Working Too Hard For Their Money: 3 Easy Business Venture Villains

Welcome to Funding the Kryptonite, where we will look at the plans of comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

Today's post will spotlight a list of 3 super villains who, as they are usually portrayed, are in it for the money and the easy life and maybe some revenge against their chosen superhero for foiling all their plots so often. However, if we remove the revenge aspect, their choice of a life of crime seems kind of foolish given their ability to make a huge buck legitly. In no particular order, my top three are:

Interviewing Injustice: The Questions of Evil Teamwork

Welcome to Funding the Kryptonite, where we will look at the plans of comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

One of the ongoing motifs of supervillainy is the big team-up of bad guys across multiple rogues’ galleries, usually one or two from each of the main superheroes of the day. Usually less numerous than organizations like The Society, which try to get everyone on-board, an excellent recurring example from DC Comics is the Injustice League. Despite the plethora of big names on board, I’ve always wondered what the in-character rationale for having certain membership rosters is. From a publishing standpoint, these are relatively big names that sell issues. So I’m going to ask what are considered the three “true” job interview questions to see how the recruitment process stacks up for a group like the Injustice League.

Universal Mismanagement: The Guardians and the Green Lantern Corps

Welcome to Funding the Kryptonite, where we will look at the plans of comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

In today’s post, I’m going to discuss the management of a galaxy spanning organization of space cops. They’re small, blue, and known as the Guardians of the Universe. The head of the relatively heroic organization known as the Green Lantern Corps, the Guardians are actually pretty generally awful people and I have no issues with considering them to be supervillains. That being said, I’m going to grab a list of bad management traits and see how they stack up against them.

Workplace Harassment: Trickster and Pied Piper

Welcome to Funding the Kryptonite, where we will look at the plans of comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

The issue of the day seems to be gay characters in comic books and the real world outrage by groups such as One Million Moms over the existence of these characters. Apparently, these issues are too complex and hard to understand for children and these parents are concerned about exposure to homosexual characters will harm their kids. I disagree with that position.

So today I’m going to discuss how a partnership between the Trickster and the Pied Piper in Countdown, already somewhat strained due to the circumstances of their situation, gets increasingly worse because the Trickster doesn’t want to focus on business and lets their makeshift work environment go down the drains over the fact that, horror of horrors, the Pied Piper is gay! It shouldn't be a problem, and yet is.

Motivating Madness: Poorly Rewarding Employees

Welcome back to Funding the Kryptonite, a blog that will take a look at comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

I want to talk about incentivizing people today, and how it is important to not just offer the high level benefits to employees, such as money and stock options, but to also be willing to give quality of life benefits. This is especially important when it comes to Order of the Stick antagonist Xykon, and how the benefits, and drawbacks, of his lichdom has caused problems for him and his business partners.

The Real Man of Tomorrow: Branding Lex Luthor

Welcome back to Funding the Kryptonite, a blog that will take a look at comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

I’ve previously discussed Lex Luthor in regards to his data analysis handling and his ability to do some great message targeting, but today I want to discuss the concept of Lex Luthor and his portrayal in the miniseries Lex Luthor: Man of Steel. What does that name evoke when you read it, and why does it do that, in the eyes of the Metropolis public and the world. In essence, this is what branding is all about and I want to discuss Lex Luthor as a brand.

A Story About the Importance of Business Stories

Welcome back to Funding the Kryptonite, a blog that will take a look at comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

"[E]verybody has a secret world inside of them. I mean everybody. All of the people in the whole world - no matter how dull and boring they are on the outside. Inside them they've all got unimaginable, magnificent, wonderful, stupid, amazing worlds" -Neil Gaiman

Today I'm going to break the mold a bit and go outside of a comic book story itself to discuss why I think stories are incredibly important to the business world. 

Source: Uploaded by user via David on Pinterest

The Sinestro Corps’ Industry Analysis: Porter’s Five Forces of Fear

Welcome back to Funding the Kryptonite, a blog that will take a look at comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

We go back to the Sinestro Corps and my overview of their organization. Previous posts about the Corps dealt with their recruitment/training and their succession planning. Today’s post is going to take a broad view of the Corps and the industry they operate in, using an analytical framework known as Porter’s 5 Forces.

Doing in the Doctor: Using the VRIN Framework

Welcome back to Funding The Kryptonite, a blog that will take a look at comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

Today’s blog post will discuss an important business framework called VRIN, which is used by companies to evaluate the strength of their competitive advantages in the marketplace and determine what sort of edge it gives them against their competitors. In this particular example, I am going to draw on a one-off Doctor Strange villain named Nico West and the pharmaceutical company he worked for and how their decision to go up against Strange was founded from a use of this framework.

Getting Out Of Hell: The Secret Six's Startup Screwup

Welcome back to Funding The Kryptonite, a blog that will take a look at comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

Today's blog post will be discussing the super villain team known as the Secret Six. Composed of relatively well known bad guys such as Deadshot and Bane teaming up with more B-list types such as Ragdoll, Catman, and Scandal, the Six struck out on their own as a hired muscle team for anyone with the dollars to pay. As it turns out, they need a bit more than that to be successful.

