Customer Reviews

Angry Christ Comix

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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This is great for any intellectual out there, its a compilation of the Cry for Dawn comic book series, which was writen in the end of the 80's, all black and white work, except for the cover (which has Dawn the character herself, who latter on becames a heroine in some of his comic book series) its very melancholic, somewhat depressing, very dark, but that goes with his style which is very gothic indeed, if u like gothic, you'll adore this, intelectual and with some good art work, I found it to be a classic comic book compilation, represents a side of the eighties all too well, for those who experienced the darker side of it, and for those who havent, you'll grasp some of it with this book.

I still remember picking up Cry for Dawn #1. At the time I was working at a Detroit Area comic book shop, one of the largest in fact. The late 80's and early 90's were a horrible era for comic books. It was all about excess...If the Punisher or Batman was popular, hey...let's give them three or four of their own titles, and lets have them guest-star in just about every other book we put out! And while were at it, lets make this issue have five different colors, or make it with a hologram, or die-cut, or prismatic, or foil. Into this mundane comic book landscape walked, no slashed Joseph Michael Linsner and Cry for Dawn. This was as extreme as comics had ever been outside of the underground arena and I remember how we had to sell that book in our adult section along with vintage Playboy and Penthouse magazines.

Nearly twenty years later, Image has brought together those outstanding stories by Linsner in Angry Christ Comix. I think its' safe to say that the last 17 or 18 years have done nothing to dull the razor sharp edge of Linsner's work. These are a true testament to just how far ahead of his time that he was. The work is haunting, often sadistic, and always spectacular, from cover-to-cover.

The opening story, "Kingdom of the Blind" finds a down on his luck artist commissioned by a mysterious woman to tattoo strange symbols throughout belly & chest, returning every few weeks to have additional work added and paying the artist huge sums of money for his skills. The shock of what the symbols are for is no less disturbing today than it was when first published.

"Burns Brightest" could even be considered more controversial today. After Jules has a one night stand with a woman and contracts the HIV virus, he decides to take his revenge on the world by sleeping with as many woman as he can. A repugnant, yet powerful story.

Other stories include "Bring me a Dream", "The Realist", "Eleven or One", and many more. The subject matter is strictly for mature audiences due to nudity, language, and graphic violence. This work had to have many other artists jealous and if it didn't, it should have. Just 21 when Cry for Dawn #1 was released, Linsner already was displaying the story-telling ability of a season veteran. Angry Christ Comix is a book that any true comic lover should have in their collection.

REVIEWED BY TIM JANSON

This is a book that collects the better stories of the immensly succesfull "Cry for Dawn" series by Joseph Michael Linsner, the serie that was the breakthrough for Linsner and the first Dawn-series. People who liked 'Dawn' must surely pick this up (also because the original issues are near impossible to find AND darn expensive if you do find them). I personally think it's not as good as the later six-part miniseries "Dawn" (later in TPB renamed as 'Lucifers halo') but that's not a negative point, it says more about the quality of the latter series. It's still very close though.

The stories within this trade aren't related to each other, there's no continuity. The only things they have in common is that the stories center around Dawn, the goddess of life and death. Tales with a lot of symbolism and surrealism in them. It's more a collection of loose stories which are especially suitable for the Fantasy/Horror lovers.

Previous reviewer Tim Janson said it best, Joseph Michael Linsner was ahead of his time. For proof of that, look no further than Angry Christ Comix. Collecting stories from Linsner's acclaimed Cry For Dawn, Angry Christ Comix compiles some of the most horriffic, darkly funny, and startlingly poignant horror tales you will ever find in comic book form. Particularly "Burns Brightest", in which a young man learns he has AIDS after a one night stand, and sets out for revenge by infecting as many women as possible. "Dropping Anchor" finds an unhappy rocker stradled with a wife and baby wishing for freedom, while the darkly humerous "Dead" focuses on a punked out vampire and his bloody insights. There's much more in this collection, including some single page chapters entitled "A Page With No Meaning", which are funny as well as surprisingly thought provoking. Linsner truly was a man ahead of his time, with his incredible and stark artwork combined with his blood curdling tales. All in all, if you have never read or even heard of any of Linsner's works, you have been missing out to say the least, and you owe it to yourself to pick this collection up.

These stories keep seeing publication, this being, I'm not sure, maybe the third incarnation of the TPB that first collected the angry works of Joseph Michael Linsner. The stories contained in these pages are not really a best of, but more the ones he was most personally responsible for. Cry For Dawn, the comic series has seen a surge of interest it really didn't have in it's initial release. People, comic fans have slowly discovered the art of Joseph Michael Linsner over time and are now seeking his earlier work, which, to be honest was quite good, but nowhere near the polished images he puts out today.

Cry For Dawn was an anthology series that ran from 1989 to roughly 1993. The issues came out sporadically and featured the work of quite a few artists and writers like Kevin J. Taylor, Greg "Dark One" WIlliams, Ken Meyer, Jr and of course Mr. Linsner himself. Joseph Linsner and Joseph Monks, whom he had started Cry For Dawn with, had a parting of ways which brought an end to the series and started Joseph Linsner on his path to stardom. After leaving CFD Publications, the name which Monks retained the rights to, he took his "eye" logo and Dawn herself and he went on to do some self-publishing, creating Tears of Dawn, then getting together with Robb Horan at Sirius and putting together a band of artists that rivaled anything the big guys had, featuring Drew Hayes (Poison Elves), Kevin J. Taylor (Fang), Greg "Dark One" Williams (Animal Mystic) and Joseph Linsner (Dawn) as the Art Director. With Sirius he published Drama, which featured the first full story appearance of Dawn, who in this TPB and throughout the Cry For Dawn series served simply as a hostess, sort of like a way sexier Crypt Keeper.

I will admit that I own every version of this book, being a comic collector, I probably only needed one, but being a collector of Joseph Linsners artwork, well, I simply had to have them all.

For the sake of the stories, which will scare you although they are truly more like urban horror stories than true "horror" stories, their social and societal relevance will make you stop and think, you only need one, but get one, and if possible, pick up the now hard to find and sometimes pricey original Cry For Dawn series (9 issues), the stories are fantastic and the artwork is phenomenal. You won't be disappointed.