Summary

• Peach Momoko is a highly talented artist known for her breathtaking variant covers for major comic publishers like Marvel and DC.
• Her artwork combines enchanting and horrifying elements, with delicate watercolor and inking techniques.
• Momoko's covers honor the essence of iconic characters, capturing their intensity, beauty, and darkness with stunning detail.

The incredibly talented artist Peach Momoko is perhaps best known for her beloved Marvel series Demon Days and Demon Wars - her own Japanese folktale interpretation of the Marvel Universe - but her work as a cover artist is what helped make her the mega-popular illustrator she is today. Winner of 2021's Eisner Award and Ringo Award for "Best Cover Artist," Peach's "Momoko-verse" continues to expand, with the adored illustrator recently announced as the writer and artist behind the reboot of Ultimate X-Men.

Peach Momoko's first variant cover for a major comic publisher came in 2019 when she illustrated a gorgeous cover for Marvel Rising #1, and since then she has had a meteoric rise, taking part in Marvel's Stormbreakers program for up-and-coming artists and releasing variant covers for countless comics. Peach's art is done with watercolor and inking, an impressive feat, and is a remarkable mix of enchanting and horrifying. Momoko has done covers for Marvel Comics, DC Comics, BOOM!, Image, IDW, and more, and below are ten of her most stunning and impressive covers to date:

10 A.X.E.: Judgement Day Variants

The 2022 Marvel crossover event A.X.E.: Judgment Day saw the Avengers, X-Men, and Eternals fighting against a rogue Celestial, the villainous plotting of the Eternal Druig, and the overwhelming might of Thanos' Great Uncle Uranos. For the event, Peach Momoko did a number of breathtaking variant covers, each featuring one member of the three teams represented in the epic crossover. Momoko's variant covers for the series were shockingly adorable - something she is known for - pairing up iconic heroes like Scarlet Witch, Jubilee, Magneto, Sersi, and Ikaris in ethereal scenes of celestial energy.

9 Usagi Yojimbo

The beloved Usagi Yojimbo is an iconic, long-running independent comic by Stan Sakai about an anthropomorphic rabbit samurai operating in the Edo period of Japan, named Usagi. First published in 1984, Usagi Yojimbo has been published by many different companies, like Dark Horse Comics and Fantagraphics, recently returning to Dark Horse. Peach Momoko did an absolutely stunning cover for IDW's final Usagi Yojimbo issue, 2022's #31, incorporating her classic watercolor artistry into the black-and-white world of Yojimbo. Momoko's cover honored the titular Usagi's seriousness and fighting spirit, blending her art's well-known lightness with the darker, reflective tone of the series.

8 Dark Ages Stormbreakers Variant

In 2020 Peach Momoko ed Marvel's Stormbreakers program and began releasing breathtaking variant covers for various Marvel Comics along with the other amazing artists in her Stormbreakers cohort. One of these covers was for Dark Ages #5, an alternate universe story that saw Earth fall back into the Dark Ages after Doctor Strange accidentally released an EMP, destroying all electrical devices across the planet. Momoko's beautiful cover depicts Laura Kinney's Wolverine, a fan-favorite X-men hero, in all her bloody glory. Laura played a major role in Dark Ages, and Peach perfectly honored her intensity and ion in the impressive cover.

7 Timeless Stormbreakers Variant

Another Stormbreakers project by Peach Momoko was a variant cover for 2021's Timeless #1, which operated as a preview of Marvel's biggest stories for 2022. Tasked with creating a "time imagery"-themed cover, it appears that Peach decided to illustrate a fascinating version of Mariko Yashida, from Momoko's hit Demon Days. This cover is the perfect display of Peach's incredible watercolor mastery, and the incorporation of the clock using numbers and Japanese kanji was a beautiful addition to the piece. Mariko's journey to accepting her Oni heritage and power has been long in the "Momoko-verse," but this cover hints that in the future she will be a great warrior.

