TOP SECRET Talking Comics Database

Shenani-Girl
“I call shenanigans, eh!”

Recruited in the wilds of Canada to help the TC Team cross the border without disturbing the armoured bears or highly trained attack moose that patrol there, Shenani-Girl is the muscle of the team, using her slight appearance and foxy good looks to fool the bad guys before uttering her catch-phrase “I call shenanigans, eh!” which activates the super-strength that she uses to take down her opponents. With her alter-ego as socialite and woman-about-town Stephanie Cooke as cover, she uses the world’s perception of her as a “party girl” to conceal her true mission; to travel across continents battling the forces of evil as they try to disrupt conventions, and drag comics back into the dark ages of the 80s & 90s and spread their wicked ways for (comic) world domination.

The Maestro is an adept of many mystical disciplines. Foremost among his talents is his ability to perceive a person’s true nature through their auras, and sensing danger or evil, he can re-align them into a gentler state using spells cast in musical tonalities and sound waves. These spells are created with the aid of his sidekick Moo-Moo, who although she appears to be a common housecat, is in fact the re-incarnation of a Japanese mystic warrior princess, whom the Maestro rescued from a shelter, as he could sense her inner nature. The Maestro is also the keeper of arcane musical knowledge dating back centuries… and makes a great “mix tape”. In his civilian identity as Steve Seigh, he is one of the world’s greatest waffle makers!

By day, Bobby Shortle is the journalist owner of the WTCB television and radio networks, and in that capacity he counters dis-information with facts, and ferrets out corruption at the highest levels of society. Using the news stories he has gathered while in his civilian identity, by night, in his super-hero guise as The Broadcaster, he transforms the wicked, the unscrupulous, and the badly un-informed into upright and knowledgeable citizens through the use of his “broadcast power” whether they like it or not, as he also has the ability to win every argument. He is the leader of the TC Team and co-ordinates their activities, as well as those of their support group, the Podcast Brigade. Recently, a shadowy, mysterious figure known only as “Lady S.” has begun sharing information with The Broadcaster, and added a member to his TC Team, of whom he’s slightly suspicious.

The Grey Guardian (aka R.R. Reyer) has been a super-hero for over 50 years, but he ages more slowly due to emanations from a strange meteor at the Museum of Natural History. He has no super-powers (excepting an assurance that he’s always in the right), but uses his gas gun to render evil-doers into non-aggression, as he abhors violence and grimness. He falls prey to melancholy, as he has watched as all his super-heroic peers grow old or die, so in this modern era he walks alone, aided only by the mysterious computer wizard known cryptically as “Audrey”. He is recruited by the mysterious “Lady S.” to help mentor her young charges, molding them into more well-rounded heroes (and comic readers!), in her effort to create a super-team the likes of which the world has never seen!

During an interlude where he is overcome with sadness over his lost comrades of years past, and in hiding from the creatures known as “The Mean Reds”, the Grey Guardian (drawn slumping with a little rain cloud hovering over his head!) is wandering the stacks of his local library, avoiding the glares and shushes of the dreaded Reference Desk Ladies, when out of nowhere *BAM* he is blind-sided by the ball of love that is Moo-Moo, jumping at him from on top of one of the shelves. Temporarily disoriented, he fails to notice the approach of The Maestro, who re-aligns his aura using a Dirty Projectors song, lifting him out of the clutches of “The Mean Reds” (who are utterly vanquished by music), and returning him to a more heroic outlook. The Maestro introduces him to the other members of the TC Team, and The Grey Guardian agrees to join The Maestro, Shenani-Girl, and The Broadcaster at the request of the shadowy “Lady S.” in their latest mission, to fight against the evil powers of Morose and his minions Misery Guts and Grumpy Pants.

Special thanks goes out to our loyal listener Sarah Bell for creating these superhero alter egos for each of us and providing us with an awesome backstory.

Another BIG special thanks goes to the wonderful Hanie Mohd, who created the art for our superhero alter egos. If you aren’t following her on Twitter, please go do so NOW. Also, her Facebook page. And her blog.