Duna Haller
Marvel Comics has just announced the writing and interior art debut of Peach Momoko on the publisher for DEMON DAYS: X-MEN #1. An artist known for her mega-popular variant covers for Marvel, Boom! and Heavy Metal Magazine, between others, and recently announced as a member of the inaugural class of Marvel’s Stormbreakers, she will place the series entirely on Japan and with known X-Men characters on its center, like Wolverine, Psylocke or Venom. Each issue of the series, released once every three months, will feature some of the most popular Marvel heroes, setting the stage for an all-new saga that will leave fans mesmerized.
Talking with Marvel about the series in an exclusive interview, the artist talked about this new universe that she’s creating for the series: “A dream come true – not only did Marvel offer me [the chance] to do interiors but do everything myself and tell a Marvel story like no other. A “Momoko-verse” was born.” as well as some of the influences that shape the book: “Because I love y?kai stories, horror stories, Japanese folktales, classic samurai tales… I wanted to tackle as much as possible telling these concepts with the Marvel characters and make something Marvel fans can still appreciate [while bringing] in a fresh direction. (…) A lot of inspirations came from many different Japanese folktales that I grew up with. Also, when I was working on Upperdeck’s Marvel Flair cards in 2018, I had Scarlet Samurai in my characters to paint. I daydreamed her stories since not only is Scarlet Samurai Japanese, but she is a female character and a samurai and has yakuza background. It was a character I felt I had to create a story for.”
With a different and game-changing view on the worldbuilding around it, Momoko promises a twist on what we usually expect from Marvel Comics, while keeping the recognizable faces and essence of the characters around her work: “My characters aren’t Super Heroes. Some are samurai, some are oni and other yokai, some are shamans, some are yojimbos… and many others. I have kept many of their special power, but also tweaked a lot to give it a natural y?kai story power. Again, I pushed a lot of boundaries with all the characters. I hope everyone enjoys the different versions that I created. But I kept enough that I think everyone can still know who each are.”
The Demon Days Saga will kick off when a wandering swordswoman with a psychic blade arrives at village that’s being targeted by demons. One demon is black and white with a terrifying red tongue and another may be the strongest demon there is! Ready your katana and enter a mysterious world of demons, monsters, mutants, and magic in a stunning premiere issue that will present readers with a revolutionary reimagination of the Marvel Universe that could only come from Peach Momoko.