Comics, Music, Ethics & AI: KYLE HIGGINS, KARINA MANASHIL & KID CUDI on the Making of Moon Man

Music & Dance: Musicians, Composers, Singers, Dancers, Choreographers, Performers Talk Art, Creativity & The Creative Process

What does the future hold for our late-stage capitalist society with mega-corporations owning and controlling everything? How can the world-building skills of the makers of films and comics help us imagine a better future?

Kyle Higgins is an Eisner award-nominated #1 New York Times best-selling comic book author and award-winning filmmaker known for his work on DC Comics’ Batman titles as well as his critically-acclaimed reinventions of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers for Boom! Studios/Hasbro, Ultraman for Marvel Comics, and his creator-owned series Radiant Black, NO/ONE and Deep Cuts for Image Comics. Kyle is the founder and creative director of Black Market Narrative and The Massive-Verse.

Karina Manashil is the President of MAD SOLAR. After graduating from Chapman University with a BFA in Film Production, she began her career in the mailroom at WME where she became a Talent Agent. In 2020, she partnered with Scott Mescudi and Dennis Cummings to found MAD SOLAR. Its first release was the documentary “A Man Named Scott” (Amazon), and she then went on to Executive Produce Ti West trilogy “X,” “Pearl” and “MaXXXine” (A24). Manashil received an Emmy nomination as an Executive Producer on the Netflix animated event “Entergalactic." She also produced the Mescudi/Kyle Higgins comic book “Moon Man” which launched through Image Comics. She is next producing the upcoming Mescudi/Sam Levinson/The Lucas Bros film “HELL NAW” (Sony) and the animated feature “Slime” from auteur animator Jeron Braxton.

“When I was younger, I used to draw all the time, so cartoons, comic books, anything visual just got me really quickly when I was younger. And I wanted to be a cartoonist up until I was 14, 15. And then I had this idea to be a rapper, but animation cartoons, these were things that I was super passionate about. It's something that never changed throughout my life. You know, as I grew older, I still had an interest in comics. I still had an interest in animation. And reading comics as a kid

as a lot of my fans know, this Moon Man thing has been kind of my theme from the very beginning. And I think it wasn't until my fourth album, Indicud, where I really started to conjure up a world where this Moon Man character existed. A couple years ago, it kind of got to this point where I was like, man, this is something that I want to actually bring to life. And I thought telling it in comic form would be the best way. Karina, you mentioned Kyle, and I just did my research, and I was like, ‘Yes, he's the guy!’ You know, it was like a no-brainer. I was like–Wow, I really finally have an opportunity to make something that I've spent 15 years of my career building, making it a real thing and bringing him to life.” - Scott Mescudi aka Kid Cudi

moonmancomics.com
https://imagecomics.com
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3556462/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
www.creativeprocess.info
www.oneplanetpodcast.org
IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Audio of Scott Mescudi courtesy of Mad Solar and Moon Man Comic Book Release and Revenge Of (Eagle Rock, CA, Jan 31, 2024)