Interview: DEMON RUSH creative team on its past, present & future

Sometimes, an idea doesn’t just happen to you. Sometimes, an idea moves into your head with a U-Haul full of goods, and it’s up to you to know how to place its furniture. This is how I describe Demon Rush, the comic by Jake Mastar and illustrated by Drawsmile AKA Pedro Pérez, adapted from the trading card game of the same name. 

Demon Rush is set in a bleak future where demons overrun the world. The stakes are high—cosmic even. Humanity’s last hope lies in a broken remnant of holy knights and angels resisting the demonic tide. The story centers on two men who were formerly friends and are now positioned on opposite sides of the war.

The Beat caught up with Mastar and Drawsmile to talk about the comic’s current arc and future plans.

E.B. Hutchins: What was the primary inspiration for this comic and card game? 

Jake Mastar: I’ve been a fan of anime and card games since I was 9 years old, and I just turned 40! My gateway to anime was Dragon Ball Z, but I was also mesmerized by old-school anime movies like Vampire Hunter D and Ninja Scroll, further branching out into the industry and eventually quitting my job to become one of the largest anime YouTubers in the world.

Since I was a child, I’ve always had an incredibly vivid imagination, and would spend my school days drawing comics instead of listening to the teachers. On weekends, I would travel around the United States playing in competitive Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments, which I did for over 15 years. 

It’s been a lifelong dream to make my own anime, and by 35 years old I finally felt I was ready to embark on that journey. Since I hadn’t kept up with my artistic skills while working a regular job, I preferred to find an artist that could capture my vision, but it wasn’t easy. It took me two years to find Drawsmile who was unknown at the time, even though his art was frequently circulated (he didn’t sign his art).

I wanted to create a dual protagonist dark-power fantasy in which the fandom could get heavily invested in the story, while simultaneously play the card game together and form a bond over Demon Rush. The idea was to use the card game to tell more of the story, introduce characters, and give fans of the story something tangible to play with together.   

What was the inspiration to make this into a multimedia franchise from the outset?

Mastar: I believe that the more industries Demon Rush can enter, the more opportunity we have to tell the story and grow the fanbase. One of my favorite video games growing up was Diablo. I played all four of them through. I recognized that if I was able to build a large world to explore, filled with magic, mystery, and interesting characters, we could adapt it into all sorts of mediums.

Although Demon Rush is currently a graphic novel and card game, I would love to venture into the video game industry as well. I have an idea in my head for a Dark Souls-like version of Demon Rush, in which multiple players could join the world, fight massive angels and demons, level up their characters, and PVP. My vision is grand, and I hope that with the more content I can produce, the more fans can understand that vision.  

I noticed that the art, while lovely, cribs a fair amount stylistically from Murata and Kubo’s work. What inspired you to depict these characters in that particular style? 

Mastar: The image that helped me discover Drawsmile was a picture of monster Garou from One Punch Man, which was not in the manga yet. It was so good that most people thought it was drawn by Murata himself! Drawsmile and I bonded over our love of One Punch Man and its art, which explains all the detailed double page spreads in Demon Rush. We like to save those for highlight moments, and Drawsmile always delivers! He’s a much bigger fan of Bleach than me, though.  

Drawsmile: I’ve been a Bleach fan since my teenage years, so I studied Kubo’s style, analyzed it, and emulated it in my drawings. It helped provide a solid artistic basis, especially on lineart, set up, giving an impactful narrative, and stylized action sequences. As far as One Punch Man art, I learned how to construct dynamic manga pages, and it also inspired me to draw a unique style that comes from all the practice. I am continuously improving and developing my own style, and now it’s taking a unique shape and evolving.

As a fellow comic artist, there are several compositions in this book that were jaw-droppingly good, a tricky skill to have in this industry. What is your process for producing excellent fight scene choreo?

Mastar: Thank you! The main idea is to keep the fights increasing in intensity, which, interestingly enough, also happens in the card game. The choreography is a combination of both Drawsmile and my vision, as I typically sketch out certain scenes that I want to be displayed specially, and then Drawsmile adapts it with his magnificent art. He sends me six pages of sketches at a time, and if I feel the panels are too similar or stiff, I revise them with sketches until we get it right.

There is a tremendous amount of care that goes into the layout process. In terms of how the manuscript produces the fight scenes, I go for action-action-pause, so the reader has time to digest what happened while listening to the internal monologue of the characters. This provides breathing room—action alone doesn’t make a story great. The weight of combat is drawn from the emotion of the reader, which is generated through the pauses. If that last attack was so intense that the character barely survived, what will the next one be, and how will they defend themselves?

Drawsmile: As an artist, I love to appreciate every corner of the art world, so I’m also a consumer of live-action series, anime, photography, sculpture, cinema, music, and even video games. The first step is to build a scene in my mind of what the shot could be. I know it’s a static image, but I visualize it as a movie or anime scene, so that way I can better capture what I need in any drawing. It could be drama, suspense, horror, mayhem, or sometimes simple comedy. Whatever inspiration I need to generate a better impact on the reader. I’m especially inspired by movies and music.

You had mentioned it having an old school vibe and feel to the card game in an interview with Fanbase Press. I noticed that some of the tropes used in the comic adaptation also have a ’00s kind of feel to them, in particular the female characters. Are there any plans to have more prominent female characters in the cast or in the game? 

Mastar: Absolutely! While the dual main protagonists are both male, we love our female characters. Soren will be joined by Esca, a highly intelligent engineer with a talent for quickly learning spells. She will play an integral role in Soren’s story, helping him discover clues, fight battles, and progress his quests. Rush, although he’s in too much constant danger to be thinking of women, will be pursued by Helneth, a gorgeous succubus who adores his innocence, and slips him clues to help him on his journey. There are also powerful angel females as well that will do battle with demon lords, which we are eager to get to in the story!

Say you could snap your fingers and boom! A dream scenario when it comes to Demon Rush happens. What would it be?

Mastar: A studio offering to turn it into an anime adaptation or movie! We’re looking for a streaming platform to partner with and bring Demon Rush to life. If I could snap my fingers, Demon Rush on Netflix or in the theaters as an animated film. 

What do you imagine the future of Demon Rush to look like in the next 5-10 years?

Mastar: In five years, I believe we will be around Chapter 40, with Soren and Rush having progressed far through the story. I believe the fanbase will explode once Demon Rush goes mainstream, and we will have an anime adaptation in the works with a major streaming platform. The card game would be played weekly in hobby shops, and there would be a new video game that fans can bond over. 

Finally, what is the best way for our readers to find more information about Demon Rush?

Mastar: This link will take you to the YouTube Channel, Discord, X, Website, Store, etc.