Over the past few years, Peach Momoko has proven herself to be one of the best artists in comics today. He started on the cover, then moved on to his world of the Demon Saga, and now he’s reached superstardom with Ultimate X-Men. Momoko has earned a rare reputation among the Big Two as a mangaka who basically lets them do whatever they want (the other current notable title holder is Daniel Warren Johnson). You can tell she has full support from Marvel, as they print all of her Demon Saga works and preserve them in as many formats as possible.
And this is cool! Momoko certainly deserves to be treated like a star like this. She stands out in the Western market because her style doesn’t come from the same place as other markets here, and also, her pieces are really cool to look at. She is great at creating strange and scary images and knows how to use space on the page.
So I was excited to get this book. Momoko is better! But strangely, this book only has line drawings printed in black and white, even though there are almost no advertisements.
Now, I think it’s cool that Marvel published this comic in black and white. Even before production was complete, I really enjoyed seeing how much of Momoko’s skills were already present on the uncolored pages, and how complete and readable the art was. I also think it’s great that Marvel wants to publish comics like this when they’re relying on other companies to publish artist versions these days. In general, it’s great to see Marvel actually care about publishing comics that celebrate art, even if it’s just about one of their own superstars.
It’s still really weird that the only print that indicates this is a special black and white version of the comic is on the back cover. Of course you don’t have to include it in the title, but why include it on the book’s title page? Most online product listings make it clear, but I think this should be a little more clear in print. It seems to me.
That aside, I think there are worse ways to experience this story than the way it was originally published. Or, I think it’s even better than the Treasury version. I think Momoko’s art is great in black and white, but it really comes alive in color, and it’s hard not to experience that here. Beyond that, there really was a lot of effort put into this production, as a lot of the art is blurrier than would be reasonable and looks like the work was done at a lower resolution than expected. I don’t know if it was fixed or not.
This is not a book made to tell a story, but rather a work to show how skilled a great artist is, but I still think there are some serious flaws that hold it back.
This is the kind of project that Momoko Peach deserves to publish, but not when you consider the level of production she deserves. It’s not a definitive way to experience the story, and it’s not exactly what I want from a book focused on her work.
“Peach Momoko’s Demon Saga Demon King War” Review
Peach Momoko’s Demon Saga Demon Wars
It’s the kind of project Peach Momoko deserves to publish, but not considering the level of production she deserves. It’s not a definitive way to experience the story, and it’s not exactly what I want from a book focused on her work.
Momoko is always lovely
Demon Saga is interesting!
The image looks low quality in places, but it doesn’t seem to be an issue with the line art
It would be nice to differentiate this a little more clearly as a black and white version
