# Ram V
**Ram V** is the pen name of Ramnarayan Venkatesan, an Indian comics writer based in London who has worked on both creator-owned graphic novels and major licensed characters at [DC Comics](https://www.edgepedia.org/dc-comics) and Marvel.[1](https://www.tcj.com/fun-doesnt-mean-it-cant-be-intelligent-a-conversation-with-ram-v/) Since publishing his first book in 2016, his work has won and been nominated for Eisner, Harvey, and Ringo awards, and he has written characters including [Swamp Thing](https://www.edgepedia.org/swamp-thing), Catwoman, Batman, Venom, and the [New Gods](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-gods).[2](https://www.ram-v.com/about) • [3](https://imagecomics.com/creators/ram-v)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Ramnarayan Venkatesan; the V is his father's name, Venkatesan, following a south Indian naming convention[4](https://www.dc.com/blog/2022/07/12/v-for-variety-aqua-horror-swamp-things-and-batman-opera-with-ram-v) |
| First book | *Black Mumba*, self-published in 2016 with artist Devmalya Pramanik[5](https://www.thepopverse.com/ram-v-comic-graphic-novel-writer-interview) |
| Signature creator-owned titles | *Grafity's Wall*, *These Savage Shores*, *The Many Deaths of Laila Starr*, and the Eisner-winning *Blue in Green*[2](https://www.ram-v.com/about) |
| Major licensed runs | *The Swamp Thing*, *Detective Comics* ("Gotham Nocturne"), *The New Gods*, *Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma* at DC; *Venom* at Marvel[6](https://www.tcj.com/you-have-to-reinvent-yourself-every-10-years-a-talk-with-ram-v/) • [7](https://www.dc.com/blog/2025/01/09/resurrection-man-quantum-karma-ram-v-and-anand-rk-bring-dc-s-eternal-super-hero-back-from-the-dead-in-a-new-dc-black-label-limited-series) |
| Notable firsts | First Indian writer to pen a Batman story for DC Comics[8](https://archive.factordaily.com/comics-fans-in-india-are-exceptional-a-qa-with-ram-v-writer-of-aghori-batman-paradiso-and-more/); his Swamp Thing, Levi Kamei, is DC's first lead South Asian character with a solo comic[4](https://www.dc.com/blog/2022/07/12/v-for-variety-aqua-horror-swamp-things-and-batman-opera-with-ram-v) |
| Eisner wins | *Blue in Green* (Eisner-winning)[2](https://www.ram-v.com/about); *The One Hand*/*The Six Fingers* won Best Graphic Album—Reprint at the 2025 Eisners[6](https://www.tcj.com/you-have-to-reinvent-yourself-every-10-years-a-talk-with-ram-v/) |
| Current focus | *Deicidium*, a nine-volume graphic novel series for the French publisher Morgen, with Image Comics publishing in English[9](https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/61348/ram-v-radhakrishnana-cagle-sign-new-french-publisher-six-figure-deal) |
## Early life and career change
Ram V was born and raised in India, in an orthodox family in which his father was a chemical engineer, and he studied and worked as a chemical engineer himself before turning to writing.[4](https://www.dc.com/blog/2022/07/12/v-for-variety-aqua-horror-swamp-things-and-batman-opera-with-ram-v) • [10](https://www.comicsbeat.com/interview-ram-v-the-vigil-dc-comics/) He has said he wrote his first story at about age 12, a 40,000-word piece, and that writing had always been his first love even while he worked in engineering.[10](https://www.comicsbeat.com/interview-ram-v-the-vigil-dc-comics/) • [5](https://www.thepopverse.com/ram-v-comic-graphic-novel-writer-interview)
