If the name Emilia Clarke sounds familiar, that’s probably because you remember her as The Mother of Dragons on Game of Thrones. She makes her comic book writing debut with the new 3-issue series M.O.M.: Mother of Madness. The comic is also written with Isobel Richardson and Marguerite Bennet, with art by Leila Leiz.
We begin issue #1 at a Women in the Workplace Empowerment schmoozing event, one Maya is not excited to be attending. All around her, sexism is at the forefront and all the empowerment slang you could choke on. When a stain appears on her dress, she begins to sneak out and we find Maya is not necessarily the woman we’ve expected to find. We flashback to her origins, before showing her as a single mother with an extremely intelligent (and precocious) son. She works as a scientist with some pretty awful men who are somehow sitting out of HR meeting while still watching some pretty inappropriate videos on their laptops at work. Before long, we get a taste at just what powers Maya possesses, and a path to fight for what’s right.
If you’re not into swearing or sex talk, prepare yourself. While the writers make their point about sexism in the work place, it can be a bit much in issue #1. The truth is, that’s part of where the comic is aiming. We usually have female protagonists who are clean, struggling to keep dinner on the table, and watching their language, all while trying to dodge rampant sexism. This comic doesn’t bother with the dodging or innocence, and instead wants to remind readers that women are people, even if they have some pretty strange powers attached.
M.O.M. Mother of Madness #1 comes to comic stores July 21, 2021.
