Tag: Karina Manashil

October 14, 2023

by Carla Hay

Rapper/actor/multimedia artist Scott Mescudi, also known as Kid Cudi, has joined the growing list of entertainers who have launched their own series of comic books. On October 14, 2023, Kid Cudi made an appearance on a Q&A panel in a packed room of cheering fans at New York Comic Con (at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City) to promote his “Moon Man” comic books series, which will debut on Image Comics on January 31, 2024. Attendees were given free booklets of sneak preview “Moon Man” art after the panel.

Because of the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strike that began in July, Kid Cudi was not allowed to talk about “struck” work related to SAG-AFTRA projects, such as his movies and TV shows that are produced by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Instead, Kid Cudi only discussed his “Moon Man” project.

“Moon Man” which is based on Kid Cudi’s concepts, is about an astronaut/former fighter pilot named Ramon Townsend, who develops superpowers after an outer space accident where he saved people and became a hero. Kid Cudi appeared on the panel with his “Moon Man” business partners: Black Market Narrative founder Kyle Higgins and Mad Solar president Karina Manashil. Higgins, a co-writer of the “Moon Man” series, mentioned that “Moon Man” character Ramon Townsend (who is illustrated to look like Kid Cudi) was originally going to have Scott as his first name.

Kid Cudi said during the panel discussion: “I started getting into comics when I was 8 or 9 years old. I was into the Spider-Mans, the Supermans, the Batmans. But the one comic that really blew my mind as a kid was ‘Scud: The Disposable Assassin.’ For a while, when I was a kid, I wanted to be a cartoonist. Cartoons, art, graphic novels: Those are the things I lean into. I always thought it would be cool to one day tell a story in comic book form.” 

In 2013, he began to incorporate the Moon Man character into his music, including “The Flight of the Moon Man” on his “Indicud” album released that year. Kid Cudi said, “I was thinking that if the Moon Man was a character, what would his music be? What would his theme be? This was something that was already brewing in my mind for years.”

In 2022, Kid Cudi and Manashil (who worked as a producer with Kid Cudi on his Netflix animated sci-fi series “Entergalactic”) began discussions to make a comic book series for the Moon Man character. Kid Cudi said that Higgins was instrumental in the brainstorming process to come up with original ideas.

Manashil praised Kid Cudi by saying that he’s a “genius.” She added, “The majority of what we’re doing a projects that he’s idea’d himself.” Higgins, who is the co-creator of the “Radiant Black” comic book series, mentioned that Image Comics (unlike most comic book companies) allow the creators to keep the copyrights to their work. Higgins added about the “Moon Man” project: “This was a project that, when we started talking about it, I got very excited about the possibilties.”

Kid Cudi said, “As someone who’s read comics and know what’s out there, it was really important for me, if I was going to approach this superhero thing, to really go in and do it right, I needed to make sure that my character was unique and different from anything you had ever seen before.”

Kid Cudi also mentioned how he is similar to hte “Moon Man” character Ramon Townsend: “There’s a lot of style and flavor in the character of Ramon that is my own. He’s this young, hotshot pilot, so I had to make him fit and make him feel more like me. The fashion is definitely there. He’s from Cleveland. That was important to me. That’s my hometown.” 

Kid Cudi also mentioned that he and the other “Moon Man” creators are talking about making exclusive Kid Cudi digital music as part of the digital editions of the “Moon Man” comics to listen to a “score as you read … to make it a more exciting experience for you.”

Although a comic book series can come from a concept created by one person, Kid Cudi said that team collaborations are crucial to the making of “Moon Man” and any comic book series. He credited Higgins for helping him stay on the path of originality because he would tell Kid Cudi if any ideas he had were already done in a comic boook. “We set out to make something different, something new” Kid Cudi said. “Kyle was the guiding light to make sure that we came up with something refreshing.”

Kid Cudi concluded by saying about the “Moon Man” comic book series: “I know that this is a really powerful comic. There are endless possibilities with ‘Moon Man.'”