Two encounters redirected his career. While studying in Philadelphia, a friend gave him volume one of [Neil Gaiman](https://www.edgepedia.org/neil-gaiman)'s *The Sandman*, his first sustained exposure to American comics; American superhero comics from DC and Marvel were not sold in the part of India where he grew up, where he read European comics such as *Tintin* and *Asterix* instead.[5](https://www.thepopverse.com/ram-v-comic-graphic-novel-writer-interview) • [11](https://www.dc.com/blog/2021/05/06/ram-v-brings-myths-and-magic-to-d-cs-most-misunderstood-heroes) • [12](https://www.panelboundcomics.com/en-cr/blogs/bound-together/panel-bound-exlusive-interview-with-ram-v) Around 2012 or 2013, unhappy in his job, he moved to the United Kingdom to study creative writing at City University in London, where he wrote a novel and then assembled *Black Mumba*.[5](https://www.thepopverse.com/ram-v-comic-graphic-novel-writer-interview)
His earliest comics work was in India: he wrote the series *Aghori*, which he has described as one of the most successful comics in India and a stepping stone toward writing comics regularly.[13](https://gatecrashers.fan/2024/07/30/in-conversation-with-ram-v-on-comics-influences-and-home/) • [14](https://fanbasepress.com/press/interviews/between-the-panels/item/10578-between-the-panels-writer-ram-v-on-originality-changing-career-paths-and-good-convention-encounters/)
## Creator-owned work
**The Mumbai Trilogy.** *Black Mumba* (self-published, 2016), *Grafity's Wall* (Unbound, 2018; Dark Horse, 2020), and *The Many Deaths of Laila Starr* (BOOM! Studios, 2021) form what interviewers call his Mumbai Trilogy, hard-nosed stories set against the city, spanning what one profile labels mumbai noir, a life-drama, and a death-drama.[1](https://www.tcj.com/fun-doesnt-mean-it-cant-be-intelligent-a-conversation-with-ram-v/) • [6](https://www.tcj.com/you-have-to-reinvent-yourself-every-10-years-a-talk-with-ram-v/) *The Many Deaths of Laila Starr*, drawn by Filipe Andrade, follows the avatar of Death, expelled from the realm of the gods after a human finds immortality, who inhabits the body of a young Mumbai woman; it received Eisner and Harvey Award nominations in several categories.[1](https://www.tcj.com/fun-doesnt-mean-it-cant-be-intelligent-a-conversation-with-ram-v/)
**Genre range.** His other creator-owned titles span musical noir (*Blue in Green*, Image, 2020, about jazz musicians and artistic decline), gothic fable (*These Savage Shores*, Vault Comics, 2019, a mercantilist-era vampire thriller set in the [Indian subcontinent](https://www.edgepedia.org/indian-subcontinent)'s encounter with Europe), science fiction (*Dawnrunner*), food comics (*Rare Flavours*), and the neo-noir crime pair *The One Hand* and *The Six Fingers*, written with Dan Watters.[1](https://www.tcj.com/fun-doesnt-mean-it-cant-be-intelligent-a-conversation-with-ram-v/) • [6](https://www.tcj.com/you-have-to-reinvent-yourself-every-10-years-a-talk-with-ram-v/) *The One Hand*/*The Six Fingers* won the 2025 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album—Reprint.[6](https://www.tcj.com/you-have-to-reinvent-yourself-every-10-years-a-talk-with-ram-v/)
## DC and Marvel work
Ram V's path into DC ran through editor Jamie Rich, who received a copy of *Black Mumba* at the Thought Bubble convention and later, as a Bat-office editor, invited him to write Batman stories; his Catwoman run preceded his move to *Detective Comics*.[5](https://www.thepopverse.com/ram-v-comic-graphic-novel-writer-interview) He became the first Indian writer to pen a Batman story for DC.[8](https://archive.factordaily.com/comics-fans-in-india-are-exceptional-a-qa-with-ram-v-writer-of-aghori-batman-paradiso-and-more/)
