Marvel's Stormbreaker Peach Momoko Presents 'Demon Days: X-Men' #1

Recently announced as a member of the inaugural class of Marvel's Stormbreakers, superstar artist Peach Momoko has taken the comic world by storm with her mega-popular variant covers. Now, Marvel Comics is proud to announce this elite artist will be making her Marvel Comics writing and interior art debut with DEMON DAYS: X-MEN #1!

DEMON DAYS: X-MEN #1 will be the start of a five-part prestige series bringing to life characters like Wolverine, Psylocke, Venom, and more in Momoko’s one-of-a-kind style. 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.

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.

Marvel.com spoke to Momoko about her vision for Marvel's mutants and what inspired DEMON DAYS:

First, congratulations on being named one of Marvel's Stormbreakers! What was your first reaction to that?

Thank you. It was such a surprise and honor to be one of the artists for Stormbreakers. I was first contacted by C.B. [Cebulski] around August 2020 to do a mini-series for DEMON DAYS, that I actually created the concept art for and pitched to C.B. in December 2018 (at that time, the title was different). And then I finally pitched a 23-page short story around March 2019. I didn’t know if this would actually be used at the time, but I wanted to show Marvel my drive and passion. And as you know, after that I have been busy with covers.

During this hectic cover rush of mine, on August 2020, I got an email from C.B. about DEMON DAYS. My brain couldn’t process it for a while. 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. So I had “brain-adrenaline” happening at that time. Then within a week, C.B. emailed me [to tell me] not only will we start the DEMON DAYS project… that I was officially one of Marvel’s Stormbreakers. My brain surpassed the adrenaline and went into “full-on inner brain ecstasy.”

As both the writer and the artist, what was the first thing you wanted to tackle when creating DEMON DAYS: X-MEN #1?

Because I love yōkai 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. Also, I had to know how much I can push Marvel’s boundaries in character designing and storytelling.

What can you tell us about the story and the characters without spoiling anything?

The entire series takes place in Japan. I will be introducing numerous Marvel characters in a brand-new format. So, I would like everyone to forget about what they are supposed to be in the real Marvel universe. My characters aren’t Super Heroes. Some are samurai, some are oni and other yōkai, 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 yōkai 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. 

What was your inspiration for this book?

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.

Will there be any recognizable faces in DEMON DAYS: X-MEN?

Yes, there will be many recognizable faces in DEMON DAY: X-MEN. A lot of changes for many characters, editing a lot of outfits to fit in the Japan atmosphere. But I kept a lot of small details that create the original Marvel Universe characters.

Don’t miss book ONE of FIVE of the DEMON DAYS saga!