Mark's Epic Blog of Randomness

 By Mark Rodriguez One of the characters that Lara Croft has bumped into in several occasions is none other than Sara Pezzini, the Witchblade. They both crossover into each other's books and sometimes both of them crossover into someone else's book. While Lara Croft has had several long running comic book series, her first comic book appearance was in a crossover with Witchblade. I was able to get the 'Revisited' reprint, so here we go. "Vendetta" opens with an old woman calling the police over what she believes is a domestic dispute happening next door. Suddenly a giant winged monster smashes its way through the wall, carrying a man in its claws. The monster drops the man right next to the woman on the phone. Suddenly something breaks through the front door as well. Lara Croft appears, aiming her dual pistols at the monster. The monster throws a punch towards what's left of the door, and Lara flips out of the way. She calls the monster ugly and slow and ...

 By Mark Rodriguez Tomb Raider, Lara Croft was hired by the devious Paris D'Arseine to find the legendary Medusa Mask. This dangerous mission led to the death of her butler Compton. She ran into another treasure hunter she was once involved with named Chase Carver. After surviving a fight in a burning warehouse, their quest led them to the mountains in Tibet. While finding a particular area on the side of the mountain, it gives way, making Lara and Chase fall through a hidden area. They fall hurtling through total darkness not knowing what to expect. Lara and Chase continue to fall, expecting to splatter onto a hard surface, but instead they hit the water. They're surprised but lucky to be alive and in one piece. They swim to shore. Lara asks Carver his flashlight still works. Chase assures her that 'everything on him works' and Lara tells him to stop and just use the flashlight.  The pair find themselves in a large cavern. As the venture through, Lara finds that wicks ...

 By Mark Rodriguez Lara Croft is on the hunt for the legendary Medusa Mask on the behalf of some very dangerous men. Her search led her to Nepal and a man named Taj. Taj gets shot by an arrow before he can tell her anything. Her butler Compton tells Lara to run as he's also hit by an arrow. Suddenly Lara is grabbed and dragged into an alley with a knife pressed up against her throat! The issue opens as Lara explains how she was paid by Paris D'Arseine to find the Medusa Mask, and currently Compton was hit by an arrow and it looks fatal. Lara is being held at knife point and feels she is soon to follow.  Lara is able to backhand the guy in the face and then kick him in the stomach. She runs towards Compton but is surrounded by arrows. The man grabs her again and tells her to get back before they turn her into a pin cushion. Lara recognizes the voice as someone that once made her heart melt in a past time she'd rather not acknowledge. She turns to face the man, who turns out ...

 By Mark Rodriguez Lara Croft is on the hunt for the legendary Medusa Mask on the behalf of some very dangerous men. As she's searching a sunken ship underwater, some men strap a bomb to the side of her boat as well as the sunken ship itself. As she notices the bomb go off on her yacht, she noticed someone cut her air supply. As she tries to swim back to the surface, she gets knocked unconscious by the explosion from the sunken ship. Lara Croft is floating underwater as the divers swim towards her. She is actually still conscious but lays limp as they inspect her. She determines these are the guys that set up the bomb and also cut her air supply, and are now after the item she found. Lara suddenly 'wakes up' and a knife from one of the diver and stabs him in the side. She takes his air supply but sees the other diver swimming towards her, armed with his own knife.  The diver swings his knife at Lara and tries to grapple with her. She kicks him off and ducks under his attack...

 By Mark Rodriguez Lara Croft has rocked the world in 1996 as a thrill-seeking world-traveling adventurer when Tomb Raider hit the SEGA Saturn and Sony Playstation. Garnering a huge fanbase due to the action-packed gameplay as well as Lara's looks and overall bad-assness, it's no surprise she'd eventually branch out into other forms of media or merchandising. In 1999 she got herself a comic book series from Top Cow and Image comics. Thanks to Hipcomics I was able to grab a copy, so let's check it out.  'The Medusa Mask' opens in Iran as the narrator explains how dangerous the place can be, especially towards thieves. Several Iranian soldiers are looking for 'the westerner' and start taking off the hijabs of any woman they see. One of them takes the hijab off a particular woman who turns out to be Lara Croft. One of the men sets her gun to her head and she tells him if he shoots, he'll mess up the 2200-year old necklace he's been told to recover. ...