Nomen Omen #7 // Review
Becky's family doesn't know that she's been replaced by a changeling. If they knew, they would doubtlessly be horrified. That horror might be softened a bit by knowing that the woman responsible for the switch was none other than Lady Macbeth herself. Becky's had an awakening, and now she's going to be taught the ways of magic by a major character from one of the most famous tragedies in history. What could possibly go wrong? Writer Marco B. Bucci's contemporary fantasy Nomen Omen continues with striking impact in its seventh issue from artist/colorist Jacopo Camagni.
Becky Kumar had fallen off a roof when she had a magical awakening. She could use her cell phone as a conduit for magical power and everything. When she wakes up in an alley, she's feeling very alone. When she heads back home, she's feeling even more isolated. Then she's accosted by Lady Macbeth. Turns out that Lady M has designs on teaching Becky about the magic she's been awakened to. Meanwhile, Becky's nemesis, the Celtic god Taranis has an elegant, little meeting with an old lover...the Greek Goddess Medea. If there was any doubt of Taranis' power, that doubt is cast aside by issue's end.
Bucci's rather scattered, explosive showdown last issue has cleared into something far moodier and casually fantastic, with a chapter that gives the center of the page to Becky's emerging relationship with Lady Macbeth. Who is poised to be her instructor and guide into a world of magic she doesn't understand. It's a very appealing relationship that carves its way through a dialogue with the two of them. The emergence of Medea in the second half of the issue gives the menace of Taranis that much more emotional weight. Becky is clearly in WAY over her head. Between the scene with Becky and Lady M and Taranis and Medea's scene, Bucci spends this issue delicately amplifying the danger that the two will face when next they meet.
Camagni's stylish approach to fantasy continues to impress as black and white panels are punctuated by sharp shocks of pleasantly garish color. The contrast between black and white detail and the bright color of magic is given depth by Camagni's almost brilliant use of shadow. The image of Taranis walking into a toddler's bedroom for a kidnapping is a deft symphony of light, shadow, and snowflakes. More muted moods hit with just as much impact...particularly in Becky's slow, exhausting journey home at the opening of the issue. It's worth noting that something as chilly and oppressive as winter in New York might be. Camagni manages to deliver it to the page in a way that feels like a minor detail next to all of the overwhelmingly dangerous magic lurking around the page. There's a brilliant balance that Camgani is modulating across the panels.
Now that Becky's apprenticeship to magic is firmly in place, the series feels that much more grounded. This issue's moodiness is fairly dazzling as the immensity of the magic crawls around the corners of the panels of a story that is firmly establishing an emotional connection between the reader and the character ensemble of Nomen Omen.
