Nomen Omen review: Keep the dark October themes coming

Written by Marco B. Bucci, main cover, interior art, and coloring by Jacopo Camagni, lettering by Fabio Amelia (Arancia Studio), translation from Italian by Arancia Studio, cover B art by Olivier Coipel and coloring by Dave Stewart, cover C art by Becky Cloonan

Thanks to Image Comics for providing a copy for review. 

Still fitting in with the dark October theme, Nomen Omen pulls you in with a harmless road trip that two lovers are taking. And you guessed it, catastrophe hits when Claire and Meera come upon a terrible accident along the side of an embankment one night. Only finding one survivor, a young pregnant woman with strange bloody symbols across her body and speaking of blood sisters and feathers. They try to help as best they can, but it all changes when the young woman places her hand upon Meera’s stomach. Thus, transferring her unborn child to her as she still talks of a bird in her final moments. A few flashes of some sort of cult, painted on symbols, men with animal heads and a lot of sex later. Meera and Claire are mothers to a little girl (Rebecca). Just from this little intro into what seems like it’s going to be a very detailed and full story plot, we already want to know more. More about the baby, about who her real mother was, and lastly, which is the big one here- what kind of cult like group was she a part of?!

To say the least, you will be enraptured into the story that Nomen Omen presents and desperately seeking answers to oh so many questions. The art takes a drastic turn as we view Rebecca years later, showing us as readers what it’s like to see through her own eyes. Rebecca has a condition called achromatopsia, which means she doesn’t see color. She only sees in black and white and shades of gray. But there is one very clear factor, someone is after her. This unique viewpoint of how Rebecca sees is an interesting take on her condition. Often enough in comic books we see less and less of these smaller details explained to the reader, but with just the change in art we are able to understand the main character on a deeper level. 

Reading the first issue of Nomen Omen will not be enough, I know I’m just dying to know what happens to Rebecca after the cliffhanger that the issue ends on.

Nomen Omen #1 is now available.

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