is a five-part mini-series event, with several ties ins with other comics. There was also a Red Band version with bloodier and gorier art than the original. A character might get bitten or slashed in the original but completely disemboweled in the Red Band version. I only purchased the regular version and skipped the tie-ins, so let's see where this goes. The story opens with a countdown to 'Sundeath' as several super powered individuals are being attacked or are succumbing to dark energy. Someone narrates that this is how the world will end. This has always been their work and after so very long, they will complete it. We go to Sundeath 00:15:26 in New York where Iron Man ...

 By Mark Rodriguez Yelena Belova moved to the small town of Idylhaven to live a more normal life and leave her past as an assassin behind. Several suspicious events have been happening all over town, which led to a new company called Armament. Yelena snuck into the building and tried to kill the CEO, but it turned out to be a fake robot. After some assassins were sent after one of Yelena's neighbors, Rowan, Yelena finds out that the real owner of the company is Renata Best. Now the White Widow has a target.... The issue starts with a flashback as Yelena and Natasha spar in an empty arena. Natasha lands a kick to the face, which Yelena manages to block in time. Yelena then knees Natasha in the face and knocks her down. Natasha asks her to teach her that move. Yelena refuses because then she will use it against her. Natasha asks why she keeps refusing the texts she sent about becoming a teacher at Avengers Annex. Yelena says she hates texts and she hates the Avengers. She remembers N...

 By Mark Rodriguez Psylocke has always been one of the more popular X-Men characters, especially back in the 90'. Betsy Braddock was a British mutant with psychic powers that had her mind switched with the Japanese assassin Kwannon. Now she had both psychic powers as well as cool ninja moves. I'm not completely up to date on Psylocke's history since the 90's though it sounds like Betsy did regain her original body. This also looks like her first official comic run, rather than her being part of a team. Let's check it out. The story opens in The Factory, in Alaska, where Cyclops, Quentin, Juggernaut, Magik and Temper wait for Psylocke to arrive so they can start their briefing. Quentin says Psylocke is half an hour late, which means they would have been done half an hour earlier so he can move on to other things. Pyslocke arrives and says she's late due to her flight from Palmdale was almost cancelled due to a blizzard. Quentin asks what she was doing in such a ...

By Mark Rodriguez Street Fighter Masters are pretty much solo stories centered around one of the characters fro the classic fighting series. We've has issues devoted to Blanka, Chun Li, Cammy, Kimberly and others, and now it's Lily's turn. Lily is a member of the same tribe as T.Hawk so she uses similar attacks and also wind attacks. She also fights using clubs called pogamoggans, which have round stones attached. I'm sure getting clocked by one of those in the face would make for a bad guy. Let's see what awaits her in this issue. The issue opens with T. Hawk and Lily driving 30 Kilometers away from the Thunderfoot Settlement. Lily is excited about a new ceremony she will take part in. She asks if the entire village will be there or if it will a secret only for the elders. T. Hawk says this treasured heirloom will soon grace their new shrine and bestow its powers upon generations of the tribe. Lily is concerned since this power can be a boon to their people, but po...