His DC credits include *Catwoman*, *Justice League Dark*, *The Swamp Thing* (with Mike Perkins, introducing the new Swamp Thing Levi Kamei), the [DC Black Label](https://www.edgepedia.org/dc-black-label) series *Aquaman: Andromeda* with Christian Ward, the Indian superhero team book *The Vigil* with Lalit Kumar Sharma, *Detective Comics*, *The New Gods* with Evan Cagle, and the Black Label limited series *Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma* with Anand RK, announced in January 2025 as a six-issue Prestige series debuting that April.[11](https://www.dc.com/blog/2021/05/06/ram-v-brings-myths-and-magic-to-d-cs-most-misunderstood-heroes) • [4](https://www.dc.com/blog/2022/07/12/v-for-variety-aqua-horror-swamp-things-and-batman-opera-with-ram-v) • [10](https://www.comicsbeat.com/interview-ram-v-the-vigil-dc-comics/) • [7](https://www.dc.com/blog/2025/01/09/resurrection-man-quantum-karma-ram-v-and-anand-rk-bring-dc-s-eternal-super-hero-back-from-the-dead-in-a-new-dc-black-label-limited-series) At Marvel he relaunched *Venom* with co-writer Al Ewing and artist Bryan Hitch and has written *[Carnage](https://www.edgepedia.org/carnage-character)*.[5](https://www.thepopverse.com/ram-v-comic-graphic-novel-writer-interview) • [1](https://www.tcj.com/fun-doesnt-mean-it-cant-be-intelligent-a-conversation-with-ram-v/)
DC announced a two-year exclusive contract with Ram V at its [San Diego Comic-Con](https://www.edgepedia.org/san-diego-comic-con) panel in 2023.[10](https://www.comicsbeat.com/interview-ram-v-the-vigil-dc-comics/) He has described *Detective Comics* as always intended as a 30-issue run, and *The New Gods* as intended to run 36 or more issues if given the runway.[6](https://www.tcj.com/you-have-to-reinvent-yourself-every-10-years-a-talk-with-ram-v/) His *Detective Comics* storyline "Gotham Nocturne" is framed as a "Gothic Opera," infusing the book with Gothic and operatic aesthetics.[4](https://www.dc.com/blog/2022/07/12/v-for-variety-aqua-horror-swamp-things-and-batman-opera-with-ram-v)
## Themes and method
Interviewers consistently identify geography, history, and psychogeography as recurring concerns in his work, whether in licensed titles like *Detective Comics* or creator-owned series like *These Savage Shores*.[5](https://www.thepopverse.com/ram-v-comic-graphic-novel-writer-interview) • [6](https://www.tcj.com/you-have-to-reinvent-yourself-every-10-years-a-talk-with-ram-v/) His writing shows the influence of [Paul Auster](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-auster) and [Michael Chabon](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-chabon) in style, with conceptual debts to writers including Stanislaw Lem, Cormac McCarthy, and [Jeff VanderMeer](https://www.edgepedia.org/jeff-vandermeer), and his engineering background supplies what he calls creative lateral thinking and a preference for science fiction grounded in plausible science.[1](https://www.tcj.com/fun-doesnt-mean-it-cant-be-intelligent-a-conversation-with-ram-v/) • [10](https://www.comicsbeat.com/interview-ram-v-the-vigil-dc-comics/)
He has stated a professional rule of reinvention: "Every 10 years, you either reinvent yourself or you become obsolete."[6](https://www.tcj.com/you-have-to-reinvent-yourself-every-10-years-a-talk-with-ram-v/) After finishing his two-year DC exclusive, he announced a step back from superhero comics, saying he had been "doing so much superheroing" and felt the need to step away.[15](https://www.thepopverse.com/comics-dc-ram-v-absolute-superhero-hiatus)
## Deicidium and current projects
In January 2026, the new French graphic novel publisher Morgen signed Ram V, artist Anand Radhakrishnan, and artist Evan Cagle to a nine-volume, six-figure graphic novel deal, with [Image Comics](https://www.edgepedia.org/image-comics) handling English-language territories.[9](https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/61348/ram-v-radhakrishnana-cagle-sign-new-french-publisher-six-figure-deal) The series, *Deicidium*, imagines a world where the old gods are reborn in ordinary people, who become targets of a global alliance of corporations and engineered religions; it will publish three black-and-white graphic novels a year simultaneously in French and English, with the first volume, *Deicidium: Omens*, on sale in October 2026.[16](https://www.avclub.com/comics-exclusive-the-new-gods-reunion-decidium) Ram V has called it possibly the most ambitious project he has undertaken in format and presentation, and he is also prepping a new volume of *The New Gods*.[9](https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/61348/ram-v-radhakrishnana-cagle-sign-new-french-publisher-six-figure-deal) • [15](https://www.thepopverse.com/comics-dc-ram-v-absolute-superhero-hiatus)
