AIPT Comics

his week on the AIPT Comics Podcast, we're talking gods, comics, and the creative minds behind them! This week we welcome Ram V to discuss Deicidium, his ambitious new series exploring a world where religion is big business and ancient gods are waking up. We dig into the mythology, his collaboration with Evan Cagle and an international team of artists, and the launch of Mirror Maker Studios.
We're also joined by AIPT's own Rob Reed to discuss our massive X-Men Power Rankings! Who deserves to be called the greatest mutant of all time? We go behind the scenes of the rankings, how they came together, and what makes the X-Men so difficult to rank.
1. The Big Three
6–7 min
Cover the three most consequential stories of the week, ranking them and giving your personal reaction.
James Tynion IV's Tiny Onion makes two major moves with new publishing imprint and Blumhouse deal
‘Criminal’ #1 and #6 return as facsimile editions alongside Prime Video series in January 2027
Marvel announces new ‘Angela’ ongoing series from Wes Craig and Pere Pérez for February 2027
2. Rapid-fire reactions to three or four additional announcements.
3–4 min
Harley Quinn is having a bat mitzvah before heading to Paris in new DC Comics run
Bruce Wayne and Jace Fox team up for the first time in 'Batman: Reign of Assassins' #1
Tini Howard and Joe Jaro return to 'Marian Heretic' with new 'Book of Joan' one-shot in February 2027
‘Valheim’ comic book series announced for 2027 with Steve Orlando, Tim Sheridan, and more
3. What the Press Release Isn't Saying
3–4 min
Dig into one announcement and offer an editorial perspective that listeners won't necessarily get from reading the headline.
X-Men Power Rankings interview with Rob Reed
Our Top Books of the Week:
Dave:
Deicidium: Returned #1 (Ram V, and more)
Escape #10 (Rick Remender, Daniel Acuna)
Alex:
Karman Blade #3 (Darcy van Poelgeest, Ian Bertram)
Legion of Super-Heroes #3 (Joshua Williamson, Hayden Sherman)
Standout KAPOW moment of the week:
Alex: Karman Blade #3 Ian Bertram
Dave: Wade Wilson: Deadpool #10 (Benjamin Percy, Gabriel Guzman)
TOP BOOKS FOR NEXT WEEK
Dave: Chainkata #1 (Daniel Warren Johnson Cover)
Alex: Midnight X-Men #2, X-Orcists #1
JUDGING BY THE COVER JR.
Dave: Chainkata #1 (Kevin Tran)
Alex: Midnight Spider-Man #2 (Marco Mastrazzo)
Interview - Ram V - Deicidium - November 11th
1. Ram, you've written everything from Batman and Venom to the New Gods, but Deicidium is an entirely new world where corporations have essentially turned religion into a business. Where did the initial spark for this idea come from, and how long has it been kicking around in your head?
2. One thing I loved about your Detective Comics run was how Gotham felt like a living, breathing place with centuries of history behind it. Deicidium has a similarly massive scope, but now you're building an entire world from scratch. What lessons did you take from working on Gotham that helped you approach something this ambitious?
3. The ancient gods in Deicidium awaken inside ordinary people, which almost feels like a superhero origin story. You've written characters like Venom and Carnage, where extraordinary power can fundamentally change someone's identity. Did your experience writing superheroes influence how you approached these awakenings, and how do you make someone becoming a god feel different from someone becoming a superhero?
4. What's interesting about Deicidium is that these returning gods aren't necessarily arriving to save humanity. Their existence threatens a system that's apparently kept the world stable after five devastating wars. Do you see the gods as liberators, or could their return be just as dangerous as the powers they're challenging?
5. The 12 orphans raised to hunt these gods are a fascinating concept. They're essentially super-powered assassins trained to have no faith in a world that runs on belief. When you were developing them, did you think of them as a kind of twisted superhero team, and what can you tease about the personalities and relationships within that group?
6. Deicidium takes readers across a number of very different cultures and locations, and the creative team itself is international. It's also interesting that the book is releasing in France before the United States. How did that publishing arrangement come about, and was telling a genuinely global story something you set out to do from the beginning?
7. You've worked with Evan Cagle on The New Gods, and now you're collaborating again on Deicidium, alongside Anand Radhakrishnan and others. Screen Rant mentioned that you brought the creative team together in an apartment to develop the book and filmed the process. What came out of those sessions that might never have happened if you'd all been working separately?
9. You're launching Mirror Maker Studios alongside Deicidium, and you've spoken about wanting to show people the human creative process at a time when mass-produced content is becoming increasingly common. What made now the right time to launch the studio, and what kinds of projects would you love to develop through it?
8. Your newly announced DC All In Saga: The New Gods one-shot puts Mister Miracle in the position of Highfather, while Deicidium explores what happens when ancient gods return to a world that no longer has room for them. You've been thinking about gods from several different angles lately. Has working on these stories changed your perspective on what makes a god worthy of worship or leadership?
10. Looking at your work on Detective Comics, The New Gods, and now Deicidium, you clearly enjoy stories with enormous casts, elaborate mythology, and mysteries that unfold over time. When you're creating something on this scale, how much do you know about the ending before you begin, and how much room do you leave for the story and your collaborators to surprise you?
The Lighthouse French Anthology - Urban worked with Frederick Peters -Black Tower, Mike Perkins