6 Nightmare Variant Covers

While much of the cover work Peach Momoko has done for Marvel could be described as "cute," a lot of her incredible original art is deeply disturbing - while still being hauntingly beautiful - and Marvel has finally let this creepiness shine in Peach's new "Nightmare Variant Covers" series. Debuting in December 2023 across a series of 26 different Marvel series, Momoko's horrifying exploration of Marvel's dark underbelly is truly glorious to witness. From a skeletal Black Panther to a monstrous Daredevil, Peach's nightmare visions of iconic Marvel heroes will delight and disturb, and the sheer volume of variant covers is a testament to how hard the artist works.

5 DCeased's Poison Ivy

Outside of her impressive work with Marvel Comics, Peach Momoko has also painted several gorgeous covers for DC Comics. One of Momoko's most breathtaking DC variant covers was for DCeased: Dead Planet #1, featuring a haunting and beautiful depiction of Poison Ivy. DCeased is an alternate universe story involving the end of the DC Universe after the zombifying Anti-Life Equation quickly spreads across the universe, and Poison Ivy's Gotham-based Green-empowered sanctuary is one of the last safe places on Earth. Momoko's stunning cover honors the heroes' dependence on Ivy's magic, and the horror of a world slowly being destroyed by monsters.

4 Madelyne Pryor Hellions

Marvel's Hellions series by Zeb Wells was one of the most beloved of the Krakoan Age, which is soon coming to an end. The series focused on a ragtag group of mutant rejects working for Mister Sinister, and it also set the stage for the iconic Madelyne Pryor to return to comics. Peach Momoko's variant cover featuring Pryor is one of her most visually stunning, perfectly capturing the seductiveness of the demonic antihero. From her deathly pale flesh to the demon skulls wrapping around her legs, Momoko's interpretation of the Queen of Limbo is truly perfect.

3 BOOM! Studios' Wynd

One of BOOM! Studios' most beloved and popular series is Wynd from James Tynion IV and Michael Dialynas, which follows a magical boy named Wynd who must run away from the only home he has ever known, on a grand adventure. Peach has done several covers for the Wynd series, and the one seen above is one of her most enchanting and memorable. Beautifully capturing the innocence, determination, and loneliness of the sweet but fierce Wynd, the cover is a gorgeous representation of Wynd's inner turmoil and the magic that resides within his soul.

2 Star Wars Women's History Month

Peach Momoko recently did some haunting artwork for Star Wars: Darth Vader - Black, White & Red #1, as well as the recent Star Wars: Visions - Peach Momoko (2023) #1 one-shot, but started her Star Wars art career with a series of stunning Women's History Month variant covers. Momoko painted 11 gorgeous covers, for every Star Wars comic Marvel was publishing, featuring iconic women from the Star Wars franchise. Her covers of Amilyn Holdo and Khel Tanna were particularly moving and impressive, but her interpretations of other iconic female characters like Leia, Chanath Cha, and Barash Silvain were equally as awe-inspiring.

1 Demon Days: Blood Feud

Last, but certainly not least, is the cover of Peach Momoko's Demon Days: Blood Feud, the conclusion to the first arc of her beloved "Momoko-verse" epic, starring Mariko Yashida. Featuring Mariko and her spiteful sister Ogun, the cover is just one of Peach's many covers for her Demon Days and Demon Wars series that enthrall the viewer. Peach Momoko's watercolor and line work is all so delicate, and yet simultaneously brutal, that the characters she depicts seem to jump off the page, and you need to look no further than her Blood Feud cover to understand the power of her artistic vision.

Peach Momoko's cover art has catapulted her into the spotlight, and for good reason. Momoko's ability to capture the quintessential essence of a character - without even needing to know them intimately - is unendingly impressive, and an inspiration for artists and fans around the world. Hopefully amazing publishers like Marvel, DC, IDW, and BOOM! will continue to commission Peach for more stunning covers, and make sure to check out her interpretation of the X-Men universe when Ultimate X-Men debuts in March 2023.