Add Author to custom permissions

I am currently looking into a complicated permission setup, where I need to have the author of a content type to be able to view comments, but they are hidden for everyone else.

The solution for this would be to add the Author of the content to be able to view the comment fields. Similar to the Private option, but the custom options are needed here. If the Private permission is used users will not be able to add comments. Maybe the solution would be to have Author as a role in Drupal?

I guess this feature request is quite generic and will be able to solve many issues for many users.

Key words: Private (only author and administrators can edit and view)