Starnes was introduced to film criticism by his father[1] while a high school student in
Houston, Texas and began writing regularly for
ComingSoon.net, a subsidiary of
CraveOnline, in 2004[1] where he shares reviewing duties with Edward Douglas and Scott Chitwood.[3] In 2009 he became vice president[4] of the
Houston Film Critics Society, and in 2012 he became president.
In 2015 he joined
Red 5 Comics as co-publisher, expanding its line and partnering with
King Features[5] and
Armory Films[6] to develop new properties.[7][8] He is the author of the graphic novels Spook with Lisandro Estherren and The Box with Raymond Estrada.