Sometimes Comics Just Make You Feel Good

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The Generals' Guidelines: S.O.P in OOTS

Welcome back to Funding the Kryptonite, a blog that will take a look at comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

Today’s post will discuss Order of the Stick, a webcomic by Rich Burlew based on the game Dungeons and Dragons. In particular, across three entries, I will examine the character of General Tarquin and his extremely pragmatic approach to the running of an empire.

Messaging a Soviet Superman: Red Son's Lex Luthor

Welcome back to Funding the Kryptonite, a blog that will take a look at comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

Today’s blog post will go back to communication theory and expand on it by discussing how the destination of your message is crucial to effective communication. In particular, using the example of classic Superman antagonist Lex Luthor in DC Comics’ hit Elseworlds mini known as Superman: Red Son, I’m going to show how understanding your target audience allows you to deliver an impactful message.

The Dark Knight Rises: Thoughts on the Third Trailer

For those who have not yet seen the latest trailer, check it out here.

I'm going to watch the trailer and give my thoughts in sequential order, including guesses at the plot based on rumors and storylines from the comics. Spoilers will likely abound, so be warned.

The Third Dark Knight Rises Trailer

This summer, we may just yet see some elements of Knightfall come to the big screen. Check out the awesome new trailer for The Dark Knight Rises.

Seizing The Yellow Ring: Succession Planning in the Sinestro Corps

Welcome back to Funding the Kryptonite, a blog that will take a look at comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

Before getting started I want to give a big shoutout to Astro Books here in Montreal. Since getting back into comics just before Infinite Crisis, they've been my shop of choice. Ray, their comic guy, offers great personalized service and is hugely helpful for suggesting good new things to read or getting you older stuff. Plus they've got some excellent discounts. Check them out! 

Today’s article will be a continuation of the series on the Sinestro Corps. The first article in my overview of this organization, centered around their training and recruitment, can be found here. This article is going to be about the succession planning of the Sinestro Corps. How well positioned are they to handle the loss of their top talent up to, and including, their namesake leader Sinestro?

Leadership, Like Lightning: Norman Osborn's Thunderbolts Management

Welcome back to Funding the Kryptonite, a blog that will take a look at comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

Before getting started, I wanted to put out an open call to other bloggers, comic or otherwise. I would love to increase my own exposure to the community by doing a guest post for you on a mutually agreed upon topic. I’ve got an MBA and an undergrad in Sociology, plus some diverse work experiences, so I can pen a piece on a number of different topics. Please contact me through the email link in my profile and let me know what we can set up. I’ll also happily offer you the same guest post opportunity, and a link from here.

Today’s blog post is going to touch on Norman Osborn, popularly known as Marvel’s first Green Goblin. Best known for killing Spider-man’s girlfriend Gwen Stacy, Norman was given control of the Thunderbolts (a government sponsored team of supervillains who were charged with enforcing the Super Human Registration Act after the Civil War crossover event). Team leadership is never an easy task to start with, and Norman is amazingly poorly suited to that. Let’s talk about why.

Analyzing The Alien: Lex Luthor's Biggest Mistake

Welcome back to Funding the Kryptonite, a blog that will take a look at comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

Today’s blog post will touch on data analytics and how using your data needs to be handled correctly. To illustrate this point, I’m going to go back to the example of Lex Luthor and his continual quest to uncover information about his arch-nemesis, Superman.

Signals in the Channel: Communication Theory and The Cabal

Welcome back to Funding the Kryptonite, a blog that will take a look at comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

Looking at a relatively new series called The Unwritten, from the DC Comics imprint Vertigo, I’m going to be discussing the villainous group known as The Cabal and their use of communication theory in how they deal with the series protagonist, Tom Taylor.

Feedback and Appreciation

This is just a quick note to let you know that I'm following and
enjoying your blog. I've informed all of my comics friends about it,
and I hope that you keep up the great work.

-Jeremy

I just wanted to publicly thank Jeremy for emailing me his feedback. Hearing from readers is always welcome, and positive comments are especially nice. Whether on Twitter, email, here in the comments, or elsewhere, I want to hear from you guys with your comments and critiques so I can improve and keep on delivering.

Thanks all!

- David

Reliability, Relationships, and Responsibility: Three Failings of Doom

Welcome back to Funding the Kryptonite, a blog that will take a look at comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

Today’s post will focus on one Victor Von Doom, better known to the Marvel Universe as Doctor Doom. Famed arch nemesis of the Fantastic Four, and Reed Richards in particular, his rise to power was chronicled in an excellent miniseries titled Books of Doom. I’m going to discuss some of his decisions and their outcomes in his early career path, and why I believe they were bad.

Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself: Recruitment and Training in the Sinestro Corps

Welcome back to Funding the Kryptonite, a blog that will take a look at comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

I’m going to start a series of blog posts centered on the Sinestro Corps in DC Comics. Today’s blog post will take a view of the organization from a recruitment perspective and how their talent acquisition and integration process works for them.

A Literal Deal with the Literal Devil: Interests in Negotiating for Marriage

Welcome back to Funding the Kryptonite, a blog that will take a look at comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

First off, a quick shout out and thank you to the reddit community and others who have linked to my blog and made positive comments about my writing. I’m glad it’s being enjoyed and I hope you will like future content.

Today’s blog post is going to center around a negotiation in one of the most controversial storylines in Spider-man publishing history, One More Day. While I am not personally a fan of the storyline and how it played out on the pages or backstage in editorial, I do appreciate Mephisto and how he bargained for the marriage of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Parker.

Imperial Expansion? That's S.M.A.R.T.!

Welcome back to Funding the Kryptonite, a blog that will take a look at comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

Today’s blog post will discuss the Viltrumite Empire, from the Image Comics series Invincible. A race of aliens with similar powers to Superman (super speed, super strength, enhanced senses, invulnerability, significantly extended lifespan, and the ability to fly), they slaughtered half their own race to establish a warrior-society based on strength and conquest. To expand their empire, they would locate alien races that they deemed sufficiently advanced to be worth conquering and appeared en masse to offer them a choice: Join the Viltrumite Empire and benefit from the scientific advances they had, or refuse and be summarily slaughtered.

Prideful Planning

Welcome back to Funding the Kryptonite, a blog that will take a look at comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

Today, I am going to examine the case of Marvel Comic’s super villain group The Pride (found primarily in the series Runaways). This group was formed when six individual young couples, each with their own unique specialization (aliens, criminals, time travelers, magicians, mutants, and technologists) were summoned by an ancient power known as the Gibborim. In exchange for performing an annual ritual (murdering a young woman and sacrificing her soul) to empower the Gibborim, the group that became the Pride would have their powers and abilities enhanced. The downside? After 25 years, the Gibborim would wipe the Earth clean except for six members of the Pride who served them most faithfully who would then gain eternal life.

How to Handle the Punchline

Welcome back to Funding the Kryptonite, a blog that will take a look at the plans of comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

In today’s post, we’re going to look at a more complicated situation involving Alexander Luthor Jr. (an alternate universe version of Lex Luthor) and his plans in the DC Comic crossover Infinite Crisis. He assembles an extremely large and powerful group of super villains, ranging from A-list material like Deathstroke the Terminator all the way down to D-list cannon fodder, into a group known as The Society to execute a plot to ostensibly erase the minds of the superheroes of the world.

The summary:

While assembling his Society, Alex Luthor went out of his way to extend invitations to just about every known and active super villain on the planet. Most of the few that refused him were summarily executed by those who did sign on in order to provide examples of the strength and power behind the Society, positioning them as a group to be reckoned with. That being said, one key villain was purposefully excluded from the proceedings: The Clown Prince of Crime called The Joker.

Outsourcing Back Breaking

Welcome back to Funding the Kryptonite, a blog that will take a look at the plans of comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

Today’s blog will examine the plan of one of DC Comic’s most notable creations from the 90’s: Bane. Known colloquially as “The Man Who Broke The Bat”, Bane created and executed a successful long-term plan to escape from jail, travel to Gotham City, gather intelligence about his target, weaken him, and ultimately defeat him. The focus here will be on the element of weakening Batman.

The summary:

Batman is no slouch. Highly intelligent, trained in numerous martial arts, master detective, and incredibly rich, it takes effort to grind down such a man. To do so would require significant effort, and incur the risk of being bested by Batman while he was still in peak performance. How best then to accomplish this goal? Bane outsources the task to the rest of Batman’s rogue gallery by launching an attack on Arkham Asylum (the psychiatric hospital where many of Batman’s most notorious villains are kept after capture) and letting them loose in Gotham City. The effort involved in recapturing such a mass of foes as quickly as possible would grind down Batman and leave him vulnerable.

Welcome! and Risk Management

Welcome to the inaugural post of Funding the Kryptonite, a blog that will take a look at the plans of comic book super villains and discuss them from a business perspective.

To kick off on a good business idea, we take one of Marvel’s most well known business villains: Wilson Fisk, A.K.A. The Kingpin. An overview of this character in his many different incarnations can be found here, but I’ll be examining one of his best business decisions from the Ultimate Universe version of him. 

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The summary: 

The Kingpin discovers that Spider-Man, noted superhero and general thorn in his side, never registered his likeness or name as trademarks and that a subsidiary company of his legitimate business empire purchased the company that did register those trademarks. In short, the Kingpin owns the merchandising/film/TV/book rights to Spider-Man. He floods the market with products based on that likeness, generating significant revenues for himself and reaping the benefits of Spider-Man’s increasing popularity and fame as Spider-Man attempts to stop Fisk, and other villains, from their villainy.