Reviews 

“Demon Wars: Shield of Justice” #1

By | November 18th, 2022
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

I genuinely love it when artists do re-imaginings of popular characters. We’ve seen things like Soviet Superman, Medieval Batman, and steampunk X-Men and they’re all fascinating and awesome. Lately, Marvel’s been doing an excellent job with a series called Demon Days, which is a re-imagining of the Marvel Universe set in Japanese folklore with story and artwork by the artist Peach Momoko, and today we’re reviewing the latest installment in the series “Demon Wars: Shield of Justice” #1

In the interest of full disclosure I am not very well versed in Japanese art styles and culture, so there are things in this book that I don’t understand and don’t feel informed enough to comment on since at the time of writing this review I don’t have a lot of time to do the proper research. If you’re curious, I highly recommend doing your own research into the matter since Japanese art and culture has an unbelievably rich and fascinating history that provides plenty of rabbit holes to travel down.

With that being said, onto the review.

Cover by: Peach Momoko
Written by Peach Momoko and Zack Davidsson
Illustrated and Colored by Peach Momoko
Lettered by VC’s Ariana Maher

IRON SAMURAI VS. SHIELD OF JUSTICE!
Mariko Yashida is torn between two worlds: the human world and the yokai dimensionstrange world filled with stranger creatures. The denizens of the yokai dimension need Mariko’s help to stop a war that’s brewing between two factions, one led by the Iron Samurai and his spider-like ally, and the other by a shield-wielding warrior and his panther-like right hand. The clash between them could have cataclysmic consequences for both worlds! Dive deeper into the magic, mystery, and mayhem of DEMON WARS by Peach Momoko!

It’s been a while since Mariko Yashida learned that her mother was an oni, a spirit from a world outside of our own. Her mother had gifted her a tanto blade and a piece of jaw armor that activated latent abilities and allowed her to survive in a battle against her secret sister Ogin, who blamed her for their mother’s death. While Mariko has been living in the human world, she finds herself being called back to the spirit world after a series of mysterious earthquakes and a mysterious portal opens up inviting her back.

When she arrives, Mariko is confronted by a swordsman named Aoshishi no Yamato and a cat person named Nekomata, who do not like that a human holds the fate of their world in her hands and command that she give up her armor and weapons. However, all does not appear well with Yamato, so the race is on to discover what is wrong, before it’s too late.

“Demon Wars: Shield of Justice” #1 is written by Peach Momoko with co-scripting done by Zack Davidsson. The two writers have a keen grasp of their characters and how they react to certain situations. Mariko is a little confused as to why she has been sent back to the demon world, but she’s familiar enough with everything to understand what is going on and is able to keep it together. Meanwhile, the swordsman Yamoto (presumably the equivalent of Captain America) is a bit of a jerk, but the reasoning behind his actions is understandable. This is a man who loves the world he lives in and does not wish to see any harm come to it. He sees a foreign human girl as a threat and will do anything to protect his people from her. With that being said, there is something lurking just beneath the surface that is driving these characters to violence, and the writers do a great job of building a sense of dread and fear for whatever comes next.

While the characters in “Demon Wars: Shield of Justice” #1 are great, the overall feel of the book has some problems. Despite the fact that this is a first issue, there is a very real sense that readers should have read the previous Demon World books in order to understand what’s going on. While this book does a great job of providing some background information to get new readers up to speed, it is very easy to get lost in the plot and not understand what’s happening. It doesn’t detract too much from the book, but it might prevent new readers from picking up the next issue.

Continued below

While the script for “Demon Wars: Shield of Justice” #1 might have some problems, the good news is that there are no such issues for the artwork, which is drawn and colored by Peach Momoko herself. If you’re familiar with the current comic book scene you’ve probably seen Peach Momoko’s artwork before since she’s become such a prevalent interior and cover artist her name is practically a meme at this point. The first thing that jumps out at you when reading “Demon Wars: Shield of Justice” #1 is the character design and reimaginings of classic characters. Momoko does an amazing job of recreating classic Marvel characters such as Captain America and Iron Man as feudal era samurai, complete with the two swords and era appropriate armor. However, the supernatural aspects of the book allow Momoko to take some of the character designs even further, with Black Panther being an anthropomorphic cat and Spider-Man being a literal, human sized spider. Not only is it fascinating to see, it does an even better job of inspiring the reader’s imagination and potentially offering new ideas on how these characters can be re imagined.

If the character design work in “Demon Wars: Shield of Justice” #1 is fascinating on a macro level, the real fun begins when you take a look at the technical details of the art itself. While the line and pencils have some very clear anime influences, Momoko’s artwork seems to draw influence from more ancient styles of Japanese artwork which all blend together to create something unique and beautiful. However, the best part of the artwork are the colors, which have a delicate, almost watercolor like quality to them and elevates the artwork from great to amazing.

“Demon Wars: Shield of Justice” #1 isn’t a new book, it’s a continuation of a popular series that reimagines the Marvel Universe and Japanese spirits and demons, and while the script and plot might be a bit confusing at times, it more that makes up for it with amazing artwork and imagination.

Final Verdict: 8.2- The artwork is gorgeous enough to carry the book, but in order to fully appreciate the story it would probably be best to read the previous series.


Matthew Blair

Matthew Blair hails from Portland, Oregon by way of Attleboro, Massachusetts. He loves everything comic related, and will talk about it for hours if asked. He also writes a web comic about a family of super villains which can be found here: https://tapas.io/series/The-Secret-Lives-of-Villains

EMAIL | ARTICLES