Dawn is a comic book series created by artist Joseph Michael Linsner. The titular character first appeared on the cover of Cry for Dawn #1 (December 1989) before being featured in her own one-shot drama from new publisher Sirius Entertainment, and then the mini-series Dawn: Lucifer's Halo, Dawn: Return of the Goddess, and Dawn: Three Tiers.

Dawn's lover is Cernunnos (sometimes also known as the Horned God), the God of death, who has incarnated himself in the mortal form of Darrian Ashoka. Darrian, unaware of his true origins, lives in a post-apocalyptic New York City when he first meets Dawn. She leads him on his path of true identity and self-discovery.

Joseph Michael Linsner (born December 13, 1968) is an American comic book artist-colorist penciller inker and author. As a creator he is best known for his mature-audiences supernatural character Dawn, who first appeared in Cry for Dawn #1 (1989), self-published by Cry for Dawn Productions (CFD)

Linsner broke into mainstream comics drawing the cover of Justice League Quarterly #13 (Winter 1993). His Marvel Comics work includes the one-shot Killraven #1 (Feb. 2001), several covers for the company's mid-2000s Mystique series, and painted covers and interior penciling and inking for the Wolverine-Black Cat three-issue miniseries Claws (Oct.-Dec. 2006). He drew the cover of the Image Comics one-shot Witchblade/The Punisher #1 (June 2007). Linsner also drew and colored the cover of Dark Fantasy Productions' Dark Fantasies #1 (1994), and has also done painted comic-book cover art for Topps Comics, Dark Horse Comics and others. He has also provided the illustrations for Our Gods Wear Spandex.

Recently Dawn appeared in the comic Witchblade, talking to Sara and asking her if she wanted the power of the Witchblade.

Despite Dawn's successes both inside and outside of the comic book industry, Linsner himself admitted that he never imagined the teary-eyed heroine would last this long when he first created her.

"In my youthful naivete, I honestly thought that I'd be able to get work at Marvel or DC right after the first issue of 'Cry For Dawn,' and when that didn't happen, it only made sense to keep going with it," Linsner told CBR News. "I have no idea [what's made her so iconic]. I have been trying to figure out the nature of her appeal for 20 years! All I know is that Dawn attracts both men and women. This year's Dragon*Con will host the 12th annual Dawn Look-Alike contest, and that says something right there. What I was after with Dawn was an attempt at defining the feminine mystery. Dawn is present, in fact often very exposed, and yet deeply mysterious. There is always something more to discover just around the corner. I am still always learning new things about her. I feel certain that I could work on Dawn for another 20 years".