REVIEW: ‘Nomen Omen,’ Issue #7

Nomen Omen #7 is published by Image Comics, is written by Marco B. Bucci, with art and colors by Jacopo Camagni, and lettering by Fabio Amelia. Nomen Omen tells the story of Becky Kumar. A young woman brought into the world under strange conditions. It should be noted that this series is graphic and intended for a mature audience.

Previously, Becky had reached her breaking point with all of the truths that she’d had to face in a short span of time. Upon crossing this threshold, the power that burned deep within—the power of her ancestors, the power of a Witch—exploded outwards and lit up the night sky with an eerie luminous green. Taranis, who was drawn to the magical beacon, confronted Becky, revealing he had kidnapped her best friend. Becky, with raw power coursing through her veins, unleashed her vengeance upon her enemies and passed out in a fit of exhaustion.

Now, in Nomen Omen #7, we pick up the pieces to find out the state the young Witch. After such a physical showing, Becky lays unconscious, seeking refuge in the dreamscape—in the arms of her ancestors—pondering how it had all gotten to this point. Without realizing it, Becky alerts Lady Macbeth to her trouble state. Meanwhile, Taranis is up to no good, as he plays a twisted version of the pied piper, offering up his followers to a new counterpart and his timeless lover, Medea. The two demonic figures scheme for events yet to unfold, which will surely spell heartache for Becky and all of New York.

Bucci slows the pace way down during this issue, and while it’s not as engaging, it’s certainly needed as the story attempts to reset itself and prepares to move into the next phase of obstacles. There’s a lot more dialogue, which serves the purpose of reframing for the next plot, but it felt very vague.

It’s a difficult criticism to give because Bucci won’t want to give up these future bombshells of his story but rather work them out over the coming issues. It’s hard to determine if the nuggets of information will lead to a fantastic alley-oop, or an assist without any real end product to be satisfied with.

Camagni’s art is simply supreme. I am transported into a world I adore every time I pick up this series. It’s not just the contrast of the grey background with the bursts of colors, it’s more to do with how alive those colors look. Some of the colors on the page jump so energetically off the greyscale, creating an entirely new dimension of contrast.

During one scene, Lady Macbeth blows this multicolored smoke, and as the gas weaves around it actually creates the next panels below the main image, like it’s breaking the fourth wall.

Amelia’s work continues to hit great levels, as his lettering feels like it belongs in this story. Fanciful and creative, the lettering is befitting of fantasy, with beasts, and witches, and magic, and cross-dimensional dangers. Amelia also had a lot of dialogue to work with, but he balances it well, so the tone of the story fits with the imagery and the plot.

Overall, issue #7 is a chance to catch your breath and take stock of what happened in the rampant previous issues. Bucci appears to be laying down more depth and structure as he teases a whole new set of obstacles approaching. Will this be an issue to look back on with ingenious nods of things to come though, or broken promises that were never met? Only time will tell.

Nomen Omen #7 is available in stores now.