Tradd Moore is quickly becoming one of the most easily recognizable and exciting artists in contemporary comics. His miniseries Silver Surfer: Black, which he co-created with Donny Cates, is an exemplary piece of modern comic book art that transcends the borders of fantasy and individualism. The series introduced a wide audience to Moore’s work. Now, the artist raises Doctor Strange from slumber in a faraway land where the sun never sets. Written and drawn by Tradd Moore, Doctor Strange: Fall Sunrise #1 features colors from Heather Moore and letters from VC’s Clayton Cowles.
In a land of rolling plains with a red sun hanging in the sky, the Sorceror Supreme wakes up under a tree, befuddled by his surroundings and unsure of his identity. Beside him lays a shapeless fog that suddenly turns into a beast, lashing out in anger at everything and everybody. At that moment, Doctor Strange slowly regains his memories and peers into the beast’s heart to see the pain it has carried over from the mortal plain to this thin place. After exorcising it, he travels through green forests under the guidance of friendly wildlife until he reaches a bell that sends him to a human settlement nearby, but when he gets there, all he finds is trouble.
Tradd Moore divides Doctor Strange: Fall Sunrise #1 into three acts, essentially turning a journey through an alien wilderness into a search for identity and belonging. Throughout the book, Moore and Clayton Cowles keep Stephen company with their stylized lettering that keeps its calm in cursives as the booming voice of the bell tolls away and screams out in bold letters when the frustrations start to mount. With almost no dialog in between, the reader navigates the book from the protagonist’s point of view as he ponders this bizarre landscape. Doctor Strange is a weary man lost in his mind on a hiking trail to nowhere. The surreal, mysterious nature of this first issue is sure to capture fans’ imaginations.
Tradd Moore’s artwork brings fluidity to the Doctor’s movement, with the cape having its own personality, wrapping around and playfully dancing about the panels. From snaking rivers and shooting tree trunks to heavy suits of armor, each scene feels like a mind-bending optical illusion. If the pencils are the body, then Heather Moore’s colors are the soul of the book. Her vibrant palette adds to the already energetic artwork to make each page breathtaking. A burst of action at the end of this issue sends the pigments into a swirling motion of perpetual agitation, but the individual elements never lose themselves in this tempest of abstract beauty.
Doctor Strange: Fall Sunrise #1 is very much aware of its audience, and to that end, it focuses more on the panel layouts than on the script, putting aesthetics over cohesive storytelling. Fortunately, Moore never loses sight of his plot, as the final action-packed act gives him the perfect excuse to indulge in his signature confetti-style artwork. Doctor Strange: Fall Sunrise #1 ends things on a shocking hook — the perfect conclusion for this stunning hallucinogenic first issue.
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