About Us
Welcome to Talking Comics, a web site dedicated to covering the latest and greatest in comic book releases. The Talking Comics team is here to dissect as many comic book releases as possible and give you an honest and personal assessment of whether or not something is worth you taking the time to check out. We also aim to provide you with fresh, original articles, editorials and columns that you can read, enjoy and share.
If you want to get a hold of us, you can find us on Twitter @talkingcomics or you can always drop us an email at info@talkingcomicbooks.com. If you have a question specific to one of the lovely people involved with Talking Comics, read on to learn more about them and how you can reach them. If you are a publisher, writer or artist looking to promote your work on Talking Comics and want to send us your comic, please scroll to the bottom of this page for our Review Policy.
The Editorial Staff is composed of:
Bobby Shortle – Editor-In-Chief and Podcast Host
Bobby has had plenty of podcasting experience and one might even consider him a podcast guru (like the rest of the Talking Comics podcast crew). In addition to founding and contributing to the Talking Comics web site and podcast, Bobby works on Fanboy Remix, Doctor Whocast and The Man Cave Podcast.
Things you might not know about Bobby: Bobby is a stand-in for the Riverdance gang… Bobby can dance Michael Flatley under the table.
If you have any questions about the site, where to send comics for us to review or basically anything at all, Bobby is the one you need to talk to.
Stephanie Cooke – Associate Editor, Community Manager and Podcast Co-Host
Stephanie is a lover of video games armed with a PS3, Xbox360, Nintendo Wii, PSP, and a DS as her weapons of choice. Additionally, she is an avid reader and lover of all things relating to comic books and books in general. She also loves to kick it old school with her rad collection of board games. You can always find her rocking out to her favorite music or devouring movies by the handful. Should you be lucky enough, you may one day marvel at her epic collection of comic book figures, movie memorabilia and more.
Things you may not know about Stephanie: Stephanie’s internet is in fact powered by zamboni driving polar bears who keep themselves energized by eating Tim Horton’s donuts.
Steve Seigh – Executive Editor and Podcast Co-Host
Steve is a master of video games and an avid concertgoer. He is quite possibly the male equivalent to a crazy cat lady and lives in a magical world called New York. Steve also enjoys long walks on the beach (with his cat, Moo Moo), cooking exotic pancakes and watching movies while juggling infants and chainsaws. Steve can often be found not wearing any pants and that’s only one reason why people love him. When he’s not writing for Talking Comics, you can find him over at JoBlo.com where Steve writes a bi-weekly column all about animation called Ink & Pixel.
Things you might not know about Steve: He’s actually an undercover superhero, but shhhh… don’t tell him I told you.
Bob Reyer – Associate Editor and Podcast Co-Host
Bob’s first Marvel comic was Fantastic Four #5, and although he doesn’t still own that particular copy, he does own many raggedy books from his childhood, some of which feature his own artwork on the inside covers…which he now regrets, obviously. Bob is also an avid movie buff, whose far-reaching tastes can embrace a range including Krzysztof Kieslowski and Edward D. Wood, Jr., though more the latter than the former.
On a personal note, Bob is the only child of an only child, so he has created an imaginary friend named Audrey, so that he has the barest chance to win an argument.
(“He almost never succeeds, darling.”–Audrey)
Things you may not know about Bob: According to many people in the local community, Bob bakes the world’s best New York cheesecake!
To contact Bob, since he didn’t know what a podcast was until he was on one, and that excepting 4 Hutu tribesman (and possibly Stephanie’s Oma) he’s the only person not to own a cell phone, or be on Twitter, send him an e-mail:
Regular Contributors:
Melissa Megan
Melissa likes to play games, read books, cut hair, eat cookies, cuddle and play with goats. She really, really likes goats. She watches lots of movies and especially loves the scary ones. Her time is largely spent maintaining multiple social media outlets both for her salon and for her own personal, vain reasons. She’s been known to be sarcastic and sometimes to not make any sense at all, but people seem to be ok with that. When Melissa isn’t rambling about comic books here on Talking Comics, she is rambling about comic books on Nerds in Babeland or other things on her Tumblr page.
Things you might not want to know about Melissa: Melissa tweets frequently from the bathroom, often about her dog farting or eating roadkill. It’s too sexy for children under 15.
Travis McCollum
Travis is a hard one to peg, or at least that’s what all his friends say. Avid gamer, comic nerd, movie buff, brony and full of useless trivia, Travis is known for two things: talking till your ears fall off and keeping you on your toes. The latter one can be dangerous for some. When he’s not writing for Talking Comics, he freelances for other sites as well as maintaining his own blog TME Ink.
Things You Might Not Know About Travis: Travis does stand-in work for Matt Damon, or at least all the roles in which he gains 100 lbs. You may have seen him in nothing.
