Mark's Epic Blog of Randomness

By Mark Rodriguez This past weekend I got to check out the Steelcity Con in Monroeville PA, which I haven't been to in a few years. The Steelcity Con is often referred to as PA's premiere comic con and it is awesome. This con also happens more than once a year! The SteelcityCon usually hits PA in April, August and December, making it for 3 awesome times to get cool merch and also meet an ever-changing list of classic celebrities from your childhood. The con is full of possibly the largest collection of goodies of things both new and old. You can find old He-Man and TMNT figures, as well as modern day Funko Pops and WWE figures. Sadly this weekend was not my paycheck weekend so I had to fight against myself to not get blind boxes and M.U.S.C.L.E figures based on He-Man. I had to buckle down and go for what I was really after, a Steelcity Con shirt, and an autograph and pic with Kelly Hu . The autograph prices vary so I was making sure to save most of my spare cash on that au...

By Mark Rodriguez Splinter killed the Shredder and now leads the Foot. Mikey didn't like that and went on his own, returning to the original sewer lair. The Street Phantoms are the new gang in town and Nobody and Alopex are doing their best to stop them. April and Casey break up. Kitsune continues to play mind games with Alopex as Splinter watches on. The rest of the Turtles reunite with Mikey to visit Fugitoid to see what he's up to. We already know that Fugitoid's mystery friend is Leatherhead, but let's all pretend to be surprised anyway. The story opens with some voices, struggling to breathe and saying that have to act fast if they are to survive. The Turtles arrive at Harold's where he's busy rebuilding Metalhead among other projects. He's busy working on some sort of counter measure against the cloak technology the Street Phantoms use that was stolen from him years ago. He suspects his old partner that helped make the cloaks work o...

By Mark Rodriguez The Turtles, minus Mikey now run the Foot and are having problems with the Street Phantoms gang run by Darius Dun. Mikey joined Hob's team for a while until he found out that was working with Hun. When the other Mutanimals found out, some left Hob's side. We also discover that Agent Bishop has been studying mutants for some time. The issue starts with Mikey at the old lair, before it was destroyed by Mousers. He picks up a game controller and remembers when he used to game with Raph, as Leo and Don looked on. He picked up a paper with the Japanese kanji for Father and remembered giving that to Splinter, who hugged him and said the best gift was any day a father can be with his sons. Mikey reminisces and wondered how everything got so messed up. Alopex is with Angel, in her Nobody gear, on the rooftops, zoning out until Angel snaps her out of it. Alopex is having trouble staying focused, trying to deal with something in the back of her mind...

By Mark Rodriguez After the Turtles defeated the Foot and Splinter killed the Shredder.... Splinter has now taken over the Foot to control the city's crime. A new gang called the Street Phantoms have popped up using a cloaking technology that Don's friend Harold is familiar with. Meanwhile, Mikey, who wasn't keen on working with the Foot, left his family and went to join Hob and the Mutanimals. However, despite the team's overall good intentions in fighting crime, Mikey discovers that Hob is secretly working with Hun and they're both stockpiling a massive amount of weaponry. As Mikey is shocked by this, Hun is sneaking up behind him. The issue opens with Mikey saying he's going to strangle Hob when he sees him, just as he gets strangled himself. Mikey bites the arm that's holding him and he sees that Hun was the guy that jumped him. Mikey tosses his grappling hook at him, but Hun catches it and uses it to fling Mikey into a wall. Hob hears...

By Mark Rodriguez After killing the Shredder, Splinter now leads the Foot, hoping to keep them and crime in general under control. Mikey didn't like this and left the group, running into Mondo Gecko. A Foot Assassin named Jennika didn't like Splinter's non-killing ways and teams up with a new gang called the Street Phantoms to kill the rat. The Street Phantoms are defeated by Leo and Alopex, and Splinter is able to talk Jennika out of her treason. Meanwhile, Mondo Gecko welcomes Mikey with the rest of the Mutanimals, but they're all being watched by an agent from Dark Water. The issue opens with the Mutanimals presenting Mikey with a cake. Sally introduces herself as the rest of the gang, since there a few Mikey doesn't know yet like Man Ray and Mutagen Man... and also warns him not to actually eat the cake due to Pigeon Pete being the one that made it. Hob also greets Mikey and says he's glad they're both still alive due to all their rece...

By Mark Rodriguez After killing Shredder, Splinter took over the Foot, causing Mikey to walk out. The Turtles run into a new gang called the Street Phantoms who work for an evil businessman named Darius Dun. Darius gets a visit from a member of the Foot who is not happy with Splinter's new rules. The issue opens with Alopex and Leo sparring. After a quick match we see that they are actually training a group of junior Foot Ninja. Leo tells them to pair up and fight each other using a different fighting style against each other (one using karate against another using tae kwon do for example) to learn to use unpredictability to their advantage. Leo says he thought they would be done with the Foot after winning the gauntlet and never thought they'd be training them now. Alopex asks about Splinter and Leo says he is upset over Mikey leaving the gang even if he doesn't show it. Alopex likes helping out but does miss patrolling the streets with Angel. Angel runs ...

By Mark Rodriguez After 50 issues of plotting revenge and slowly taking full control of New York City, Shredder would finally meet his end at the hands of Hamato Yoshi. And I don't mean just being defeated or being thrown in jail, no Splinter sliced his head clean off. With Shredder gone, Splinter now leads the Foot Clan. Mikey will have no part in this and left the team. So what will happen now that the Turtles have defeated their most hated nemesis? Let's find out. The story opens with Leo, Don and Raph staking out some guys about to do some illegal business deals. Raph can't wait for subtleties and dashes in to attack the guys that are on guard outside. Leo tells Raph that they're gonna practice stealth and to do things the right way. Don uses Harold's devices to see how many are inside and notice that some of them make the equipment go haywire. The turtles bust in and start to attack the men, and some other guys in strange white cloaks. Leo sa...