Emilia Clarke’s ‘M.O.M: Mother of Madness’ is a fun, empowering comic
By Ashley Hurst
Every superhero has a life outside taking down the bad guys. Peter Parker goes to school, Clark Kent works at The Daily Planet, and Tony Stark sells weapons. For Maya Kuyper, aka the Mother of Madness, has perhaps the toughest job of all: being a mom.
M.O.M.: Mother of Madness is cowritten by Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen). Clearly, the title of this comic pays homage to her iconic role as the Mother of Dragons. She wrote the comic alongside acclaimed writer Marguerite Bennett (Animosity, Bombshells). The art is by Leila Leiz, with colors by Triona Farrell and lettering by Haley Rose-Lyon.
What is M.O.M.: Mother of Madness about?
Issue #1 of 3 is a supersized comic with 40 pages, around 10 pages more than an average comic. And there’s a lot packed into those pages. The story follows Maya, who struggles to balance her job as a scientist in a heavily misogynistic office with caring for her 10-year-old son Billy to fighting human traffickers at night as a superhero.
It’s also worth mentioning that this story takes place in the future, 2049 to be exact, but the world doesn’t really feel very different. There are no flying cars, time machines, etc. Society, however, appears to have changed a lot. There’s notably less open-mindedness, something that is made clear by Maya’s misogynistic workplace.
The superpowers in M.O.M.: Mother of Madness are unique
Let’s talk about Maya’s powers because the way they work is extremely unique. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a superhero whose powers work quite like this. You see, Maya’s special abilities come from various emotions. This means that her powers can come at the right times…or at the worst possible moments.
Here’s a list of her powers and which emotions trigger them:
- When sad, Maya is able to instantly heal herself
- When she’s angry, she becomes both super-strong and super-fast
- When anxious, her hearing is sharpened
- When frightened, she becomes invisible
- When happy, she can stretch — think Reed Richards
- Her laughter can shatter objects
There is one other ability: when she experiences all of her emotions at once, her eyes glow. However, we don’t know too much about this yet. Her superpowers were a stand-out element of the book for me. Not only was it interesting to see how many emotions she goes through in one day, but it was exciting to see various different powers at play.
Emilia Clarke’s comic book breaks the fourth wall
Another terrific element of M.O.M. was the constant Deadpool-esque fourth wall breaking. For those unaware, “breaking the fourth wall” is when the main character talks directly to the reader rather than other characters. Maya is witty and opinionated, so her asides are really fun.
For instance, in between the comedy and action there’s a wonderful origin story explaining how Maya acquired her powers, told over five pages. It kinds of breaks the flow, but Maya saves it with a fourth wall-breaking line: “You did twenty-two Marvel movies — you can give me five pages.” I definitely had a little chuckle at that.
What’s bad about M.O.M.: Mother of Madness?
So far, I’ve said everything I love about this comic. I do have one big criticism, though: even at an oversized 40-pages, I thought this story was incredibly dense. There’s so much going on that the tone can shift wildly between pages, and it can become quite confusing. On other pages, the words do most of the work rather than the art.
Verdict
I find it hard to believe that this is the first comic that Clarke has written. It feels like the work of an experienced hand. The comedy especially is terrific. Besides a couple of mishaps, it utilizes the comic book medium very well. Of course, Clarke did work cowriter Marguerite Bennett.
The art was fantastic. I liked how Maya is colored to be much more vibrant than the surrounding characters. She really pops out of the page.
M.O.M.: Mother of Madness will definitely leave you wanting more. It has a powerful, empowering message, shining the spotlight on how hard it is to be a single mother — a rare occurrence in superhero comics. It’s written with care and I would recommend you read it!
M.O.M.: Mother of Madness Issue #2 releases on August 25.
Grade: B
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