Every day this month I’m going to feature a current comic book art “star,” someone whose work I absolutely love.

I’m mostly going to try to keep from the biggest names as much as possible, because, really, do I need to talk more about the awesomeness of JH Williams, Frank Quitely and Darwyn Cooke? Here’s the archive of the artists mentioned so far!

Here’s one of the best artists working on DC Comics superhero comics today!

Enjoy!

Mahnke’s first mainstream work was working with John Arcudi on Dark Horse’s The Mask.

He then teamed up with Arcudi on Major Bummer, a very humorous superhero send-up at DC Comics.

The book, while good, wasn’t setting the sales charts on fire, but Mahnke got a lot of attention for the run - he was clearly a star on the rise.

After the short-lived run, Mahnke was well-established enough to quickly get a regular gig drawing Superman: Man of Steel, which felt like the first new Superman artist in years at the time.

And that run placed him into a good position to take over from Bryan Hitch on JLA, alongside Joe Kelly, where Mahnke really put on an art show…

After JLA ended, Mahnke started an impressive run on Batman, but ever since then, he has been used a bit…oddly by DC.

First off, he was one of the artists hand-picked to draw a Seven Soldiers book. Mahnke drew Frankenstein, and he did a smashing job on it.

Since then, and perhaps very well due to Mahnke’s own desire to try new things, he has done a number of lower-attention titles, such as a World War II mini-series with Chuck Dixon, a run on Stormwatch PHD with Christos Gage, then a few projects with Peter Tomasi, the man who hand-picked him on Seven Soldiers.

His latest project is the Final Crisis tie-in, Superman Beyond, and it is also gorgeous.

Here are some examples of Mahnke sequentials.

First, a page from JLA…

Next, three pages from another Final Crisis one-shot he did with Tomasi…

What an amazing artist - he really ought to get another high-profile title. At the very least, he ought to draw an issue of All Star Superman post-Quitely.

Frankly I'm a little bit confused as to why Sam Raimi never allowed Dylan Baker to become The Lizard. The guy had three full movies in which to utilize the character, but then again -- I suppose "The Lizard" isn't nearly as high-profile (or as nifty) as Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, The Sandman, or Venom. But they let a one-armed Dylan Baker hang around for this long, so why not give the actor his shot at villainy already?

Having ranted that, I now turn my attentions towards some of the other (as yet unused) Spider-Man villains -- and this superhero has lots of 'em. (I'm fully convinced that Spidey's "rogue gallery" is one of the biggest reasons for the book's ongoing popularity.) I realize that some of these guys might work better on the page than on the big screen, but hey, you can't make two more Spidey sequels without two or three (or four) new villains. So even though the screenplays are probably already finished, I figure this is a fun topic to toss around...

Jason Statham as The Vulture -- I vaguely remember this green, winged character being a bit older than Mr. Statham, but Vulty was also bald and a real nasty character, so I'd still go with Statham.

Bill Paxton as Mysterio -- Dunno why I picked Paxton. Probably because he's one of my favorite actors, and I'd love to see him play a big-budget villain. Plus he wears a big fish-bowl on his head, so any good actor with a strong voice could pull this off.

Gerard Butler as Kraven the Hunter -- Like this guy couldn't play a homicidal game hunter. Plus he kinda looks like Kraven.

Filed under: Sony, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels

Continue reading Discuss: Villains You Want to See in 'Spidey' 4 & 5

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Can you guess which father of six is signing autographs for a slew of ladies above? (Photo via Getty Images)

Though we're only a couple days into this year's Toronto International Film Festival, a few of the more high profile films have already screened ... and we have the photos to prove it. In the gallery below, feel free to peruse through images from the red carpet for films like RocknRolla (Gerard Butler, ladies?), Appaloosa, Me & Orson Welles and Burn After Reading. When you're done, head on over to our official TIFF '08 Hub for reviews on films like Rachel Getting Married, Burn After Reading, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and more. Which film lit up Toronto at midnight ... and which veteran action star is poised for a major comeback? Check it out ...

Gallery: TIFF '08 Red Carpet

Filed under: Fandom, Toronto International Film Festival, Images

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Editor’s Note: This post represents the professional advice of Brian Solis who is not formally affiliated with TechCrunch50. If you are a participating TC50 company, resident TechCrunch PR expert Sarah Ross is available to share and review the public relations guidelines with you. It is important to work directly with Sarah to ensure you are in compliance with these guidelines to maximize your PR opportunity while also avoiding disqualification.

