Emilia Clarke has developed and co-written a superhero comic about a single mom
Television’s erstwhile Khaleesi a.k.a. Game Of Thrones star Emilia Clarke is expanding her pop culture accomplishments. The actress, who starred as Mother of Dragons Daenerys Targaryen on the HBO drama for eight seasons has lined up a brand new project. She has developed a new superhero comic book, Mother Of Madness or M.O.M.
Published by Image Comics, M.O.M. is a three-issue miniseries. It follows Maya, a single mother who realizes she now has freakish superpowers she can use to stop a secret cabal of human traffickers. Clarke co-wrote the comic along with author Marguerite Bennett, whose work spans the likes of Marvel, DC, and Archie Comics’ Josie And The Pussycats.
Clarke told Entertainment Weekly that she came up with the concept of Mother Of Madness as a joke three year ago but then she woke up to realize it could be a cool and funny concept. According to her, the comic features a feminist sensibility tied with tongue-in-cheek humor explored in a genre-bending atmosphere. It was developed with an all-female team including illustrator Leila Leiz, contributor Isobel Richardson, and cover artist Jo Ratcliffe.
Maya’s powers in this comic miniseries are vague but Clarke alludes that it has connections to how she can do “wicked things” at certain times during the month, stemming from her menstrual cycle. “I thought it would be cool to have all the things that women don’t like about themselves, flip that, and make those the things that make her superhuman,” she told EW.
M.O.M. isn’t going to be the only foray for Clarke in the superhero genre. The actress, whose credits also include movies like Last Christmas and Me Before You, was recently announced as the newest cast member of the upcoming Disney+ Marvel series Secret Invasion. The show follows MCU’s Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Captain Marvel’s Skrull Talos (Ben Mendelsohn). Kingsley Ben-Adir and Olivia Colman are also reported to star in it.
As we wait for Secret Invasion to bow out, Mother Of Madness will debut with its first issue on July 21.