About Dan Hancock

I started buying comics in middle school when my buddy James got me into them in the early 90's. Wow, what a bad time to start buying comics - my first crossover experience was Infinity Gauntlet (which I still secretly enjoy). I really loved Valiant before they tanked, and I quit reading all comics when they did (tanked being around the time they cancelled Archer and Armstrong). I've been collecting toys for much longer, but started in force with the new Star Wars figures in '96. Since then, I've bought hundreds of Transformers and tons of other figures. When it comes to comic figures, I buy what I like, but I am no longer any kind of completist - having a baby makes that impossible, since diapers cost money.

I used to be a Marvel zombie, but I can't take Marvel anymore. Right now, I'm a DC fan to the core. My all-time favorite characters are Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), Robin (Tim Drake), Iron Man and Cyclops of the X-Men.

I've been doing toy websites since '99, when I started Dragonballtoys.com, and I built and ran SuperheroTimes.com for its first year. I've got a personal site at Shadowbot.com and a family blog at Littlebots.net. I'm also on Twitter if you're nasty.

About Omar Valdivieso

I have been collecting comics for 20+ years now, off and on. I can remember my first issue X-men 168, you know the Professor Xavier is a Jerk story (its amazing I ever got laid, knowing information like that.) I quit collecting comics when 75% of Americans did, in the mid 90's. I believe it was the Onslaught crossover that did it for me. Sadly most of my comics had to go to honest comic book dealers (sarcasm) so I could buy shit for women (because women like it when you buy them stuff). In 2002 my friend Dennis kept bugging me to read some of the comics that were out, and again I was drawn to the wonderful world of comics. I have been collecting figures since I was a kid and managed to keep some of my toys safe from mom's yard sales. Mainly I pick up anything anime related, being a fan of anime (no shit) and videogames (I have way too many hobbies). Lately I have been getting into the Kingdom Come, Justice League Unlimited, and Marvel Select figures.

Currently I'm enjoying New Warriors, Bastard, Berserk, Cable and Deadpool, Green Lantern, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Invincible, Teen Titans, Oh My Goddess, Y the Last Man, Fables, Buffy Season 8, X-factor, Booster Gold, Flight, and Walking Dead to name a few. Wolverine is and will always be my personal favorite character...Archangel would have made the list, when he was blue and bad-ass! and had metal wings, you know, not the healing pussy Angel he's become. Nightwing (from little boy, who didn't wear enough clothes and teamed up with his heterosexual partner three times his age to kick-ass dark protector of Bludhaven, or where ever he will be after Final Crisis) is a character I have always enjoyed reading about. Paralax is another favorite of mine, hell anyone that can take out the Green Lantern Corp should be up on the list.

Fantastic Plastic is my article that runs in Beckett Anime Magazine once a month. There I gripe or praise figures from anime and video games....yes this is a plug. But that's enough about me...this isn't myspace or a blog.

About Melanie Givan

I've had a crush on Spider-Man since the 7th grade, but the clone saga gave me some "time apart" from comics, along with the high school puberty weirdo years. But I returned to my love and comics in college, and I've been reading ever since. Who knew that there was a whole world of different characters and stories waiting?!

Right now I'm enjoying Astonishing X-Men, Fables, Sandman, Runaways, X-factor, Green Lanter, and Ultimate Spider-Man. But don't be fooled; I'm also a huge anything-that-has-to-do-with-the-Japanese-culture fan! So the manga I'm enjoying right now are Kare Kano, Parasyte, Vampire Hunter D novels, Boys Over Flowers, and Flowers and Bees. Basically, anything that has a flower on the cover! Of course, Flowers and Bees is all about a guy trying to have sex with as many girls as possible..., so my taste varies.

I teach high school freshman English and comic books are prevalent in my classroom. I can't wait to teach a creative writing class so I can make them study Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics and make them create their own comic books! Mwahahahahahaha!!!

About Chris Heltzel

I'm the indy guy of the group, always trying to push all things independent about comic books and about heroes. I like the big two, but between continuity and double page ads I lean a lot toward new and different things, plus I get bored a lot. So you'll hear me on the podcast talking about the Goon and Omar will dog me for still getting Spawn but oh well. I'm also the loudest one in the group and get heated a lot. Odds are if someone is cutting off Melanie, it's me! I've known Melanie from Karate classes way back in the day and met Omar randomly and then Dan through Omar. I'm the one who gave Ben his nickname Spider-Ben, which I think he is about to legalize. Basically I eat, sleep, and breathe comic books, the perfect geek. I also enjoy long walks in graveyards and dinner by a bonefire of corpses, with or without stakes, I mean the kind you impale people on not the kind you eat. I think I'm getting off topic, so I'll leave you with this, the Goon, and Hellboy are awesome, read stuff by Paul Jenkins and Grant Morrison, and spay or neuter your pets and kids.

About Nick Grugin AKA The Fastest Nick Alive!

I am the "read anything" kinda comic guy. From Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane to Witchblade, I try and give every comic at least a taste. Every once and awhile I add a weird perspective to the podcast an still contend Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) is one of the greatest comic heroes ever. Some of my favorite comics currently are Slott's incredibly funny She-Hulk run, Justice Society of America, Green Lantern, Brave & the Bold, Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse, and Fell.

Nick-named by some as the Fastest Nick Alive (grr to you Dan) I can read just about any trade given in less then an hour and inexplicably always show up 20 to 30 minutes early everywhere. In my free time I mess around with web design some, help moderate the forum boards here, and run my own personal comic blog, Comic Overload.

