Emilia Clarke teases her new comic book, “Mother of Madness”
By Ashley Hurst
Emilia Clarke has had a very impressive acting career, landing roles in franchises like Star Wars, Terminator, and of course on Game of Thrones as the Mother of Dragons Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones. Now, she’s switching from being in front of the camera to penning a story of her own.
Titled MOM: Mother of Madness, her upcoming three-issue comic book tells the story of scientist Maya, a single mother with superpowers. While that sounds fun, she has a difficult balancing act trying to work, battle villains, and be there for her child Billy. Clarke worked alongside acclaimed comic writer Marguerite Bennett on the project, with Leila Leiz providing the artwork.
During a Zoom call with press, Clarke teased her upcoming book. “We were talking about how mums are like superheroes, women have this incredible ability to have so much going on and managed to achieve all of those things,” she said. “It’s almost superpowered.”
Emilia Clarke was a superhero fan before she wrote her comic
Writing a superhero story means a lot to Clarke, and not just because they’re trendy (and lucrative) these days. She’s always been a fan. “I love superheroes. I love comics, I love the freedom that you have…The sole reason really was that this is the space where you can do anything.”
"This really has been a very, frankly, selfish exercise because I wanted to create this, I wanted to see what it was like. And if it failed spectacularly, then I’d be on my deathbed being like ‘I made a comic. That’s really cool.’"
In her comic, Maya constantly breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the audience. It makes sense then that one of Clarke’s biggest inspirations was the Deadpool movies, where Ryan Reynolds talks to the camera all the time. “You get an emotional connection to it, so I wanted to just like, hone in on that as much as possible by having Maya actually talk to the reader, which I think is quite fun when you get to speak to the person in the moment that they’re reading it, it kind of then lives outside of time, which I really like.”
The way Maya gets her powers from the menstrual cycle is pretty unique, too. Clarke’s idea was to use that as a means to educate kids about these largely untaught subjects. What better way than through a superhero comic?
"So this book is about a woman whose powers come from her menstrual cycle, her periods, right. Like, lads, if you weren’t taught about this, we weren’t either. I do not remember the conversation where someone was like, here’s actually what’s going on in your body. These are some of the things that you’re probably gonna feel, and this is the way it’s gonna make you feel."
As an actor creating a comic book, Clarke is in good company. We’ve also seen Keanu Reeves recently write a successful comic called BRZRKR — which is already in the works to be adapted into a movie and anime. Who knows, maybe in a couple of years we’ll see Mother of Madness on our screens! “To have something that is yes, solely mine feels just incredible,” Clarke said. “If it’s not successful, that’s okay.”
MOM: Mother of Madness issue #1 is published by Image Comics and will release on July 21!
Next. Let’s dreamcast “10,000 Ships,” HBO’s new Game of Thrones prequel series. dark
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