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How do you launch a startup at a big tech conference without getting lost in the crowd?  With TechCrunch50, Demo and several other major tech conferences around the corner, this question is on the minds of more than one entrepreneur.  How do you create visibility for your startup, and do you need PR to do it, or just a great demo?

The coming days and weeks will be filled by some of the industry’s most anticipated, attended and watched conferences. They’re all competing for mind share and they are attracting influential attendees and spectators who will report their experiences and observations far and wide. In the next two to three weeks, over 150-200 companies will vie for attention and precious blog and media real estate.

Your story, as wonderful as it is, will need help rising above the flurry of news that will jockey to reach the ears and eyes of bloggers, press, customers, investors, and partners.

Even though some A-list bloggers and high profile entrepreneurs (Jason Calacanis, cough) have publicly implied that any good product or eloquent and outspoken CEO will easily traverse the roads cluttered with inferior startups to quickly rise to stardom simply by existing, the reality is, you really do need a strategic launch plan and some level of PR.  Most importantly, you need a polished, professional, and creative demonstration that will resonate with attendees and compel them to want to learn more.

Public Relations

This advice may seem 101, and in some cases it is. Nonetheless, it’s an important refresher for those companies who are using TechCrunch50 and other conferences to debut their company or new products.

For those 52 companies presenting at TC50,  there is a clear and prevailing rule to participate in the event and it will make the difference whether or not you launch to accolades or you’re disinvited before you hit the stage:

You have to introduce your new company or product, for the first time, on stage at TC50.

Some people are debating the merits of this requirement.  But given this rule, let’s explore a few ways to ensure a successful launch.

What’s Your Story?

Let’s start by determining who your customers and users are and where they go for information and insight. Identifying these groups will humanize the process of crafting your story. It forces you to adapt what you’re introducing specifically to the people you’re hoping to reach.

The next step is to summarize not only what you’re introducing, but distill the value, benefits and extraordinary features that differentiate you from your competition and also highlight how you’re solving real world problems and challenges. This process will impact your press materials, your stage demo, your pitch, and ultimately the perception that conference attendees form.

Demonstration

You have an obligation to attendees and also to your development team to present your company in a way that makes people remember who you are and why you were invited to participate in the first place.

This isn’t a local meetup for startups. This isn’t just another opportunity to practice your everyday company pitch. This is a major production that requires an entirely new level of presentation, probably of the caliber that you may not have experienced previously. The world will literally be watching.  (TC50, for instance, will be streamed live on Ustream, photos will appearon a special Flickr page, and stories will be organized by the audience at large on a dedicated Mixx community site).  And the live audience will be sitting through dozens of demos.  So what are you going to do that will make everyone in the room stop checking email or updating Twitter, pay attention to your time on stage, and more importantly, remember you after the event?  This is your first and best chance to create enthusiasm and support in order to ignite referrals and potential word of mouth for being one of the hottest companies to debut this year.

Ditch the Powerpoint presentation. No one wants to see bulleted lists that say what you do or endure a series of slides that detail your professional credentials and career experience. They want to see what you do and how it was selected over the hundreds of other companies that were hoping to make the cut. Quickly explain the pain that your solving, make us empathize with it. But, get to that demo as quickly as possible. Show, don’t tell.

You may need help and coaching to become an incredible presenter to maximize your time on stage and that’s OK. It’s how we become more incredible public speakers.

As TC50 co-founder and co-host Jason Calacanis (yes, the same one who does not think much of formal PR) has recently emphasized in his email newsletter, companies need to attach their brand to a movement, a trend, something bigger than just the next shiny new object, search engine, widget, or next new social network.  He also suggest the following rules for startup demos: Show your product within the first 60 seconds; Talk about what you’ve done, not what you’re going to do; One driver, one navigator; Short answers are best; Leave people wanting more.  It is good advice.  (Read his full list of demo tips here and here).

Have charisma. Express how much you care about your product. Speak clearly with authority and confidence. Move around the stage as you demo your product. Get someone to run the notebook computer and don’t lock yourself in that comfort zone behind the podium. Please don’t subject us to a dry demo of you staring at you notebook screen, clicking buttons and talking monotonously.