Welcome back to the AIPT Comics Podcast! This week we're doing things a little differently since one of us is on vacation! No news, no reviews, just a special interview with writer Cavan Scott!
You probably know Cavan from his extensive work on Star Wars, particularly The High Republic, but he's also the mind behind Shadow Service, Dead Seas, and his latest graphic novel, Godfather of Hell (Read the first chapter for free here).
What happens when a mob enforcer dies and discovers Hell operates a lot like the criminal underworld he left behind? You get Godfather of Hell: a wild, neon-soaked crime story where collecting debts means collecting souls.
We get into the surprisingly complicated road to getting this book published, including how another writer's similar idea forced Cavan to completely reinvent the story, and how Diamond's collapse nearly killed the project a second time.
We also talk about why Hell is basically one big racket, the creative freedom of working with artist Pius Bak, and why Cavan thinks Star Wars needs to embrace its horror roots. In fact, he reveals he's even pitched a full-on Star Wars horror project!
There's plenty of talk about mob movies, demonic bureaucracy, and even which Star Wars character would be the worst possible target for Hell's debt collector.
 
Interview: Cavan Scott about Godfather of Hell Vol. 1 - Out October 27
1. You've built an impressive career in comics, working on major franchises like Star Wars while also creating original stories like Shadow Service, Dead Seas, and now Godfather of Hell. How has your approach to storytelling evolved over the years, and what do you find most rewarding about creating your own worlds compared to working within established universes?
2. Godfather of Hell has a fantastic hook, combining classic mobster storytelling with the supernatural horrors of eternal damnation. What sparked the idea of sending a mob enforcer to Hell and having him discover that the afterlife operates a lot like organized crime?
3. Dario Santini starts out as a debt collector for the mob, only to find himself collecting souls for the Dukes of Hell. What interested you about a character whose particular set of skills makes him surprisingly well-suited for eternal damnation?
4. One of my favorite aspects of the story is how Hell operates through contracts, loopholes, and bureaucratic rules. How much fun did you have developing the business side of damnation, and did you establish any rules for yourself about how Hell's economy functions?
5. Pius Bak's artwork brings a wonderfully grotesque quality to Hell, while the mobster elements have a distinct noir atmosphere. How did your collaboration with Pius shape the visual identity of Godfather of Hell, and were there any character designs or depictions of Hell that surprised you when you first saw them?
6. Elena's history with her abusive father and her own demonic bargain give her a complicated relationship with the forces controlling Dario's life. How important was it to establish her as someone who makes consequential choices of her own rather than simply becoming the person Dario needs to rescue?
7. Jaakobah the imp brings some welcome humor to an otherwise pretty grim world, although it's never entirely clear how much Dario should trust him. What was your approach to writing Jaakobah, and how do you decide when a horror story needs a moment of comic relief?
8. You've spent years building stories in Star Wars: The High Republic, where powerful institutions, political maneuvering, and characters' moral choices can have enormous consequences. Did any of your experience working in that universe influence how you approached the competing factions and elaborate schemes in Godfather of Hell? And was it liberating to write a world where practically everyone is already damned?
9. Finally, a fun one: If Dario Santini were hired to collect a debt from one Star Wars character, who would be the absolute worst person to send him after? And do you think he'd have better luck negotiating with Jabba the Hutt or Satan himself?
 

