Emilia Clarke Marguerite Bennett and Leila Leiz’s M.O.M.: Mother of Madness #1 lays an ambitious foundation for a miniseries.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about M.O.M.: Mother of Madness‘ debut issue is how aptly its narration style reflects its self-conscious, rambling lead. Co-written by Emilia Clarke and Marguerite Bennett and with art by Leila Leiz, the 40-page issue from Image Comics is anything but succinct. At first, this approach to the narrative can come across as unwieldy and overwhelming, especially in its opening page that could rival Sandman with its reliance on exposition via a cloud of thought bubbles. In doing so, though, it carries an electric rawness.
Mother of Madness #1 tells the story of Maya, a single mom and scientist with superpowers who aims to defeat a human trafficking ring. However, there’s a huge catch to her powers: they are brought on by her menstrual cycle and are as unpredictable as a period striking.
Bennett and Clarke lean into this comedic catch to Maya’s strength, invisibility, stretchiness and sonic screech by opening the issue with a surprise period for the lead. While at a cocktail party for work — to appease her sexist boss who wants her to “smile more” — she ends up spotting on her skirt. Visually, Leiz nails the uncomfortable, self-awareness of the social situation, depicting Maya’s prominent red stain amass a greyed-out, judgemental crowd of onlookers. Leiz even offers a distinct close-up of the stain as if it stole the show.
On a first reading, Bennett and Clarke’s introduction can feel heavy-handed, relying too much on Maya having to tell the audience 30 years of her life before we see her in action. The narration takes readers through her childhood, the tragic loss of her parents and her current boring day job through the span of six pages. Leiz’ cinematic style works well during these recaps, often breaking out of a traditional panel set up to create one, large montage of images as if the reader is somewhat trapped in Maya’s swirling thoughts and memories. Her adept hand and her explosively bright color palette — sending warmth even into the darkest parts of the narration — are truly impressive and keeps the story’s structure and Maya firmly in place.
After spending more time with the narration, the story’s choice to over-explain and over-analyze seems wholly intentional. Maya, aka M.O.M., tends to fill up space with words and worries because she’s unsure of her place in the larger world, even as she’s angry at her assumed place as a woman. To Bennett and Clarke’s credit, the story carries a frantic, feminist energy, wanting to redefine what a hero is while also wanting to subvert expectations of how a woman hero should be. It’s a tremendous ask of any tale to do both, but Mother of Madness tries anyhow. Between the satirical #MeToo jokes from the perspective of sexist men in power to critiques of White Feminism, Mother of Madness‘ debut issue certainly has a lot to say.
A downside to this ambitious approach, however, is that the story’s central conflict for Maya — behind her identity frustrations — is a bit buried. By the end of issue #1, it seems like we’ve caught a glimpse of the tale’s Big Bad; however, the stakes for the three-issue arc remain blurred. Overall, M.O.M.: Mother of Madness reads more like an exuberant and unabashed prequel to Maya’s upcoming tale. That being said, if the future issues are as long as this one, it’s entirely possible this unique approach to pacing a hero’s journey will soar off the page.
M.O.M.: Mother of Madness #1 is for any comic reader who wants to become wrapped up and lost in a tale, unconcerned with when the action will necessarily strike. Full of verve and sassiness, this issue is attracted to the idea of following a hero’s complex emotional journey.
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