Mark's Epic Blog of Randomness

 By Mark Rodriguez Lara Croft and her new assistant Madeline, have come into the possession of a gem called The Eye of Shaharettin which is said to allow the person holding it to see visions into the future. A secret organization called the Midnight Squires have set their eyes on Lara and want their gem back. Lara went to see a security expert named John Rivers for help. Lara gets a vision of armed men headed towards them. As they try to escape through John's office window, now Lara, Madeline and John find themselves surrounded. What will happen now?   "Dead Center Part 3" opens with Lara, Madeline and John surrounded by the armed men. One of them says they can either drop their weapons and come quietly or they'll start shooting until their clips are empty. Madeline tells Lara she doesn't think they're bluffing, and the Tomb Raider agrees. Lara puts her guns away and tells the men to put the safeties on their weapons. The men say they give the orders and star...

 By Mark Rodriguez The X-Men are back in action as they rescued Dazzler from the Friends of Humanity. They run into a government group that claim to be helping mutants but have a hidden agenda. Jean announced that she's pregnant... and this brings the attention of Mr. Sinister who plans to recruit new allies to assist him. What will happen now?   The issue opens with reporter Trish Tilby covering the attack of the Nasty Boys at the Charles Xavier Memorial Concert and how Dazzler and the X-Men stopped them. She reports as this is the latest example of high-profile heroism as the X-Men continue to gain favor with the public at large. Mr. Sinister angrily punches the TV, smashing the screen. Mr. Sinister says that humanity has feared mutants which kept the X-Men busy while he continued his plans. Now the X-Men are close to realizing Xavier's dreams. The key to his genetic research is in his grasp and he won't risk losing it. He tells his new Sinister Seven that it's time t...

 By Mark Rodriguez Spider-Man succeeded in rescuing Mary Jane from the portal dimension after the end of the 90's animated series. However new villains loom over the horizon, namely Morlun, a long-lived man that feasts on 'spider totems' and is after Spider-Man in particular. As Morlun defeats the wall crawler in a fight, Kraven the Hunter is watching from the rooftops. How is he involved and how does he know Morlun?    "Chapter Three- Totems" opens with a lion roaming around the rooftop of the Sims Foundation late at night. The lion, named Gulyadkin, growls loudly but is hushed by Kraven, as they don't want to reveal themselves just yet. Meanwhile Morlun monologues about how long before humans came to be and time was recorded there were countless other races and civilizations. Several have risen and fell over the course of hundreds of thousands of years. One of them was Morlun's home, the kingdom called Lokka. Morlun was a prince, son of a king that died...

 By Mark Rodriguez Mutagen Man has returned and this time he mutates anyone touches without his control. Shredder, Manmoth and Aka show up, and after a battle with the Turtles, they managed to capture Mutagen Man. After the villains got away, the Turtles realize that Michaelangelo bumped into Mutagen Man during the scuffle has and now mutated into several animals at once!!   "Revenge of the Mutagen Man?!? (Part 2)" opens with the Turtles reaction to Michaelangelo's second mutation. Donatello says mutation shouldn't work that way. Leonardo asks Mikey if it's really him. Raphael asks if Mikey isn't hungering for living flesh. Michaelangelo says he's just hungry for pizza and reminds them that they have to rescue Mutagen Man from Shredder.    Unfortunately, Donatello says Shredder's flying platform will be out of tracking range by the time they get back to their blimp. Michaelangelo says they can't have that and takes flight after them. Leonardo is s...

 By Mark Rodriguez This time we hit up Alpha Comics and Games for our comics. As you might know from previous entries these are other comics besides the usual Marvel and DC fare. I also got 3 comics in the mail just today, so that's good luck and timing! Batman/Deadpool # 1 - First we had the unexpected and surprising Deadpool/Batman crossover, so now we have the Batman/Crossover one that will feature several Marvel/DC crossover goodness. Street Fighter Masters- Zangief # 1 - We finally get the next book in the Street Fighter Masters line. With constant delays and order-switching with the Udon comics, it seems Zangief beat both Guile and Elena to the punch.  Tales of the TMNT # 2- Donatello's summer camp adventure continues as he teams up with Metalhead to stop Bishop's plans. This comic is going to be a mini-series, so I might as well. TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures # 31- The Mutagen Man story continues. The Turtles will have to deal with him, as well as Shredder and t...

 By Mark Rodriguez A whole new adventure starts as this time the mystery comes to Lara Croft! Lara hires a new assistant named Madeline Hovan and when she came in for the job, she found a dead man by her bed! On top of that, Lara found a green jewel called the Eye of Shaharettin on her bed, and several armed men arrive to try to take it and gun down any witnesses. Lara and Madeline barely escape on a jetski as solving this mystery has now become the next order of business. What will happen next?   "Dead Center Part 2" opens with a man in a suit admiring his fireplace as he recites 'Rule the world, turn by turn, enter the fire, embrace the burn, a Midnight Squire. It seems the man uses the fire to materialize in a large facility full of workers. The man, Mr. Roetek, enters a private room and tells his guards not to disturb him unless war breaks out. As he enters, he asks his men why they failed. The men tell him that they encountered someone whose resourcefulness is almos...

 By Mark Rodriguez After a brief adventure in which Lara Croft faced dinosaurs and an immortal Morgan Le Fay, alongside her companions Chase and Vanessa, our thrill-seeking tomb raider starts a whole new adventure. We kick off a four-part story!    "Dead Center Part 1" opens with Lara at the shooting range as the police officers watch her, totally impressed by her skills. Lara thanks one of the officers, Connie, for allowing her to do so, since it's difficult to find a place to practice shooting in LA.    Lara asks Chase if he's ready to move. Chase comments that they've been getting along pretty well recently. They worked a few jobs together and Lara hasn't dumped him when she is capable of succeeding on her own. He asks her if there's a chance they can get back together again. Lara asks him if he can grab her target for her. Chase tries to stay on topic and says he didn't want to put too much heat on her. As he grabs the target, he sees it riddled w...