Dawn: Not to Touch the Earth
Review
Credits
- Words: Joseph Michael Linsner
- Art: Joseph Michael Linsner and Eva Hopkins
- Publisher: Image Comics
- Price: $5.99
- Release Date: Sep 9, 2010
Posted by Jason Wilkins on Sep 8, 2010
Recently, I’ve hit a run of review assignments covering characters or books I never had the chance to properly experience over the years. It’s just one of the perks of the job: I get to visit – or revisit, in some cases – all of the books and titles I never had the time or money to read when they first hit the shelves.
Dawn was one of those characters that always intrigued me but for which I never seemed to have the time or extra money. Joseph Michael Linsner’s Earth goddess always struck me as a little bit different than the other good girl books of the nineties. As someone with a great passion for mythology, her ever-changing appearance and origins as the goddess of birth and rebirth are instantly appealing to me. I just never took the chance back in the day, unable to afford another title every month, as a cash-strapped university student in Ottawa.
Things happen for a reason, as they say and now in Not to Touch the Earth, I have the perfect opportunity to meet Dawn for the first time.
Celebrating her 20th anniversary, Dawn’s creator teams up with artistic collaborator Eva Hopkins to present the perfect introduction to the character and her mythology for new readers, while giving existing fans an elegantly simple yet poignant stand alone story to whet their appetites for more. Speaking as one of the former, I found this cautionary tale a natural fit for what I knew of the character’s backstory. Linsner ties Dawn to Celtic mythology as the eternal consort of the Horned Man and deftly interweaves a retelling of an old fairy legend to create something utterly unique.
Without going into too much detail, this is a modern cautionary tale warning the reader of the dangers of falling in love with the goddess of rebirth. It’s more than just a clever repackaging of an old fairy tale. Set against the backdrop of a frustrated man’s search for companionship, Linsner’s story is a commentary on romantic love in today’s fast paced, digital age. Love comes with a price and that price is commitment – a lesson the foolish Darrian learns the second his foot hits the earth at the end of the book.
The story is both introspective and epic in tone, appropriate for a character straddling two worlds. Linsner extends this balanced approach to his gorgeous artwork, which effortlessly captures both the drudgery of Darrian’s mundane office existence and the magic and majesty of Dawn’s eternal fairy realm. Linsner and Hopkins illustrate each and every panel to the fullest extent, rendering full, luscious backgrounds and brilliantly realized characters.
A delightful introduction to a character I’ve long ignored, Dawn truly came alive for me in Not to Touch the Earth. Thanks to the superlative craftsmanship and thoughtful storytelling of Linsner and Hopkins, this tight little number is the perfect way to immerse oneself in the lush mythology and sultry stares of one of the sexiest women in comics.
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Comments
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Richard Boom Sep 8, 2010 at 10:14am
my thought exactly! This is a great one!!
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Jason Wilkins Sep 8, 2010 at 7:22pm
Thanks Richard! It was a fun read :)
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Richard Boom Sep 9, 2010 at 3:59am
I actually also had the same experience as you. I always loved Linsner's work but never collected Dawn somehow.
I even remember a friend of mine who had every friggin issue of Dawn telling me (before he died due to a brain tumour) that I would then get his issues... but somehow that never worked out. He died and the comics were sold off.
The best way I could deal with his loss was in fact getting all the trades and to add to that sentiment I got into contact with Linsner and Hopkins and invited them over as guests of the Belgium convention FACTS.
That all indeed made it a thorough mourning process for me. -
Jason Wilkins Sep 11, 2010 at 12:10am
That's quite a special connection to the character, Richard. Thanks for having such a good sense of humor about the thumbnail I sent out. I'm glad to hear of such deep and powerful connections to comic books, though. Don't get me wrong, I'm sorry for your loss but the general public (less now, more when I was a kid) don't realize the strength of the connections we have with our favorite characters. Sometimes, they get us through the day. Thanks for sharing that story, man.
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Richard Boom Sep 11, 2010 at 6:06am
Laughed my ass of with that thumbnail you send me :)
Hard to get me angry man :)
And indeed, those associations are still strong. For example I discovered Vampirella mere 2 years after I met my lady (now married and 3 kids) and it was in the first week of my "college years" and set the real basis of my collection of comics. Vampirella therefore was a big part and was always present (since it was to me the most captivating character I ever met, growing up with Euro-stuff and translated Spideys) during every phase of my next life... when I moved in with my girl, Vampirella came along. When I moved with her to a new house, when I got my first car, when I went through careerchanges, when I broke up with my girl (and months later we came back together) and later got marries and had kids and my first paying gig and whatever...
That gave me a solid basement somehow and it did not only -as you stated so beautifully and truthfully- got me "through the day" but also through my life. -
Jason Wilkins Sep 11, 2010 at 12:05pm
3 kids! - This gives a whole new meaning to the concept of Baby BOOMERS!
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Richard Boom Sep 11, 2010 at 12:45pm
hahahhaahaha
fyi
BOOM means TREE in my language
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