Stories about gods often focus on worship, power, and the weight of immortality. But what happens when divinity itself becomes the target? That’s the intriguing question at the heart of Deicidium, the ambitious new fantasy epic from the French publisher Morgen and Image Comics. A project that blends mythic storytelling, striking world-building, and the kind of layered character work readers have come to expect from one of comics’ most celebrated writers.

Today, we’re excited to sit down with acclaimed creator Ram V to discuss Deicidium, Volume 1: Returned, the origins of this epic tale, the collaboration behind bringing the world to life, and what readers can expect as this sprawling saga unfolds. We’ll also dive into the themes of faith, power, and identity that drive the narrative, along with the unique creative challenges of building a universe where even gods may not be safe.

From Chemical Engineer to Writer

GVN: Thank you for spending some time with us, Ram V. Since this is our first opportunity to chat, I want to start with your creative beginnings. You began your professional life as a Chemical Engineer before you first dedicated your efforts to comic book writing in 2012. How does that transition even happen?

RAM V: It sounds more dramatic than it really was. I’d been writing since I was 12/13, mostly things no one should see. But even as a child, I’d had the desire to sit down and write. Which is perhaps the most invaluable trait for a writer. By the time 2012 came around, I was writing a lot. When I quit my engineering job, I’d already had a couple of prose stories published in professional markets. So, it was apparent that I was not entirely without talent. I took a punt at writing comics off the recommendation of a friend. By 2016 I was publishing my first comic, Black Mumba– I’ve been writing comics ever since.

“…Creative Successes”

GVN: Since that time, you’ve built a remarkable career through acclaimed work on titles like The Many Deaths of Laila Starr, Rare Flavours, Detective Comics, and The New Gods. Looking back, what were some of the key creative and professional milestones that helped shape the storyteller you’ve become today?

RAM V: I’m not sure I can really point at things like that, to be honest. Milestones are only so, in hindsight. And creative growth is necessarily a forward looking thing. It’s about taking new risks, applying new challenges to your own work. So, I think of those choices as creative successes. My first attempt at Magic Realism with Laila Starr. Experiments with pace and rhythm in These Savage Shores. My first long-form narrative with established characters in Detective Comics. My first attempt at doing something truly novelistic with Blue in Green or my experiments with structure with The One Hand and The Six Fingers. Creativity is about finding out more interesting ways to play. Not about developing a skillset or building success. Those things are byproducts.

Mirror Maker Studios

GVN: Not only have you excelled at writing, but you also started Mirror Maker Studios, which represents a bold new chapter in your career. What inspired you to launch the studio, and what opportunities does it provide for creators that you felt were missing from traditional publishing models?

RAM V: I get itchy feet. I’ve made comics for about a decade. In that time, I’ve had the chance to work in other mediums – prose, video games, animation, film+tv. I get ideas every now and then that don’t quite sit neatly in a box or are too much of a risk to fit any kind of standard publishing model. And I’m in a position where I can make these things happen. I needed a place for them to exist. Sit in an incubator before they’re ready to have a life of their own. So I came up with Mirror Maker as a place for such strange oddities to exist.

I’m working on something that is prose and illustration with an unusual publishing format. Another project that exists between design, spoken word, reading, comics and animation. I’ll make a short film in the coming year. The kind of things that are difficult for a publisher to envision until they exist. And so, they’ll be made under the Mirror Maker banner.

Beyond that there’s a YouTube channel that’ll launch as well. The aim with that is to give people a window into creativity and making art. In a day and age where corporations try to commodify creative endeavour and sell it as a finished product, I’m more interested in showing people that the real joy lies in the effort, the endeavour, the process. It’s a way of saying this is where me and my very interesting friends play, this is where you can watch what that’s like. Like watching a band come up with your favourite song.

GVN: The mission behind Mirror Maker Studios is centered on groundbreaking narrative art. What does that phrase mean to you personally, and how do you hope the studio will challenge audiences’ expectations of what comics and visual storytelling can achieve?