Breeze through the frontlines of your demo and and get into crux of what it is you’re launching. We don’t need to see the registration process. We don’t need to endure the discomfort of watching you fumble through typos as you enter unnecessary data to support your presentation.

Have everything ready to go and have it rehearsed and polished. You don’t need slides. You don’t need 3×5 cards. Connect with the audience. Grab and hold their attention. This is your baby and you know it better than anyone. Passion and enthusiasm are contagious and the audience is there because they want to be amazed.

They are there for you, so help them remember why you’ve been singled out from hundreds of applicants to tell your story.

Lobbycon

At any major industry event, there are always scores of people who don’t have passes who want to participate in the can’t-miss excitement and action and also promote their agenda. This adds a new layer of dynamics to an already incredible environment. When combined with the onsite PR and marketing activity of all the presenting companies (both onstage and off), it also creates an additional possibility to promote your company among those networking in the event lobby.

Last year, PowerSet served delicious “branded” shots in test tubes to attendees as well as the huge contingent that formed the unofficial lobbycon. Other promotional items and clever memorabilia were also freely distributed all in the hopes of striking a chord with attendees and rising above the fray.

Make no doubt that there will be an influx of companies competing for attention, whether or not they’re part of the official event. You do need to offer something that helps you stand out. So think of this as your chance to create and distribute something memorable that also correlates with your brand so that attendees not only remember you after the conference is all said and done, but are also reminded to test, and hopefully use, your product.

Put It in Writing

After you’ve run through your messaging exercises and presentation development, document the story in a convincing press release, product/company overview, and unpublished blog post that officially announce the product or service.

Make sure that the solution and the value is upfront.

Assume that the people who will ultimately read your story are short on attention span, whether they’re a blogger, reporter, customer, partner, investor, or potential acquirer. Just because you’re selected to launch out of the hundreds of companies that applied, doesn’t mean your story is a guaranteed success.

In PR, writing usually follows an inverted pyramid format, which recommends that you pack all of the pertinent information at the beginning and conclude with the supporting details. In today’s highly competitive Web economy, solely relying on traditional press releases to tell your story greatly restricts its potential. Time and attention are precious commodities.

Find a way to tell your story as quickly and as compelling as possible. If it’s one thing that Twitter has taught us, it is how to say something significant in 140 characters or less. Twitter and the onslaught of emerging micromedia communities are reinforcing this process of sharing updates and insight through brevity and clarity. In PR and marketing, the study and practice of saying more with less online, is referred to as MicroPR

With every sentence, description, or statement we verbalize or write effectively, we can earn the chance to open the next door.  The goal is to continue to tell the story progressively, gaining momentum and increasing resonance along the way, and continue to open enough doors to tell our story completely.  This helps you tell the story quicker and more persuasively. Just in case someone stopped listening at any point, the important information and market opportunity should have already been communicated.

While paper press kits are long gone, or , digital press kits are still alive and well. Pull everything together in one place, such as a USB key, a downloadable zip file, an online press room, and consider experimenting with a social media press kit or a >social media release.

For instance, a Social Media Press Kit, a.k.a. online press kit/press room, is a dedicated, one-stop destination for your specific news event. This landing page contains embedded objects that help reporters and bloggers assemble the news their way. It can feature an embedded version of the press release and all other related social objects, for at-a-glance viewing and also for quickly grabbing the necessary embed codes.

There are other ways, beyond press releases, summaries and blog posts to break news. With Web video production and screencasting tools readily available, affordable, and easy to use, producing a visual demonstration will only help convey your story and fortify the integrity of your message when you’re not present to personally explain it. Also, short videos and demos are shareable and embeddable to expand the story across the social Web.

The Launch Is Only The Beginning

Many of the industry’s most influential bloggers, analysts, and reporters will attend these conferences, with many more observing and reporting on the highlights from all over the world.  Remember what your mother said: you only get one chance to make a first impression.  But if you do your job right, you will be repeating your demo many times over in the weeks and months ahead.  What you want to do is stand out so that people will ask you to see it again and again and again.

Good luck to all the startups everywhere who will be stepping onto a stage for the first time next week.  We’ll all be watching.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Mefeedia, a Web video search startup with a claimed source list 15,000 strong, announced the addition of six more this week. They’re some pretty high profile ones, too. Revision3, Next New Networks, 60 Frames, On Networks, and Hulu and ABC.