## References
1. [Jean Marc Ah-Sen (2022). "Fun Doesn't Mean It Can't Be Intelligent": A Conversation with Ram V. The Comics Journal.](https://www.tcj.com/fun-doesnt-mean-it-cant-be-intelligent-a-conversation-with-ram-v/)
2. [About | Ram V](https://www.ram-v.com/about)
3. [Ram V, Image Comics creator page](https://imagecomics.com/creators/ram-v)
4. [Alex Jaffe (2022). V for Variety: Aqua-Horror, Swamp Things and Batman Opera with Ram V. DC.com.](https://www.dc.com/blog/2022/07/12/v-for-variety-aqua-horror-swamp-things-and-batman-opera-with-ram-v)
5. [Sam Stone (2026). Ram V dishes on his comic book origins and evolution. Popverse.](https://www.thepopverse.com/ram-v-comic-graphic-novel-writer-interview)
6. [Ritesh Babu (2025). 'You have to reinvent yourself every 10 years': A talk with Ram V. The Comics Journal.](https://www.tcj.com/you-have-to-reinvent-yourself-every-10-years-a-talk-with-ram-v/)
7. [DC Publicity (2025). Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma announcement. DC.com.](https://www.dc.com/blog/2025/01/09/resurrection-man-quantum-karma-ram-v-and-anand-rk-bring-dc-s-eternal-super-hero-back-from-the-dead-in-a-new-dc-black-label-limited-series)
8. [Gautham Shenoy. 'Comics fans in India are exceptional': A Q&A with Ram V. FactorDaily.](https://archive.factordaily.com/comics-fans-in-india-are-exceptional-a-qa-with-ram-v-writer-of-aghori-batman-paradiso-and-more/)
9. [Milton Griepp (2026). Ram V, Radhakrishnan, and Cagle Sign with New French Publisher in Six-Figure Deal. ICv2.](https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/61348/ram-v-radhakrishnana-cagle-sign-new-french-publisher-six-figure-deal)
10. [Nancy Powell (2023). INTERVIEW: THE VIGIL's Ram V talks about breaking barriers. The Beat.](https://www.comicsbeat.com/interview-ram-v-the-vigil-dc-comics/)
11. [Tim Beedle (2021). Ram V Brings Myths and Magic to DC's Most Misunderstood Heroes. DC.com.](https://www.dc.com/blog/2021/05/06/ram-v-brings-myths-and-magic-to-d-cs-most-misunderstood-heroes)
12. [Panel Bound Exclusive: Interview with Ram V. Panel Bound Comics.](https://www.panelboundcomics.com/en-cr/blogs/bound-together/panel-bound-exlusive-interview-with-ram-v)
13. [In Conversation with Ram V on Comics, Influences, and Home. GateCrashers (2024).](https://gatecrashers.fan/2024/07/30/in-conversation-with-ram-v-on-comics-influences-and-home/)
14. [Between the Panels: Writer Ram V on Originality, Changing Career Paths, and Good Convention Encounters. Fanbase Press.](https://fanbasepress.com/press/interviews/between-the-panels/item/10578-between-the-panels-writer-ram-v-on-originality-changing-career-paths-and-good-convention-encounters/)
15. [George Marston (2026). Ram V is on a superhero hiatus after his DC exclusive ended. Popverse.](https://www.thepopverse.com/comics-dc-ram-v-absolute-superhero-hiatus)
16. [Oliver Sava (2026). Exclusive: The New Gods team reunites for international graphic novel series Deicidium. The A.V. Club.](https://www.avclub.com/comics-exclusive-the-new-gods-reunion-decidium)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Visual arts and design › Illustration and illustrators › Comic books and characters*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license