1. The Big Three
6–7 min
Cover the three most consequential stories of the week, ranking them and giving your personal reaction.
Patrick Stewart has passed away
February 2027 Marvel Midnight Universe title details revealed
Fantagraphics announces ‘Visiting America,’ graphic memoir about British cartoonist’s 19 days in ICE detention
2. Rapid-fire reactions to three or four additional announcements.
3–4 min
Tiny Onion announces ‘Humbucker,’ a music-fueled crime thriller from Eric Harburn and Simon Gane
Exclusive Marvel preview: ‘Fugitive X-Force’ #1 brings back Freedom Force and a long-lost mutant
BOOM! Studios announces slasher horror series ‘The Carvers’ for February 2027
3. What the Press Release Isn't Saying
3–4 min
Dig into one announcement and offer an editorial perspective that listeners won't necessarily get from reading the headline.
DC extends 'Absolute Catwoman' to 12 issues, continuing Selina Kyle's story through 2027Absolute was in Rolling Stone Magazine

Our Top Books of the Week:
Dave:
Universal Monsters: The Bride of Frankenstein Lives #1 (Kelly Thompson, Mattia de Iulis)
Batman: Bad Seeds - Gotham General #1 (Greg Rucka, Rosa Ekedal, Steve Lieber)
Alex:
Absolute Wonder Woman #25 (Kelly Thompson, Hayden Sherman)
Fireborn #5 (Curt Pires, Timmy Heague, Franklin Jonas, Patrick Mulholland, Brian Andane)
Standout KAPOW moment of the week:
Alex: Satanic Panic #1 (Matt Miner, Clay McCormack)
Dave: Amazing Spider-Man #1002 (Pepe Larraz, Joe Kelly)
TOP BOOKS FOR NEXT WEEK
Dave: Exquisite Corpses: Lone Gunman #1 (Pornsak Pichetshote, Alberto Ponticelli)
Alex: Archie in Hell #1 (Patrick Horvath, Tyler Crook)
JUDGING BY THE COVER JR.
Dave: Spider-Woman #1 (Mark Brooks Virgin 1:100 Cover)
Alex: Lone Gunman Martin Simmonds Variant
Archie in Hell - Patrick Horvath - Tyler Crooke (Issue #1 out November 4th) 
Guys, welcome to the AIPT Comics podcast. To kick things off, this interview will be heard on Halloween day, but as of today, we’re just entering the spooky season, as two creators who work within the realms of horror, how do you celebrate Halloween at home?
Archie has been put through the horror wringer plenty of times at this point, but Archie in Hell starts with perhaps the most wholesome version of Archie imaginable, collecting food for charity, and uses that goodness against him. Patrick, was the idea of Archie being targeted specifically because he’s such a good person the key that unlocked this story for you?
AIPT: Solicit hounds will know this story jumps back in time to 1690, where Riverdale suddenly becomes this bleak Puritan community. What excited you both about taking characters and relationships we associate with this colorful, almost timeless American town and filtering them through that period of history?
AIPT: Tyler, Riverdale has such an established visual language that readers can recognize these characters almost instantly. Once Archie lands in 1690, how do you preserve enough of that familiarity while making this version of Riverdale feel genuinely unsettling and historically removed from the place we know?
AIPT: The first issue brings Sabrina into the story as someone who immediately understands that something much darker is happening. Archie horror has made her an incredibly useful bridge between everyday Riverdale and the supernatural. When you were building this story, how did you decide what Sabrina knows and how powerful she should be without letting her become an easy solution to Archie’s nightmare?
AIPT: The Order of A’ldarax and the Elder Gods push this toward occult and cosmic horror, while 1690 Riverdale opens the door to religious paranoia, accusations, and fear of the devil. What kinds of horror were each of you most interested in playing with here, and are there horror movies, books, or comics that helped set the temperature for the series?
AIPT: Patrick, Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees showed how effective horror can be when it invades a world that initially feels cozy and safe. Archie has that quality built into its DNA. Does horror become more potent for you when readers already have an emotional sense that this is a place where terrible things simply shouldn't happen?
AIPT: The title makes a pretty enormous promise: Archie in Hell. Yet we're starting with cults, Elder Gods, time travel, and a very different Riverdale. Without giving away where you're ultimately taking us, how literally should readers be interpreting the word “Hell,” and just how bad can things get for Archie from here?
AIPT: Since this is our Halloween episode, I have to end with something appropriately important: the Riverdale gang is trapped overnight in a genuinely haunted house. Who survives until morning, who makes the absolute worst horror-movie decision, and who turns out to be having way too much fun?

