Zero Dark Nerdy - Pop Culture Podcast · Zero Dark Nerdy

Interview with Karina Manashil

·36 min·1 clip

Karina Manashil comes on to talk shop. The interview starts with a New York Comic Con memory, where Zero Dark Nerdy first saw her introducing Moon Man with Kid Cudi, Scott Miscutti, and company, and that moment sets the tone for the whole conversation. From there, the talk moves through her path from the William Morris mailroom to her current role as president of Mad Soul and executive producer at Pearl X, with a mention of the upcoming Maxine work she brings up along the way. She clearly means what she says about that Comic Con appearance. Karina calls it one of her happiest days and describes it as warm, validating, and thrilling for herself, Kyle Higgins, Scott, and Michael Bustatil. Her husband gets a quick cameo in the story too. He told her to put down the phone and call Kyle, because the whole thing already felt bigger than a casual idea. Kyle Higgins becomes central to the context. Karina walks through his background in Batman, Power Rangers, Radiant Black, and the broader Massive-Verse at Image Comics, then explains how Moon Man fit naturally into that ecosystem. The team around the project matters just as much. She names Chase Conley on suit design, Igor and Marco on colors and art, Hassan on lettering, and Michael on editing, and the conversation treats that collaboration as the engine of the book. The episode keeps coming back to what Moon Man is trying to say. It is framed as a modern superhero story about what a hero owes to other people when the world is messy, corporate greed is everywhere, and personal ambition keeps running into responsibility. That idea stays in the foreground. Instead of treating heroism as a clean good versus evil split, the discussion keeps circling back to the harder question of what a hero is supposed to do when the moral lines are not neat. The conversation stays grounded too. Moon Man is described as a local hero with a real burden, someone defined as much by what he can actually do as by what is being forced onto him. That choice shapes the tone. It keeps the project from feeling like a generic cape pitch and gives the interview something specific to hold onto. Zero Dark Nerdy leans into the fandom side without dropping the business side. The chat moves easily between creative staffing, comic book lineage, and the broader Image Comics universe. The energy stays casual and enthusiastic. It sounds like people who care about how this stuff is built, who gets to build it, and why the result matters to readers. There is also a real sense of pride in the room. Karina’s comments about the team and the Comic Con moment make the project feel like a milestone rather than just another announcement. The episode keeps its focus on process. How the team came together, what the project is trying to be, and why the story’s moral frame feels current all get room to breathe. That makes the conversation feel useful. It is not just a promo stop, it is a look at how a comic idea becomes a shared creative object. By the end, the through-line is simple. Moon Man is being treated as a grounded superhero story about responsibility, pressure, and the cost of showing up for other people.

As heard by us

A comics-to-screen interview that stays with craft and theme instead of hype.

Zero Dark Nerdy uses this interview to follow Karina Manashil from the William Morris mailroom to Mad Soul, Pearl X, and the upcoming Maxine, with the New York Comic Con introduction of Moon Man giving the whole thing its frame.

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Why you'd press play

A career-to-comics interview that uses Moon Man to ask what a hero means now.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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