Deniz Camp has always been drawn to big ideas, but his latest project, Assorted Crisis Events from Image Comics, might be his most ambitious yet. An anthology that explores a world where time is unraveling, the series blends existential chaos with deeply personal storytelling. For Camp, the concept emerged from an acute observation of the modern world.
“I was really looking for a way to talk about the world that I saw around me,” Camp explains. “A world kind of in crisis, in constant crisis—not just one, but an endless series of overlapping disasters. One day it’s a political crisis, the next it’s a health crisis, then a drug epidemic. Everything seems to be happening at once, dragging us into hell.”
This overwhelming sense of disruption and uncertainty crystallized for him during the pandemic, though he notes that the feeling had been growing long before that. To translate this fractured reality into comics, he chose to explore the concept of time’s fragility.
“Time is so bound up in the way you tell stories in comics,” he says. “The way panels are arranged, how thousands of years can pass between them—or just a second. I wanted to use that to reflect our fractured reality.”
Editors note: the full unedited interview will air on the AIPT Comics podcast this Sunday, March 16th.
An Anthology of Chaos
Each issue of Assorted Crisis Events introduces a new protagonist struggling against a different manifestation of the time crisis. The first issue, for example, follows Ashley, a woman whose past and future begin to blur together, making it impossible to determine what’s real. Subsequent issues take different approaches, Camp explains.
“Issue #2 follows a worker at a slaughterhouse, told in a non-linear way that mirrors the cutting of meat. Issue #3 is a multiverse refugee story, where the inhabitants of one universe are forced into another, and the people there have to deal with it. Every issue explores a different facet of crisis and human resilience.”
Despite these standalone stories, a larger narrative threads through the series, binding them together.
“There is an ongoing story that explores the nature of the crisis—how it started, whether it can be stopped,” Camp says. “One character, the Broken Man, appears in every issue. He’s like if Adam Strange or Flash Gordon became a homeless person. His story unfolds slowly, but he holds a key to understanding everything.”
Courtesy Image Comics
Reflecting Reality Through Fiction
The themes of Assorted Crisis Events—displacement, disconnection, and survival—are deeply relevant to the world today. Camp acknowledges that the book, while speculative, feels strikingly contemporary.
“It feels like the right time for an immigrant story, for a story about people just trying to survive overwhelming events,” he says. “I want this book to be an examination of how we process crisis after crisis.”
To ground his storytelling in reality, Camp draws heavily from the world around him. “I steal a lot from conversations with friends, books, TV, anything that resonates,” he admits. “The first issue features a street constantly used for filming post-apocalyptic movies, which I took from How To with John Wilson. It’s a real thing.”
The Visual Power of Comics
To bring Assorted Crisis Events to life, Camp has teamed up with artist Eric Zawadzki, whose intricate storytelling approach aligns perfectly with the book’s ambitious structure.
“Eric is like a scientist or an engineer,” Camp says. “He thinks deeply about storytelling—how panel arrangements can best serve the narrative. Every issue reinvents its storytelling approach. We don’t want anything to feel boring. We push ourselves to do something innovative with each installment.”
Courtesy Image Comics
A Balancing Act of Multiple Projects
Camp’s creative workload is at an all-time high, balancing Assorted Crisis Events alongside Absolute Martian Manhunter and Ultimates.
“This is by far the most projects I’ve ever juggled at once,” he admits. “But the secret is I’ve been working on a lot of these for years. Assorted Crisis Events has been in development since 20th Century Men. I work seven days a week, but I make sure to balance work and life.”
With Ultimates, Camp relishes the freedom that comes with an alternate universe setting.
“You don’t have to worry about breaking continuity or being beholden to decades of stories,” he says. “You can take risks. The book plays with how superheroes and symbols can be co-opted and twisted over time.”
Ultimates Vol. 1 is now in comic book shops.
Courtesy Marvel Comics
Absolute vs. Ultimate: A Tale of Two Universes
Camp has a unique perspective on both the Absolute and Ultimate universes, having worked extensively in both. While they may seem similar at first glance, the way they approach storytelling is fundamentally different.
“I think the Absolute Universe is much more like the original Ultimate Universe, where the goal is to update classic characters for the modern world from the ground up,” Camp explains. “You’re starting from scratch and rebuilding them in a way that makes sense today. With Ultimates, however, we’re assuming that people already know the broad strokes of these characters from the movies, TV shows, and previous comics. Instead of redoing their origins, we get to twist and reinterpret them in ways that feel fresh.”
For example, Ultimate Spider-Man works in part because audiences are so familiar with the traditional Peter Parker origin story. The new take, focusing on an older Peter Parker with a family, becomes exciting because it subverts expectations.
“With Absolute Martian Manhunter, on the other hand, I approached it as if no one knew who the character was. It’s a complete reinvention, a radical psychological horror take on him, making him alien in a way that we haven’t really seen before.”
This approach gives him freedom in different ways: Ultimates allows for bold social commentary and the reexamination of superhero mythology, while Absolute Martian Manhunter gives him the chance to craft a fully immersive, self-contained vision.
Reinventing Martian Manhunter
Over at DC, Camp is leading Absolute Martian Manhunter, a bold reinvention of the character within the Absolute Universe.
“With Ultimates, we assume a level of familiarity with characters and twist them in new ways. With Martian Manhunter, we’re approaching it as if no one knows who he is, doing a ground-up reinvention,” he explains. “It’s a deeply psychological and intricate story that challenges traditional superhero narratives.”
A major part of that reinvention is shaped by Camp’s collaboration with artist Javier Rodríguez.
“Javi is so intentional and precise in his work,” Camp says. “Every issue builds upon the visual language we’re creating. It’s challenging but incredibly rewarding.”
The cover to Absolute Martian Manhunter #3.
Credit: DC Comics
Looking Ahead
With multiple high-profile projects releasing in 2025, Camp is cementing himself as one of the most thought-provoking writers in comics today. In fact, he teased more than once a yet unannounced ongoing series will be announced later this year. Despite the heavy themes of his work, he remains focused on pushing the medium forward.
“Every time I approach a book, I think about how I can do something new, something fresh,” he says. “I want to create stories that reflect the world around us but also push the form forward.”
Assorted Crisis Events #1 is out on March 12th.
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