Review - Sin of Omniscience #1

"That sounds very unpleasant, Annabel."

Night terrors are never enjoyable, unless you're the entity who's doing the terrorizing. They do have a way of strengthening the resolve of the affected, even if those around the affected don't believe a word of what they're saying. Annabel Logan is one such individual in Sin of Omniscience #1, struggling to find a way to overcome her fears. The issue is written by Nathan St. Pierre, illustrated by D. Alexis and St. Pierre and lettered by St. Pierre (with flats by Jayelle Anderson).

Annabel is a sophomore at Northbrook University. Her time away at college hasn't prevented night terrors from no longer afflicting her, still forcing her to seek counsel of a therapist in an effort to control her fears. She's done well for the most part in repressing them, but as of late they've started to rear their ugly head again. What ensues is a lot of terror on the part of Annabel, including an innate ability to predict the grisly deaths of those around her. The thing is, no one believes her.

St. Pierre's script is very deliberate, wasting no words in telling Annabel's story. She's truly terrified by many things in her sleep, none of which she can escape even in reality. What makes the story even more interesting is the supernatural aspect of it, with the script even referencing the Greek character Cassandra. The fact that it acknowledges the reference is pretty intelligent and helps to reinforce that the story has the potential to be something a lot deeper than what it appears on the surface. Ultimately, it's a fairly deep look into the psyche of a girl who's had her fair share of troubles and still struggles to convince those around her of the potential dangers.

The artwork is very clean and somewhat dainty in a way. Annabel is illustrated with a lot of kinetic energy as she bounds through endless nightmares en route to class. There's a subtle attention to detail in the character illustrations, with facial expressions effectively conveying to the reader the emotion they're feeling. Alexis and St. Pierre use a wide variety of panel layouts, relying heavily on insets and overlays to keep things fresh. Some of the night terror stuff looks pretty terrifying as well, helping to reinforce the notion that Annabel is really going through a myriad of raw emotions.

Sin of Omniscience #1 is a unique book that puts a new spin on the perils of being able to see the future. Annabel really wants to help her friends, but she's tortured by being able to see the future and those around her not believing the visions. She's clearly going through a lot and things only seem to be getting even tougher for her at the end of the first issue. How she copes with reconciling her dreams with the reality around her remains to be seen, but it's hopeful that she manages to find enough within herself to weather the storm and help her friends as best as possible.

Sin of Omniscience #1 is available via Comixology now.