About Ben Bennett AKA Spider-Ben

Hello, my name is Ben Bennett. For the past few years I've been known as Spider-Ben to all of my friends. Chris gave me that name and it just sticked! I got into comic books back in 1992 when the X-Men animated series was playing on the Fox network. I noticed after the opening credits there was a Marvel Comics logo, which led to me going to my first comic book store. The X-Men were my favorite heroes from the get-go, which is a surprise considering that I'm a total Spider-Man fanatic.

I got into Spider-Man when my best friend at the time Josh was spending the night at my place and we went to rent some Super-Nintendo video games. We rented the Spider-Man and the X-Men: Arcades Revenge game. The first level required players to play as Spidey first before meeting up with the X-Men. I was mad at first cause Wolverine was my favorite hero at the time and I wanted to play as him instead of Spidey. But as I played as Spidey, crawling walls and shooting webs something clicked within. Suddenly, Wolverine wasn't quite as fascinating as this crimson clad wall crawling hero.

This led to my first Spider-Man comic, Amazing Spider-Man #362. This was part 2 of the Carnage arc and I had no idea what the hell was going on! Who was this crazy guy shooting red things from his arms? Why is Spider-Man going to a desert island with a big honking gun to find some muscular guy laying on the beach? Why is the red guy going to the newspaper and threatening some old man who runs the paper? Needless to say, I had a lot of buying and research to catch up on. I also enjoy drinking beer while reading my comic books! I also love the Transformers and my favorite DC hero is Batman.

About Brent Kossina

I've been reading trades since 1998, and collecting single issues since Jim Lee started on Batman way back in 2003. My first comic I remember keeping, not reading, was Legends of the Dark Knight #63, the last part of KnightsEnd where Bruce Wayne reclaims the mantle of the Bat from Jean-Paul Valley. I got a little 6-pack of Batman comics from Toys 'R Us one day, and they were all KnightQuest and KnightsEnd issues, so as a young kid, I thought the Az-Bats costume was just wicked, and I still do! And yes I do like the Daredevil armor costume from the nineties as well. My first trade I ever owned, (not read in Barnes and Noble) was Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. I was just given it on a whim because I loved Batman so much, what a great introduction to comic geekdom.

I'm mostly a DC Man, but I do read the major Marvel titles like Avengers and Spider-man. Currently, I'm really enjoying the Y: The Last Man trades, Batman, Justice League of America, Justice Society of America, and my favorite book to plug, Blue Beetle. I got involved with About Heroes when someone on the show complained that the site was never updated with reviews, and Dan declared that they would start posting listener reviews, of which I quickly wrote 5. After writing about 5 reviews a week for months, they gave me a password for the site, and my own picture and bio, which you're now reading! I also have a segment on the Raging Bullets podcast called BK's Bullets, and am a co-host for Comic Timing, so check those out. I live in Florida and go to the University of Florida studying Aerospace Engineering, explaining why I'm not heard on the show. See you in the reviews section!

Josh Peterson

I'm in the second, much more daunting stretch of comic collecting. My first started in the early 90's with a love of venom (Amazing #374!) and all things spider-man. It's funny actually; I bought comic CARDS before I kinda realized...hey...this stuff is cooler when you can read the whole story and not just a summary on the back of some thing in a binder! I then started kinda just grabbing spidey comics here and there with some x-men mixed in. I was definitely a Marvel Kid. I watched all the cartoons, Spider-Man, the Tick, Batman: The Animated Series, even WILDCATS! I was hooked. I even liked Maximum Carnage (shudders)! But then Marvel boxed me out. The Clone Saga reared its ugly head and I was forced outside for things like football, girls, and taffy.

My comic-nerd-status returned with the introduction of Ultimate Venom. I read the arc, decided I liked Ultimate Spidey, read the stuff before it, and before you know it, I'm back and reading comics like ka-razy. I've since branched out of the Marvel Universe and read a few DC titles too. If you ask me, Marvel is printed soap operas for boys and DC is like Greek Mythology for modern times, so both have something to offer for me. As far as toys go, I'm not really into them anymore, but I used to have like...every action figure ever when I was a kid.

My favorite characters are Spider-Man, Venom, Bane, Batman, Flash (Wally) and the Rogues. I read...just about everything. It's hard to imagine me dropping comics ever again, but maaaaan, sometimes I feel like they're trying to make me. I'll try to hang in there.

About Jeff Hartz

From my Fortress of Geekitude in Charleston, South Carolina, I am the podcast member at-large and the oldest member of the crew at 38. This unofficially makes me the Pre-Crisis Multiverse expert since I can actually remember it when it happened. Originally from Utica, NY, I moved south in 2001 and started listening to the show around Episode 12 when I found them on iTunes last year. Now I'm hooked. I act as sort of a promotions director now, setting up interviews and doing the legwork for the team so they can bask in the dorkgasms they receive from being able to share the love of the medium, if not always the industry. I try vainly to keep the crew on topic, and give them something to rant about on the occasions that they don't have a topic. I love all things Doctor Who-related, and am slowly brainwashing all who cross my path that the new show rocks! My favorite comic has been Captain America for almost 30 years, and I'm a huge SHAZAM! fan also, as I look up at my Mego Captain Marvel figure on my desk. Other titles include Green Lantern, Flash, JLA, and JSA as I am a huge pre-Crisis JSA guy. Not only do I have a Pre-Crisis JSA figure diorama set up (next to my Invaders one), but it my goal to get a Pre-Crisis JSA/Invaders crossover mini-series done someday. It's right up there with my relaunch of ROM, The Spaceknight and The Secret Society Of Super-Villains trade paperback.

I'll be more active behind the scenes, and will be looking to give Melanie and the guys at least one interview a month with the writes and artists that they and you ask for. So if you have someone that you'd like to hear them interview, drop me a suggestion at doctorwho_fan@yahoo.com and I'll see what we can do.