Angry Christ Comix: The Cry for Dawn Comix of Joseph Michael Linsner

Cry for Dawn

by Joseph Michael Linsner

Now in paperback! Before Dawn orClaws, there was Cry for Dawn, Joseph Michael Linsner's short story anthology of dark modern nightmares. Angry Christ Comics collects these essential tales. First published in the early '90s, many fans consider these often feature-length horror stories to be Linsner's best work.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror

176 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1994

About the author

Joseph Michael Linsner is most well-known for DAWN, his personal Pin-Up Goddess. After her debut appearance on the cover of CRY FOR DAWN #1 in 1989, Dawn struck a chord with thousands of fans on an international level. She is currently published in six languages and has come to life in the form of statues, action figures, t-shirts, lithographs, lunch boxes and trading cards..An award winning Illustrator, Linsner has painted covers for all of the major comics characters, including Wolverine, Justice League, Conan, and Vampirella. One of his proudest moments was getting to illustrate a short story written by Stan Lee for 'Actor Comics Presents'. Next up for Linsner is 'The White Phoenix & Other Stories' a collection of Dawn short tales, before he starts work on the fourth Dawn graphic novel due in 2013. To contact JML for booking and appearances and conventions or shows please note the authorized email address and ONLY official JML AUTHORIZED 2011-2012 BIOGRAPHY has been updated from the old sites. Current info is on his Blogger, facebook and twitter accounts.

Reviews

[Ilia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Purposefully unpleasant, and with shades of misogyny, homophobia and racism as well, this is nonetheless an impactful set of horror stories that gave me upsetting dreams after reading it at night. If nothing else it's unflinchingly honest about the warped feelings of self-obsessed young men. 'Dropping Anchor', where the protagonist sees his artistic ambitions crushed by the unwanted commitment of a family, is as bleak at it gets. The author says in the introduction that he's grown as a person and an artist through these stories. I'm glad for him, because there's definitely a stench of Travis Bickle to this collection that you wouldn't want to wallow in.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite unpleasant stories but beautiful art. The first take was the strongest and my interest steadily decreased as the book progressed.

[Archos · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art goes with what it has to say. It is a product of its time.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

So after reading Dawn: Lucifer's Halo, I got curious about Joe Linsner's first foray into comics. After looking up a few scans on the internet, I thought to give it a further look and was fortunate enough to know of one comic store that had a copy of Angry Christ Comix: the "Best Of" collection of Cry for Dawn stories.

This urban horror anthology series was, as Linsner (and the editor of this book) describes it, a reflection of an angry young man from the streets of New York; angry at the world, angry at the system, and angry at the kinds of people he was surrounded by. Its certainly that, but there's a yearning for art, music and poetry mixed in that just manages to pull it out from being trashy edge.

Now granted, this "Best Of" collection has a few edits that retroactively soften the blow. I found out about these edits after looking up some old scans. Kingdom of the Blind (formerly Birthmarks) has a new beginning and a reworked ending that doesn't take away from the eroticism of the original work. And Tobias' homophobia is toned down in Dead, along with the gruesome way he dispatches one of his victims.

Still, the rest of the stories remain unedited. Some are erotic, some are disturbing, and some are surprisingly relevant (i.e. Dropping Anchor, in the aftermath of Roe V Wade)

I get why some of this work is something Joe Linsner wanted to move away from, and its certainly for the best. But you can find merit in the concepts this book tries to push, and the art is beautiful enough to want to read more.

Its a hard recommendation, and its not mandatory reading to get into Dawn, but if you're not too squeamish and have a fondness for social horror, urban horror and metal aesthetics, feel free to look it up.

[Peter Tierney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Graphic novel showed my teenaged self the I was not as unique as I thought I was. It also showed that I wasn't alone either