Posted in: Comics, Image | Tagged: Deicidium, Mirror Maker, ram v, white noise
Ram V Launches Mirror Maker Studios And On YouTube Ahead Of Deicidium
Ram V launches his new company Mirror Maker Studios and its YouTube channel; ahead of the launch of Deicidium Vol 1
Article Summary
- Ram V launches Mirror Maker Studios as a creative incubator to develop boundary-pushing stories across comics, games and more.
- Mirror Maker Studios also debuts a YouTube channel, opening up the creative process with creator talks and behind-the-scenes videos.
- The first Mirror Maker video spotlights Deicidium, Ram V’s nine-volume sci-fi epic with Evan Cagle and Anand RK.
- Ram V says the studio and channel aim to champion human creativity as Deicidium Vol. 1 arrives later this month.
When I first met Ram V, he was setting up a studio, White Noise, with Dan Watters, Alex Paknadel and Ryan O’Sullivan. It wasn’t really a studio, more of a way of having each other’s backs: writers working in London, trying to get gigs in comics and games, recommending each other to editors and liking each other’s social media posts.
Well now Ram V has launched a new studio, and maybe it’s a proper one this time. Mirror Maker Studios, a “creative studio/ideas incubator” for projects helmed by the New Gods/Detective Comics/The Many Deaths Of Laila Starr writer. It exists to bring stories to life “with artistic ambition and inventiveness, always seeking to push boundaries across genre, publishing and media.” There is also a YouTube channel of the same name that shows the process of making those things, featuring creator talks and process videos with people from comics, writing, animation, and games. In 2027, it will start publishing episodic narrative fiction. The first video is about the making of Deicidium.
Deicidium, for those who have not been keeping score, is the nine-volume science-fiction graphic novel series Ram V is doing with Evan Cagle and Anand RK. French publisher Morgen has the worldwide rights; Image Comics handles English-language territories. Volume one, “Returned” is out in a couple of weeks in comic shops, just in time for Thought Bubble and in bookstores/Amazon for the second week of December.
The YouTube channel launches with footage of the creative team locked in a small apartment, filming the early decisions. Cagle has already called V one of the rare creators willing to keep exploring an idea rather than simply declaring it finished. He talks about companies pushing mass-produced content “devoid of human perspective,” and about the need to show the process rather than just the product. It is the sort of statement that sounds either entirely reasonable or slightly like a manifesto depending on how many AI-generated covers one has seen in the last six months. There is also an opera based on The Many Deaths of Laila Starr whose world premiere was timed to the studio launch; that premiere has since been postponed. These things happen.
“I believe that the ability to create things and make art is one of humanity’s most beautiful aspects; worth valuing and encouraging. At a time when companies seem to want to push both creators and consumers to accept mass produced content devoid of human perspective and endeavour, I think more creators should convey the magic that exists in the process of making things, not merely in the product. The YouTube launch is an exciting way to document these and give readers, viewers and fans a place to engage with the process and people behind the things they love and enjoy– especially at a time when the primacy of the creative human mind and experience as the force behind making art is being challenged… For every person there must be a relationship with art and artists beyond mere consumerism and fandom. I believe if people see the electricity and wonder in the creative process, we’ll learn to value it that much more. The Mirror Maker channel is meant to be a place where people engage with the process behind how creative things are made. To sync that with an early creative session in the making of my next book Deicidium seemed like a logical step. So we brought together a bunch of creative people at the top of their game from all over the world; we locked ourselves into a small apartment and filmed the creative energy, early decisions and ideas behind making the book. It’s like watching a band come together to make a song that is somehow more than the sum of its individual parts.” – Ram V.
Future episodes promise guests including Esoteric of Czarface, Kickstarter CEO Everette Taylor, Becky Cloonan and Anand RK. Whether the channel becomes a genuine window into the work or simply another place where creators explain why their work is important remains to be seen. The comics industry has never lacked for people willing to talk about the process. It has occasionally lacked for people willing to keep making the work once the talking is done.
“This, if you’ve been keeping track, is why Anand and I went to London late February this year. Of course, we were supposed to be there just for the shoot, and a pesky war ended up extending our time there, but that’s another story. This was incredibly fun to do, and I’m glad to see it came out looking so good. Stay tuned for more!” –Adidya Bidikar
Either way, the channel is already up. The first volume of the book is not far behind.
“It’s not hard to find ‘idea people.’ What is hard is finding creators curious enough about their own ideas to trust that they haven’t explored anything like enough of what those ideas could be, and who generously allow a partner in that journey of exploration. I have been exceptionally fortunate to find that in Ram,” – Evan Cagle.
The launch of the Mirror Maker comes ahead of the world premiere of The Many Deaths of Laila Starr opera. The two-and-a-half-hour opera was commissioned and developed through Minnesota Opera’s New Works Initiative and adapted from the graphic novel by Ram V and Filipe Andrade. The opera is directed by Mary Birnbaum and features music by Kamala Sankaram and a libretto by Minita Gandhi. The World Premiere has been temporarily postponed and will be rescheduled for a later date.
Deicidium Vol 1: Returned
Deicidium Vol 1: Returned
DEICIDIUM Vol 1: RETURNED OGN TP VOL 01 (MR)
Ram V (A) Evan Cagle (CA) Alvaro Escobar
SERIES PREMIERE 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 is a global epic series from the multi-award-winning collaborations of RAM V, EVAN CAGLE, ANAND RADHAKRISHNAN with TOM MULLER, ADITYA BIDIKAR and more. $12.99 11/11/26
Deicidium Vol 1: Returned
Deicidium Vol 1: Returned
Deicidium Vol 1: Returned
Deicidium Vol 1: Returned
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