Granted, the viewing experience delivered by each publisher individually is generally a more pleasant one. And ABC-based video, as you might expect, cannot be viewed through Mefeedia directly. The network has had an near-exclusive hold on its Web-based content for a number of years, so far only allowing syndication with the likes of Veoh, an official partner since late June. However, on the whole, the convenience of Mefeedia, more palpable than ever, is really something to note.

Naturally a search base of 15,000 sites and sources is absolutely immense, and gives Mefeedia something to trumpet in its sector of the market. But what sort of experience such depth provides is what in the end gives Mefeedia some real-world purpose. It’s not only how much a user’s search delivers, but what is presented on request. And that is what makes the service’s latest enhancements important. They help to further the relevance of Mefeedia. The breadth of premium content in the space is growing in great strides, and Mefeedia must at once make sense of user-generated material as items from professional producers large and small.

Of course it’s far from complete in its effort to grasp the field, though if it plays its role correctly, it’ll always have room to expand. What’s more, another slight negative is that its presentation of content is not so current all the time. For instance, you couldn’t catch the latest episode of a Web-only show like Revision3’s “Diggnation” at this very moment. But this challenge is something that has afflicted a number of Web video sites before. And seeing as how Mefeedia plays the part of a search utility, it’s further removed than places closer to the market’s “ground level,” which poses one more collective hurdle to continuously leap past. Still, it presses on.

And on the technical end, it seems to be doing quite well. Video quality can be quite high, if sourced appropriately. That’s why, as was the case in spring, I think Mefeedia is a name to keep an eye on. Rich with RSS and richer yet with things to see, its value is evident. And it is likely only going to increase as it gives viewers more reasons to stay longer with these new names added to the roll.

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Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:

MeFeedia Raises $250k for Video Aggregation
Mefeedia Adds News Video Search
A Quick Conversation with Mefeedia’s Frank Sinton
FireAnt - Best Vlog Directory Yet
Genius.com Funded, Blogster Sale, NYTimes Widgets, Tag Maps, Yahoo Answers, Social.com, MeFeedia, AOL QVC, TutorLinker, Film.com, Skype Pro
Video Search Summit 2008: Register Now and Save $200
Hollywood Needs Trusted Opinion to Promote Perpetual Reruns

Chances are if you’re reading this, it’s probably a little late to watch the action unfold live, but if you are in fact up at the wee hours of the morning this Saturday, you could be in for a treat. By treat, I mean finding embarrassing and possibly titilating videos favorited by your contacts on FriendFeed.

Paul Bucheit, one of the founders of FriendFeed, logged on at about 1 AM to fire off the following missive:

Vimeo changed the ids and urls used in their feeds, so all vimeo content is now showing up a second time. For unrelated reasons, some old YouTube videos are now being picked up as well (but these are not dups). The good news is that they are all very entertaining

It seemed innocuous at first, but then a few folks who had apparently over a year ago favorited some fairly pornographic videos had their predilictions in pr0n exposed to everyone on their list.

I’m intentionally not linking to these threads on FriendFeed because as it turns out at least one of these folks hold fairly high profile positions, and had already gone to sleep once these videos started showing up on FriendFeed. Because of the way FriendFeed works, people began commenting and “liking” the pornographic items, and then the potentially damaging favorites spread much further beyond those in their immediate list.

It uncovers a brand new type of public relations danger for those that lifestream - everything that is old can be new again, thanks to the glitchy wonders of automation. More importantly, a failure to scrub every possible damaging favorite, like, comment or post from a publicly available feed has the potential to end your career.

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Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:

Flick Banned in China?
Soft Porn Makes Flickr UK’s Number 1
MySpace China Next Week - How Much Censorship?
Flickr China Coming
YouTube Porn?
Mashable Rocks: Connect with us on FriendFeed
Porn Stripped Out by Flickr Filtrs

Rich Internet Applications is the fancy name for desktop apps that leverage internet connectivity outside the browser. RIAs, as they're called, are supposed to be ushering in a post-browser future, according to some people.

Why, then, has one of the most high profile RIA providers in recent years, Joost, moved to ditch their desktop video player?

Adobe's Ryan Stewart, one of the leading advocates of RIAs, posts a list of steps other RIA providers should consider taking in order to avoid the same fate. Are RIAs not shaping up to be everything they promised? We still like some of them quite a bit, but we think Joost is making the right decision to move into the browser. In fact, we think that iTunes Video would be well served to do the same thing. Here's why.

