Get A Sneak Peek At ‘Deicidium: Omens’ Graphic Novel By ‘The New Gods’ Team Of Ram V And Evan Cagle

Recently, it was announced that the team behind DC Comics’ The New Gods, writer Ram V and artist Evan Cagle, were launching a new line of graphic novels to be published simultaneously by Image Comics in the US and Morgen in France. And now, the AV Club has had an exclusive reveal of a first look. And now, we can share that preview with you because if you’re as excited as I am by this new project, then you’ll want to take a look too.

A fan of mythology, and a theme he has played with more than once in his comic book work, not just in The New Gods but also in The Many Deaths Of Laila Starr and Rare Flavours, and now once again, but over three sumptuous graphic novels in which he has the ancient gods clash with contemporary organised religion and corporate tech.

Speaking with The AV Club, Ram V said:

“I’ve been a mythology enthusiast since a very young age.  I’ve always had a fascination for humans and their relationships with their gods and how that has evolved over human history. I like the stories where these ideas began. But I look at organized religion, at best, with a healthy dose of skepticism. It is in this conflict that Deicidium was born.”

Ram V and Evan Cagle are joined on this new project by Anand Radhakrishnan, another long-time collaborator of Ram’s, with Ram commenting on his take on collaborative work to the AV Club:

“I’d like to say collaboration is seamless and second nature but that’s not how good collaborations work. They’re built on pushing and pulling each other into new creative places. As I’ve collaborated with [Evan and Anand] over the years, I continue to imagine my stories as places where their art and visual storytelling evolve and push into new directions. I’ve also invited both of them to contribute to world-building and story beyond what they choose to put on the page. Deicidium is the sort of project where that is possible and I’m excited to be challenged and sent in new directions by their ideas and contributions as well.”

The first black and white graphic novel, Deicidium: Omens is out this Autumn, but readers can find a 14-page preview in Image Comics’ offering for Free Comic Book Day on Saturday, the 2nd of May.

And for an epic saga like this one promises to be, we get an epic synopsis too:

“In a future rebuilt from the ashes of war, belief is no longer sacred — it’s monetized.

Humanity has entered a hard-won age of stability, governed by an unholy alliance between global corporations and newly engineered religions. Worship fuels the economy. Faith is power. Salvation is a product. Welcome to the industry of belief. That fragile balance shatters when the old gods return. Ancient deities of fire, wind, jaguars, love, war, and mischief awaken inside ordinary people, transforming neighbors and strangers into living gods. To the powers that be, they aren’t miracles — they’re threats.

The great faiths of the new world knew the old gods could one day return. And they planned for such an eventuality. 12 orphans were chosen, bestowed with gifts and taught to be faithless, loveless instruments without reward or remorse. The old gods have returned — and the 12 will be unleashed.

As old myths collide with a world built on manufactured faith, a brutal conflict ignites — one that will decide who controls humanity’s future, and whether salvation comes from those placed above us … or from within us.“

Deicidium: Omens is out in October from Image Comics and Morgen.