1. The Big Three
6–7 min
Cover the three most consequential stories of the week, ranking them and giving your personal reaction.
DC announces 'Year of Wonder' for 2027 with Louise Simonson and Stephanie Williams taking over 'Wonder Woman'
'Exquisite Corpses: Book of the Dead' reveals the killers' bloody origins in January 2027
Marvel reveals Bucky Barnes and Nick Fury Sr.'s next chapter in 'Immortal Soldiers' #1
2. Rapid-fire reactions to three or four additional announcements.
3–4 min
Dan Watters brings romance and impending doom to 'The Terminator' this January
DC turns humanity into the enemy in 'Green Lantern: Doomed Cosmos' #1 this January
'Gehenna: Lust for Conquest' brings more blood-soaked chaos to Image Comics in January 2027
3. What the Press Release Isn't Saying
3–4 min
Dig into one announcement and offer an editorial perspective that listeners won't necessarily get from reading the headline.
Mister Miracle becomes Highfather in 'DC All In Saga: The New Gods' #1 this January
OTHER NEWS
Dan Watters brings romance and impending doom to 'The Terminator' this January
Sean Gordon Murphy and Corin Howell team up for 'The Lost Bones of Lake Totem' at Image Comics
DC January 2027 solicitsDC celebrates 50 years of Black Lightning with anniversary special in January 2027
DC turns humanity into the enemy in 'Green Lantern: Doomed Cosmos' #1 this January
DC announces 'Year of Wonder' for 2027 with Louise Simonson and Stephanie Williams taking over 'Wonder Woman'

Marvel Comic solicitations January 2027‘X-Men ’92’ vs. ‘X-Men: Evolution’ gets new variant covers for Marvel’s ‘Incursions’ one-shot

Our Top Books of the Week:
Dave:
Doomquest #5 (Ryan North, Francesco Mobili)
Creepshow: Vol. 5 #2 (Various)
Standout KAPOW moment of the week:
Dave: Exquisite Corpses: Rascal Randy #4 (Tyler Boss, Dylan Burnett, Jordie Bellaire)
TOP BOOKS FOR NEXT WEEK
Dave: Absolute Batman #25 (Scott Snyder, Nick Dragotta)
JUDGING BY THE COVER JR.
Dave: Universal Monsters: The Bride of Frankenstein Lives #1 (Mattia De Iulis Cover)
Interview: Jordan Blum · Tim Seeley, Artist: Scott Koblish The Big Shakedown #1 - September 16
AIPT: The Big Shakedown takes the post-apocalypse and keeps it remarkably local. The rest of the world is still out there, but Los Angeles has essentially been abandoned. What made that more interesting to you than destroying civilization altogether?
AIPT: LA already has this mythology built around reinvention, wealth, entertainment, and people coming there chasing something. What happens to that identity when the city is physically destroyed, and much of the country decides it isn't worth saving?
AIPT: Avalon stepping into the vacuum left by the government feels like a very modern evolution of the company town, while gangs and cartels have essentially become neighborhood governments. How did you figure out who would actually hold power five years after the earthquake?
AIPT: Ester has been a cop, a private investigator, and even a consultant on a Hollywood police show. How much fun was it creating a noir detective who has actually watched Los Angeles turn its own version of her profession into entertainment?
AIPT: Ester desperately wants out of LA, yet she's also trying to excavate something buried beneath the old city. Without giving away what she's looking for, what does that contradiction tell us about her relationship with the life she had before the earthquake?
AIPT: In the first issue, the 2018 Lakers on VHS to make things feel "more like then, less like now" is such a specific detail. How important is nostalgia to this story, especially for people living among the literal remains of their old lives?
AIPT: You describe the series as being in the vein of Chinatown and The Long Goodbye, but by the end of #1 we've got cult-like language, conspiracy, and this ominous reference to the "twilight child." How far did you want to stretch the boundaries of noir once Ester starts pulling at this mystery?
AIPT: Scott Koblish has to sell recognizable Los Angeles, a city devastated by an earthquake, and this heightened pulp-noir world all at once. What did the three of you establish visually that made this still feel unmistakably like LA five years after "The Big One"?
AIPT: Finally, you've destroyed Los Angeles, abandoned it, divided it among corporations and gangs, and filled it with cults and conspiracies. So let's say the three of you are stuck there for a weekend. Who survives the longest, who immediately gets into trouble, and who's somehow still complaining about the traffic?