RIAs are Good for Background Use

We like using desktop Twitter clients like Tweetdeck or Twhirl or other RIAs like Fluid and Snackr. Those are all apps that work well in the background of our workflows. We spend most of our focused time in the browser. Apps that require extended focus, like video viewing, may as well go on in the browser. That way they don't require separate downloads, potentially suspect software, etc.

One advantage to an RIA is that it can sit on your computer and wait until you're in between doing other things. If your browser crashes, while you load page after page from different sources, that RIA is still there keeping up in the background - waiting until you're ready for it.

RIAs Are Best When You Need Responsiveness

Rich Internet Apps combine the responsiveness of a desktop app with the connectivity of the web. If you don't need a lot of responsiveness, though, then you may as well just stay in the browser. Despite its social features, video viewing apps like Joost are mostly consumed passively. You find something you like and then you sit there and stare at it for awhile. Responsiveness to quickly entered commands? Pretty much irrelevant.

RIAs Are Good When Storage and Offline Access Are Important

Desktop RSS readers are nice because you've got a local copy of your feeds. You can see changes to the text and you can read in a plane. It's useful to view videos when offline, but how many of them do you want to keep on your computer after you've watched them? Better to let them stream in through that part of your computer's memory and then be gone.

Amazon may have hit the sweet spot in its move yesterday to ditch Amazon Unbox and rename the service Amazon Video on Demand. Users (now including Mac owners, by the way!) can either stream video or download it locally - it's up to you.

Maybe Video Works Best in the Browser - So How About iTunes?

That's all well and good, but watching video in the browser is so convenient it's hard to beat. As Adobe's Stewart points out, even watching full screen is now trivial with the upgrades to Flash and Silverlight that weren't available when Joost first hit the scene.

Hulu is rocking out and it's no surprise. It's attractive, easy to use and has a whole lot of content. It could be better, but there's absolutely no reason to believe that a desktop client would help make it any better.

We like Rich Internet Apps sitting on our desktop, pulling and pushing data to and from the internet. We don't feel compelled to consume video that way, though. We expect to see other desktop video apps follow Joost's footsteps and move back into the browser. Might iTunes move toward an ad supported model and move to the browser some day for video? It would probably be a good idea for all the same reasons that it's smart for Joost to do so.

It's the Mideast version of a sordid soap opera. A Lebanese pop star is brutally murdered in her luxury Dubai apartment, her throat slashed. Arrested in her death: One of Egypt's most politically connected businessmen, accused of paying $2 million to have her killed.     The slaying of Suzanne Tamim has gone beyond a lurid crime story to something more serious -- a glimpse into the close links between Egypt's government and powerful business tycoons long viewed as above the law.     It is also exposing strains between societies like Egypt's, where wealth and political power increasingly go hand in hand, and Dubai, which recently launched a high-profile push against corruption.     People in the Arab world have long followed with fascination and moral clucking the tales of businessmen and politicians cavorting with actresses, belly-dancers and singers -- a sort of Hollywood Babylon in the conservative Muslim Middle East.     But even by those standards, the Tamim drama is a stunner...     This week, Egyptian authorities arrested real estate mogul Hisham Talaat Moustafa, said to be Tamim's former lover.     For many, the surprise wasn't Moustafa's alleged involvement -- but his arrest...

Filed under: PC

Jeff Green is the kind of game journalist we want to be when we grow up: Seasoned, funny and with the perfect blend of skepticism and passion, even after 17 years on the job. Now, the former CGW and GFW editor and (just as importantly) GFW Radio/Brodeo cornerstone is leaving Ziff-Davis to join The Sims development team.

We have too much respect for Green to use this as an opportunity to note all the high-profile names that have jumped the Ziff-Davis ship recently. We'll only say that we'll miss you Jeff, and we wish you all the best.

[Thanks, Jonah]

 

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Filed under: PC

Jeff Green is the kind of game journalist we want to be when we grow up: Seasoned, funny and imbued with the perfect blend of skepticism and passion, even after 17 years on the job. Now, the former CGW and GFW editor and (just as importantly) GFW Radio/Brodeo cornerstone is leaving Ziff-Davis to join The Sims development team.

We have too much respect for Green to use this as an opportunity to note all the high-profile names that have jumped the Ziff-Davis ship recently. We'll only say that we'll miss you Jeff, and we wish you all the best.

[Thanks, Jonah]

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments