Mark's Epic Blog of Randomness

By Mark Rodriguez Like many people, I grew up with the Adam West Batman show and thought he was just as silly in the comics, which to be fair he was for a while. Then the Micheal Keaton Batman movie came out with a much more serious Batman and a much more murderous Joker. Even as a kid, I was curious if Batman was like West or Keaton so I finally went to the local grocery store and picked up a copy of Batman and Detective comics. It turns out both of theme part 2s of an already ongoing story. So here is part 1 of a story I bought. Part 2 would be the first ever issue Detective Comics I ever bought. "Snow and Ice Part One: Ode to a Penguin" opens with Batman watching over a funeral as a priest read the eulogy as several people, police and Commissioner Gordon watch. The grave has a statue of the Penguin being the priest. A reporter covers the story and comments on how several people might feel regarding the Penguin's passing. One of his criminal rivals, Rafael Santini is p...

 By Mark Rodriguez This time around, I got a bunch of new comics at Third Eye Comics, but also several classic comics that I won at an auction from Mark's Comics through Hipcomic. Since all the comics were from the same store, I only had to pay once for shipping, which was a real lucky break! Let's see how many more comics I need to catch up on.  Black Canary: Best of the Best # 4 The match against Lady Shiva continues. This one seems to be the last issue in the series. Two-Face # 4 Harvey Dent and Two-Face continue to fight against each other for control. Only one personality can take control! Spectacular Spider-Men # 13-  If fighting the two Electros isn't enough, now the Lizard is getting involved!! Batgirl # 5 Cassandra Cain's adventures continue ... and eventually I'll get into this series and drop some reviews.   Thundercats # 13 I'll have to catch up in this one. It looks like there will be a side-series called Thundercats Lost coming out soon as well. ...

By Mark Rodriguez Originally written on Saturday, October 19, 2013. Keep in mind, these were our thoughts as they were back in 2013 when the show was new and was written shortly after seeing the episodes after their initial broadcast. At the time we had zero way of knowing what to expect.   Just in time for Halloween, the Turtles find themselves digging deep into horror movie lore as they face mutated squirrels with heavy Aliens references. Let's check out this episode. The episode opens with the Turtles driving around in the Shell Raiser trying to find the missing Mutagen canisters from the previous episode with the help of Donnie's Mutagen Tracker. Mikey is distracting everyone since he's reading old horror comics. Don gets a signal coming from a Monster Matinee and find a random bum being afraid of a squirrel. Raph is confused as to why he's afraid of the little guy, until the rodent reveals its sharp teeth and long tongue. It then crawls into the guy's mouth. Th...

By Mark Rodriguez Udon comics starts another ongoing series, rather than just one-shots with the Street Fighter characters. This time around they'll be facing all-new villains original to the comics themselves. I'm assuming it's to buy more time while Street Fighter 6's story moves onwards as they add more and more DLC characters. I'm also surprised they're starting with a number 0, which is usually reserved for Free Comic Book Day. Let's take a look. "Enter the Vortex" opens in the Nayshall Desert in Asia. Some men are sitting around a campfire stocking up on weapons. One of the men, Hanuman says he got 40 guns, which will be enough to wipe out Kalima and her resistance. He says it's time they look towards the future of Nayshall rather than the past. A man shows up on a horse saying that he hungers and they will feed him. Hanuman draws his gun and tells the man he chose the wrong path for a pony ride, since it led him to death. The man, cove...

 By Mark Rodriguez I won this comic at an online auction held by Infinity Comics over on Hipcomic. In this issue it looks like Spider-Man is going up against The Absorbing Man and Titania, villains that would usually be fighting the Hulk and She-Hulk. What's going on? Let's check it out. "With Foes like These" opens with Flash Thompson on the run, hiding behind a dumpster in an alley. He was arrested for the crimes of the Hobgoblin and now he was part of a jailbreak. He's hiding from both the police and the real Hobgoblin and thinks only Spider-Man can help him. He wonders if Spider-Men will believe the news and think he's the real Hobgoblin too. Flash remembers his days playing football where his coach would tell him to face his fears and crush them before they crush you. Flash decides to step out from behind the dumpster, being sure that Spider-Man can capture the real Hobgoblin and clear his name. Just then a squad car passes by, having been called in for...

 By Mark Rodriguez I finished my review on the TMNT/Street Fighter crossover, but this isn't the first time that IDW has access to the World Warriors. Back in 2016, IDW still owned the G.I Joe license, so they made a crossover series between the Joes and the Street Fighters. At the time it was probably the first time there was a non-Udon Street Fighter comics since the Malibu days. Let's check it out.   Bison announces that the World Warrior Tournament is about to begin, with Destro by his side. The qualifying rounds are done so now only the best remain and the winner will become the World Warrior. Crimson Viper and The Baroness get ready, as Viper is about to face off against Snake Eyes. Baroness warns to expect betrayal either from Bison or Destro. The first match starts and Snake Eyes is so quick that Crimson Viper can't lay a hand on him. She gets tired of him dodging all her moves and starts using her super moves on him (the Thunder Knuckle and the Burning Kick). Just ...