RAM V: I don’t know that there is any grand expectation that I attach to the phrase, to be honest. In fact, I think its ambition is to be found in its innocence. Too many interesting ideas are stifled before they can exist because someone somewhere decided the second most important question to ask was “how will this make money?”. I think commercial sustainability is important, but some ideas need a little help to breathe on their own before they can exist in a commercial framework. And we live in a day and age where its infinitely easier to self-start and make something from scratch.

Currently, I have a few ideas that fit this description and if they’re successful, I’m sure they’ll fit the “groundbreaking narrative art” description too. Beyond that I have no expectations of an audience outside of I hope they enjoy it. I hope it evokes emotion and feeling. I hope they leave still thinking about the experience. If there are other creators in the audience, I hope it inspires more art.

Decidium Volume 1: Returned

GVN: So, let’s get into your upcoming book. Deicidium immediately grabs attention with its ambitious scope, striking imagery, and mythic themes. What was the original spark for the project, and at what point did you realize this story was going to be something much larger than a conventional fantasy epic?

RAM V: I spent a lot of time around mythology and stories of gods and devils as a child. And it has inculcated a natural interest in these things and their place in history / politics and the structure of our world. On a primal level they were stories and they carried the innocence and malleability that comes with stories. They were a way to explain the universe and make sense of our loneliness within it. Then we turned them into a tool to control others. To motivate swathes of humanity but also to subjugate.

The spark for Deicidium came from a desire to investigate this conflict between creativity/creation v/s dogma/doctrine. But I didn’t want to set this as a historical epic. I wanted it to be contemporary, to ask these questions in our context now. With characters and questions that you and I can see around us. And so, DEICIDIUM was born.

I’ve always pushed narrative in some way with all of my projects. With Deicidium, I decided to push into publishing format and cadence. I think all of these things are intrinsic to the experience of a story. SO with Deicidium, we decided to publish as 100 page GNs over the course of years with a global release cadence. So people across the world can experience and talk about the story at the same time. Something we seem to have moved away from, in the way comics are published.






Artist Evan Cagle

GVN: Artist Evan Cagle’s visuals bring an incredible sense of scale and emotion to Deicidium. What made him the ideal collaborator for this project, and how has your creative partnership helped shape the world, characters, and mythology readers will encounter?

RAM V: Evan’s mastery of the visual is self evident and no amount of verbiage from me will really convey that. So I’ll let his work speak for itself. As a collaborator, Evan is tremendous. He brings so much more than a translation of the script. He is a partner in storytelling, I’ll go to him with the shape / structure of a story and narrate it to him multiple times over the course of our work. And he’ll usually find new things to insert / new directions to push in. He’ll see opportunities I didn’t and so I’d say our relationship is one of true collaboration. Evan is also a wonderful friend and a great conversationalist, an underappreciated talent over the course of a collaboration that promises to continue for years to come.

GVN: Thank you again for your kind attention, Ram V. Finally, between the launch of Mirror Maker Studios and the arrival of Deicidium, this feels like a defining moment in your creative journey. What excites you most about the future, and what do you hope readers take away from this next evolution of your work as a storyteller and world-builder?

RAM V: Thank you for having me! I don’t know about defining moments. Every book I release, I get asked if it is a defining moment. I think a good creative career is made over time with several moments – none of them truly defining in themselves. I’m sure it looks different from a reader’s perspective but to me, the greatest success is that I get to do these things– make stories and act on ideas and find myself enabled by an industry and a readership. So I am thankful for that and I’m excited to make more art.

What should the readers take away? A piece of art. The way it makes them feel. Enjoyment. Excitement. Only the most important things like– love, happiness and heartbreak.

We thank Ram V for taking the time to speak with us about the origins of this ambitious project, the collaborative process behind bringing its vast universe to life, and the themes that drive its compelling narrative. His insights offer a fascinating glimpse into the creative vision shaping what promises to be one of comics’ most thought-provoking new sagas.

Be sure to pick up Image Comics Deicidium, Volume 1: Returned and experience this epic tale for yourself. For more interviews, exclusive previews, creator spotlights, and the latest news from the world of comics, keep your browser locked on GVN and GVN Talking Comics.