In an exclusive interview, Game of Thrones star and Emmy-nominated actress Emilia Clarke revealed she has been working on a new project: a comic book series. The series, titled M.O.M.: Mother of Madness, will debut July 21 at Image Comics and run for three issues. In addition to Clarke, GLAAD Award-nominated Marguerite Bennett will help write the books, with Leila Leiz providing art.
M.O.M.: Mother of Madness follows struggling single mother Maya as she takes down a ring of sex traffickers. While Maya starts off ashamed of “everything that makes her unique,” through her journey she reaches a place of “true acceptance of who she is.”
In the EW interview, Clarke described the series as “a Deadpool-esque blend of ‘a lot of silliness’ and tongue-in-cheek humor, combined with a very current feminist sensibility.” While Maya’s powers have yet to be revealed, Clarke laughed while revealing Maya’s monthly cycle plays a part in them.
According to Clarke, while she first had the idea for the mini-series three years ago, she has been a fan of comics her whole life. Growing up, the actress said, “there weren’t a lot of women on the covers, and there weren’t a lot of women in the shops. So I didn’t feel safe to explore it at that age.” This, coupled with her observations while attending events such as Comic-Con, strengthened her desire to see “women out there that are superpowered, but aren’t in a skintight costume,” and ultimately pushed her to write the series.
After reaching out to co-writer Bennett, the pair assembled an all-female crew to bring Clarke’s idea to life. She says working on the comic has been “a very beautiful female experience,” as well as a “phenomenally creatively fulfilling process.” A preview of the comic’s first issue is now available to read at EW.
