It’s been said that superhero stories are part of an older tradition of folktales and hero myths, and Demon Days: manga technique as well as the ukiyo-e (“floating world”) woodblock printing style many picture books of these folktales are known for. And it’s certainly a successful experiment.
Shintoism is a polytheistic spirituality which has taken on aspects of Buddhism over the last thousand years or so. Far removed from the Judeo-Christian theologies of the West, it is a worldview in which the human condition is echoed in nature, a sort of permeating animism in which gods, or kami, are a ubiquitous presence in the trees, rivers and storms of the natural world. Not a strictly moralist system, Shinto is chiefly concerned with the concept of purity, like a clear running stream and the constant struggles of the world to cast out impurity, such as a stagnant, polluted pool.
Momoko uses this backdrop as a setting where the characters of Venom taking the form of Orochi, a famous dragon of Shinto myth slain by the storm god Susa-no-O.
The story carries all the hallmarks of these old folktales: Sai and Logan are a wandering warrior pair, (not quite ronin, as this story most likely predates the samurai system) made up of a young woman and her loyal wolf, the guardian wolf being a common trope in Shinto myth. They come upon a village beset by an oni, Hulkmaru, as Tsuki, a young archer whose name tellingly translates to "moon", attempts to fight him off from stealing their food-stores. At the same time, Orochi, a malevolent serpent, invades the temple of the village, killing villagers indiscriminately. Something is wrong in the world of this folktale, a balance has been lost, and it is up to these new and different X-Men to figure out a path back to peace.
The character of Orochi, here depicted as a ravenous yokai of defiling and impurity, perhaps endows the best and most poignant translation from Shinto. A destructive force who gorges himself on blood of the innocent, Orochi symbolizes the impurity of man’s encroachment upon the natural world, and ultimately the destruction that human society works when we take too much and disturb nature. Shinto is a theology of animism, where all aspects of nature have a spirit or force which comprises their essence, and the tale of Demon Days: X-Men is perhaps best interpreted as a cautionary philosophical yarn depicting how our treatment of the natural world will be reflected back upon us.
The real treat here is Peach Momoko’s dreamlike, fluid and exquisitely-realized world that feels carved straight out of her imagination. Demon Days: X-Men #1 is on sale now wherever comic books are sold.
