Actress Emilia Clarke rose to fame as the dragon whisperer Daenerys Targaryen in the television adaptation of George RR Martin’s hit fantasy series Game of Thrones. Now the Englishwoman, born in 1986, has come up with her own comic.
Because of “Game of Thrones” Clarke attended a lot of conventions, i.e. fairs with a focus on popular geek stuff. She later became a comic and superhero fan – as a woman, according to Clarke, she would not have dared to go to comic shops.
That’s why it’s so important to her that her first comic “MOM: Mother of Madness” is for everyone is accessible, as she writes in the foreword of the volume that has just been published in German. She wants to appeal to as many readers as possible with her story – especially teenage girls full of whispered self-loathing, or victims of toxic masculinity on all sides.
The comic follows Maya Kuyper, a 29-year-old chemical engineer, single mother, and superhero in New York in the year 2049. Maya uses her somewhat unpredictable superpowers related to her erratic hormones and periods to fight evil . They were also shaped by the early death of their parents and a tough teenage life.
In costume, Maya acts in an ultra-cynical, brutally capitalist and partly post-feminist world. Also breaking the fourth wall between fiction and audience like She-Hulk, Deadpool and Fleabag, she is always aware of her nature as a comic book superheroine. This influences the staging and reading of “MOM: Mother of Madness” immensely.
Don’t mince words
Emilia Clarke is joined by US author Marguerite Bennett, known for Batwoman, DC Bombshells, and other comics. The main artist is the Italian Leila Leiz, who has already published “Alters” and other fantasy works in the States, plus a few pages by the American Leila Del Duca, who recently realized several “Wonder Woman” comics.
This creative team intersperses the classic superhero origin with all sorts of feminist motifs. Clarke and Bennett don’t mince words in this regard either – and they enjoy making fun of the Marvel films and other genre models.
And consequently the villain in a satirical comic full of super-empowerment logically becomes the greedy villain.
The artwork easily keeps up with other current comics without giving an overly generic superhero comic look. The grid elements typical of Japanese manga, the occasional pop art airs, and the flowing double-page layouts are particularly striking.
Tongue-in-cheek and relevant
So that works pretty well in terms of story and drawings. Breaking through the fourth wall is fun and meta-level, the sci-fi flair is understated, and the tongue-in-cheek play on Marvel quirks is as entertaining and snappy as the feminist/post-feminist approach. The whole thing could have been told a little faster sometimes, because in the end you don’t get that far away from the classic beat.
This means that “MOM: Mother of Madness” has not yet won a place in the Olympus of superheroes, but it does have a relevant position in our current pop culture – in the face of important social issues and the multimedia superhero boom.
However, it seems unlikely at this point in time that the mini-series, which originally ended in 2021, will be continued. The comic has the potential for a sequel, and also the right ending.
But a single volume will probably appeal to even more people in the end, and the successful break with the traditionally endless super-serial here of all things is even an advantage for “MOM: Mother of Madness”.
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