Talisha Harrison
Talisha or Tali as she’s also known, is a quiet person who expresses herself best through her writing. She has always enjoyed comics, video games, music, and cartoons. She owns a lot of purple stuff and has two kitties named Felicia and Selina. When she’s not writing reviews or character spotlights for Talking Comics, she’s writing for other sites, learning how to draw, letter comics, and writing scripts as she’s trying to break into the comic book industry.
Things You May Not Know About Tali: Her first ever comic book story was published in Womanthology: Heroic. She also wrote two more stories for the Womanthology Holiday PDF and Valentine’s Day Special. Tali has three more comic book stories coming out in The Gathering Anthology’s Crime, War, and All Women 2 Volumes that’ll be out next year. If you so choose, you can follow Tali’s personal comic book journey over on her Tumblr.
Mara Whiteside
Mara Whiteside is currently halfway through her PhD, but it feels like an eternity. Her research focus is comic books and how they can be used in therapy and educational settings. She tends to spend most of her day reading comic books, writing about them, and thinking about comic books (kind of a one-track mind…). Mara’s other hobbies include reading manga, playing Dungeons & Dragons, and working at her local comic book shop. She hoping to learn how to sew so she can cosplay and join the 501st.
Things You May Not Know About Mara: Her apartment looks like it was decorated by a 12-year-old boy. You can find Mara over on her blog.
Joey Braccino
Joey Braccino took his BA in English and turned it into an Ed.M. in English Education. Currently, he brings comics back in a big way all day every day to public education. In addition to proselytizing the good word of comics to this nation’s under-aged citizenry, Joey is a firm believer in the academic and literary merits of cultural media more broadly—particularly film, radio, pop journalism, and social media. He’s also a firm believer in knowing your history, which is especially important in the legacy-laced industry of comics. So if his reviews are loaded with filmic, historic, or literaric references, know that he’s doing so with love and learning in mind!
Things You May Not Know About Joey: He actually likes the Daredevil film from 2003, especially the Director’s Cut featuring Coolio in a legalese-ridden sub-plot! He also really enjoyed Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark (after they booted Julie Taymour and rewrote the book)! He’s open-minded like that. You can find Joey over on his blog.
Adam Shaw
Adam is a funny guy, or at least that’s what he likes to tell himself. He’s been doing stand-up comedy for several years, and as long as people keep laughing, he’ll continue to think he’s funny. Adam is involved in some theater stuff too, but is also an all-around nerd and geek. He loves comics, Star Wars, science, and Doctor Who.
He lives in Japan, so you probably won’t be catching him at any of your local cons. Unless you go to Dragon Con. Adam lives for Dragon Con, and makes claims that it is like Christmas for adults.
Things You May Not Know About Adam: Adam often appears at official promotional events in Tokyo as Boba Fett. He also owns a tweed jacket cut from the same bolt of fabric as Matt Smith’s. He takes his hobbies a little too seriously.
Sean Lamont
ex-reviewer by trade many moons ago (when they used to take the words and put them on paper to distibute them; Barbaric), Sean abandoned the obsessively nit-picky demeanor that nearly drove him away from all entertainment and adopted a sunnier disposition in his criticisms. If he is not working on reviews here (or whatever his ADD hobby du jour is this week), Sean is usually working on his own DC Comics-centric podcast over at DCR Podcast.
Things You May Not Know About Sean: He is internationally infamous for instigating the second known naval conflict between Brazil and the Netherlands during an especially raucous World Cup in the canals of Amsterdam. Sean, and all other onlookers, were the clear winners of this tragic battle.
Review Policy:
If you are looking for us to review your comic or graphic novel, here are a few quick notes about getting a review posted on our site:
1. We get a lot of review copies everyday. That doesn’t mean that we won’t get to yours, but we do have to pick and choose which books we are going to add to the sites review panel.
2. All of the contributors at the Talking Comics will ALWAYS give their honest review on a book. We are in no way out to slander an author or their work, but obviously we won’t always enjoy every single book we read. We will read and give our honest opinions on how we felt about the book, always in a constructive manner – good or bad. However, with that being said, we always prefer to give a positive review as opposed to a negative one.
3. When you send us a book, please let us know if you have a particular time frame for when you want the review published. Unless you specifically request a time frame for the review to be published, we reserve the right to publish the reviews at our own discretion.
4. We reserve the right to not write a review for every book we are sent. As previously mentioned, we receive quite a few review copies and while we would love to write reviews for everything, it’s really just not possible.
5. All genres are accepted as review copies. We have contributors that more or less specialize in a bunch of different genres, so between us all, we’ve got it covered. We also accept Digital Copies to review as well.
6. Last, but not least, all book review requests are to be directed to Bobby Shortle- bobby@talkingcomicbooks.com. Bobby is the founder of the site and knows which contributors would be best suited to your reviewing needs. Upon emailing Bobby, a mailing address will be provided as to where to send your review copy.