DC reveals DC All In Saga: The New Gods #1, Alex Paknadel Talks Co-writing The One-Shot

DC Comics is returning to the world of the New Gods in a brand-new one-shot, All In Saga: The New Gods #1, from Ram V (The Many Deaths of Laila Starr), Alex Paknadel (Cyclops), Joan Urgell (Project ARKA: Into the Dark Unknown), and Romulo Fajardo Jr. (Batman), spinning out of the events of Ram V and Evan Cagle’s recent, acclaimed 12-issue miniseries.

The one-shot arrives in comic book shops in January, 2027. Check out the cover art, text solicit, and our non-spoiler conversation with Paknadel about working on the issue.

Mister Miracle thought he could escape anything. But in the wake of unimaginable upheaval, Scott Free has taken on a role he can’t escape: Highfather. With New Genesis occupied by sinister alien forces, the New Gods have taken refuge on Earth, leaving Scott responsible for leading a displaced people searching for safety on a planet that is not their own.

Their arrival on our world will not go unnoticed.

Fourth World technology is being illegally traded on Earth, and tensions are rising as Mister Miracle and the New Gods attempt to peacefully coexist with their new neighbors. With their homeworld beyond their reach and their extraordinary technology falling into dangerous hands, the remaining New Gods must find their place in the DC Universe before the fragile sanctuary they have found becomes another battlefield.

What can you say about your story?

Not a whole lot! That said, I can say it picks up right where the previous series left off. The New Genesians are on Earth with a supremely powerful NEW New God in their midst. Geopolitically, this is the equivalent of an elephant sitting next to an anthill. The elephant doesn't necessarily mean the colony any harm, but that's of little consolation to the ants.

Who is your favorite New God, and what do those characters mean to you?

I know I'm going for the most middle-of-the-road answer here, but it's got to be Orion and Mr. Miracle collectively, right? Two princes swapped to keep the peace - one raised in a manner precision-engineered to enable him to fight his own nature, the other raised in a manner precision-engineered to break it. It's an endlessly fascinating dynamic, especially because despite it all, they are so very clearly brothers. Like all the best Kirby creations, it's Shakespearean in scope. 

I first encountered the Fourth World in the exquisite X-Men - Teen Titans crossover, and I just remember being awed by the scale of it. I immediately had to know more about Metron, Darkseid and the Source Wall, which in turn led me to Simonson's phenomenal Orion run and so forth. It's fair to say that one-shot broke the seal on my childhood Marvel purism, so it broadened my palate overnight. 

I still maintain that the Fourth World is arguably the best superhero-adjacent idea since Superman; if Superman is the thing then the New Gods are the template for the thing if that makes sense. We're constantly told that superheroes are modern myths, so Kirby took the next logical step and seamlessly folded the archetypes into DC cosmology. It's a maneuver of breathtaking audacity and ambition, and I love everything about it - even (and perhaps especially) the idea that the New Gods are utterly singular throughout the multiverse.  

What was it like to officially join Ram V's (and Evan Cagles') New Gods run for this book? 

Ram and I go way, way back, so I was insulated from a lot of the pressure I would otherwise have felt because it was mostly just the two of us breaking story and catching up about our families the way we do most weeks. I will say though, this is a true collaboration. Ram guided the story because of course he did, but we broke it together and wrote half of the scenes apiece. With mine, he was extraordinarily generous in terms of letting me do my thing, playing to my strengths, etc. I've been very lucky to work with generous writers like Ram, Deniz Camp, Al Ewing, and others. What unites them, I believe, is a whole body commitment to story over ego. I don't want to be anyone else's stenographer, and I don't believe they want to work in that way either. 

As to the Evan of it all, we're working with the wonderful Joan Urgell for this story, who brings a wholly distinctive and quite beautiful European aesthetic to proceedings; however, I think readers will feel Evan's presence very powerfully in the powerful sense of place and the poised grandeur of our New Genesians.