For our milestone 400th episode, Rick Remender joins the AIPT Comics Podcast for a candid conversation about his creator-owned comics, why he turned down opportunities to write Batman and the X-Men, and what drives his most ambitious work yet. From Escape and The Seasons to The Sacrificers and Hammerfist, Remender opens up about storytelling, artistic freedom, and the future of his career. Plus, we break down the biggest comics news of the week in our full weekly recap!
Visit our Patreon page to see the various tiers you can sign up for today to get in on the ground floor of AIPT Patreon. We hope to see you chatting with us on our Discord soon!
400 episodes: big moment picks:
Dave: 2019: Doomsday Clock finally concludes
Chris: The “resistance” against AI. 
Alex: House of X/Powers of X and more!
NEWS
NYCC: What we missedBarbie gets a comic series
Dinobots return!

IDW announces ‘Godzilla vs Everything’ crossover event for March 2027
Daniel Warren Johnson's 'Chainkata' #1 scores a whopping 116 retailer exclusive covers
ICV2 Numbers are inDC continues to CRUSH each quarter
Somehow Batman still beats ASM 1000!

Our Top Books of the Week:
Dave:
Legion of Super-Heroes #2 (Joshua Williamson, Hayden Sherman)
The Nice House by the Sea #12 (James Tynion IV, Alvaro Martinez Bueno)
Chris:
The Karman Blade #2 (DVP, Ian Bertram)
Hammer Head #1 (Ed Brisson, Damian Couceiro)
Standout KAPOW moment of the week:
Chris: Regicide #3 (Patrick Kindlon, Ludovic Lalliat) 
Dave: Wolverine: Paradise #1 (Dan Panosian)
TOP BOOKS FOR NEXT WEEK
Chris: The Twilight Zone #11 (Mark Russell, Victor Alpi)
Dave: Avengers: Armageddon #5 (Chip Zdarsky, Delio Diaz)
JUDGING BY THE COVER JR.
Dave: Exquisite Corpses: Rascal Randy #4 (Dylan Burnett Polybagged With Collectible Card) (and Tyler Boss’ is good too)
Chris:  Amazing Spider-Man: Halloween Special #1 (Paco Medina Variant Cover)
Interview: Rick Remender Creator Spotlight
The Seasons #12 out October 14 (and artist Paul Azaceta)
Hammerfirst #3 is out October 28th (and artist Steve Epting)
Escape #10 is out November 3 (and artist Daniel Acuna)
Rick, this is our 400th episode, so I wanted to start a little bigger than usual. You’ve been making comics for decades now, from Marvel and DC to building Giant Generator and this huge library of creator-owned work. When you look at the comics you’re making right now, do you feel like you’re in a distinctly different creative era than you were five or ten years ago?
With Hammerfist, you spend a surprising amount of time convincing us we’re reading this grounded crime noir before you really let the superhero and supernatural elements loose. Was holding that back always essential to the concept, and how much did having Steve Epting drawing the book give you the confidence to wait?
Steve Epting is so associated with grounded espionage and superhero storytelling, and Hammerfist gives him room to do both. When you finally got the opportunity to build a creator-owned book together, what did you specifically want to write that would take advantage of what Steve does better than almost anyone?
Mike Denton is a killer, an addict and a pretty terrible father, but Hammerfist keeps dangling the possibility that he could become something better. Now you’re heading into “Black Noon,” and the solicitation is asking whether this “dirtbag killer” can take one final swing at redemption. Is Hammerfist ultimately a redemption story, or are you more interested in asking whether some people actually deserve one?
One thing that fascinates me about Escape is how differently Milton and Flynn process the same war. Milton has gradually learned to recognize humanity in the people he was taught were monsters, while Flynn seems to be moving in the opposite direction. How much of the series was built around seeing what war does to two people who begin from roughly the same side but emotionally end up somewhere very different?
The solicitation for Escape #10 puts Milton in this brutal position where survival, loyalty and protecting civilians may all require different choices. You've written plenty of characters who survive terrible things but don't necessarily come through them intact. With Escape, is getting home actually the victory, or has the question become what part of yourself you can still bring home with you?
Then you have The Seasons, which is operating in a completely different visual and emotional language. Issue #12 reunites the sisters in a world where people are consumed by these self-reflecting mirrors showing them only the world they want to see. That feels like an incredibly pointed idea for 2026. How much are you using this fantastical world to talk about the way people increasingly construct their own versions of reality?
Between Hammerfist, Escape, The Seasons and everything you're building through Giant Generator, you have a lot of very different books happening simultaneously. For our 400th episode, I want to end the main interview looking forward: What do you still want from comics? Is there a type of story, collaboration, or creative swing that you feel like you haven't taken yet?