Unfortunately I haven’t had the privilege of reading the “Cry for Dawn” series, so this is essentially my first experience with her. I wasn’t completely sure what to expect from this series. Naturally Dawn is a very eye catching girl, but sometimes cover quality isn’t the same as artistic quality inside the comic itself. Consider me astounded on that note! Joseph Michael Linsner is one of the better artists I’ve come across. The art we view on his covers is the same quality of art we find turning page after beautiful page. There are very few comic book series that manage to do this, in my opinion. When I come across one I always feel like I’ve come across something special. Dawn’s renown by now is proof that I’m not the only one out there that has realized the special quality of this creator.
Just because you are a great artist doesn’t mean you are necessarily a great writer. This is a truth that I come across from time to time, it’s up there with arguments like “but they’re such a nice person”. Being nice isn’t a prerequisite of ability to do a job. Being a great artist doesn’t have to mean you’re a great writer, but in Joseph Michael Linsner’s case it appears his ability stretches into both forms. The story is a very surreal take on the Heaven and Hell concepts. One thing I’m still somewhat unsure of is if the manifestation of New York presented here is actually a Purgatory type of concept, or if it’s actually supposed to be the “real” world (in a manner of speaking). I suppose it doesn’t hugely matter for the story telling purpose.
As for the story, it’s the tale of Darrian Ashoka. This is sort of a story about discovering ones true potential in life and learning that God or Lucifer doesn’t necessarily play a role in ones ability. You make of yourself what only you can. Darrian’s about to learn this with a little help from Dawn, a woman he “randomly” runs into after a battle. Achieving one’s true potential is never an easy task and there are usually great battles on the way to truth. Sometimes you have to slay angels, sometimes you have to slay demons, but at the end of the day you can only be yourself and know who you are. You are not defined by God or Devil, you have to find the ‘you’ within and that is what I believe the basic message of this comic is. All other things are merely superficial to the being. One thing I greatly enjoyed was that the story isn’t always spelled out for you; the reader must figure it out for themselves. For example, I still don’t quite get the final part of issue six when he is sailing off. Maybe it leads into the next series, or maybe it’s a symbol that Darrian, after overcoming great odds, has finally left his old life behind to find himself. The last thing he needed to overcome was the burden of family and the image of his father he felt attached to. I’m not entirely sure, but it was very random to me. One thing I greatly enjoyed was the concept that once you manage to invoke the spirit of Death within yourself your spirit becomes immortal. I thought this was a very interesting concept, since I tend to view death as a form of freedom.
Either way you look at it, this is definitely the kind of comic that raises the bar a little. I’m really glad Linsner decided to bring this story to us in this medium, because I love the concepts. While Dawn is an incredibly sexy character, there’s more to it than just that and that’s something I can definitely appreciate. This six issue series, featuring all kinds of variant covers, is superbly written and superbly drawn and I simply can’t recommend this enough. While not everyone will really get the story through and through, and I’m not going to claim to, I still think they will find merit in the tale and find it interesting at the very least.
Overall Rating: 4.7/5