Doctor Strange: Fall Sunrise

by Tradd Moore

The Sorceror Supreme finds himself in a far-off land on a mystical adventure brought to you by sensational creator Tradd Moore!

From the uncanny mind of Tradd Moore (SILVER BLACK), the Master of the Mystic Arts stars in one of his most mind-bending adventures! Doctor Strange awakens alone in a distant world not his own. Lost of purpose and surrounded by danger, the wandering sorcerer must explore this land of blades and mystery to unravel arcane secrets and escape the deadly horrors that lie in wait! Strange is pulled in every direction by powerful figures while millions of lives rest in the balance — including his own! Who can he trust? Can this world’s deadly ritual be stopped? Or is the answer simply…blood? Heaven help us, it must be blood! Brace yourself for a Doctor Strange story like you’ve never seen!

Doctor Fall Sunrise (2022) 1-4

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Science Fiction

136 pages, Paperback

First published August 2, 2023

Reviews

[Jim Ef · Rating 3 out of 5]

6.7/10

A strange and otherworldly story, suitable for the character. At first i was a bit lost and I'm not 100% sure that by the end i understood everything. Might worth another read
The highlight is the art, it's vibrant and it has fluidity.
Quite a different read from the rest of the Marvel titles.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful chaos. I'm going to need to read it a second time to understand what actually happened.

[Anna Quilter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well...it's a hard to follow story..but amazingly beautifully drawn...with dynamic spreads.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was……..interesting. I’ve read books with Tradd Moore’s art, but never a book he wrote. I found this a tad hard to follow. I was vaguely understanding what was going down. Thank goodness for that issue #3 where a character did a rundown of what was happening. Two entities ruled this realm. One wanted to leave to explore and did so. This pissed off the other one who started ruling the land like an evil dick. The one who left came to our realm and wanted Doctor Strange to deliver her child in this realm and in hers. It would be a tall task and Strange could die. The rest got really cloudy and I was only getting the gist of it. The artwork however was amazing. So glad I got this giant treasury edition. Trade’s art looked stunning blown up extra large. Some of those fight sequences were crazy just like in Silver Surfer Black. So and interesting plot, dope art and some cool characters but not the easiest to keep up with.

[Tobin Elliott · Rating 1 out of 5]

All right, I'm seeing all these glowing reviews from people who read it, but didn't understand it and will have to go back and try again. I'm gonna be honest...

This was garbage. Utter garbage.

The art? Yes, it's pretty, but almost mostly meaningless. Literally, there's pages that are simply Moore drawing pretty stuff that really just takes up space and neither adds to the story nor does anything to make this incomprehensible mess more understandable.

Tradd Moore draws well, there's no question. And he looks like he graduated from the School of How To Draw Like The Beatles Yellow Submarine Movie.

But if there's actually a story here, I can't find it. I can find a lot of words. Many of them repeated ad nauseum, as Moore seems like he has found a few phrases that bear writing over and over again, like some after-school detention punishment.

Yes, he gets Strange into strange places, with strange people, but it's also like he forgot that Dr. Strange is, first and foremost, a Sorcerer Supreme. Instead, he has him bust out a little magic at the beginning that goes nowhere.

Tradd Moore ultimately gives the Sorcerer Supreme all the magic skills of a Taco Supreme.

Absolutely not worth the paper it's printed on. Don't waste your time.

[Adam M · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can read my full review for No Flying No Tights here.
The TL:DR is that you should pick up the physical book for this one, it's a gorgeous oversized volume of Tradd Moore art that take 2 reads to absorb. The story itself isn't world changing, but in conjunction with the art it really was a great time.

[ShamNoop · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have no words. This is the best comic I’ve read this year.

[Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A trippy Dr. Strange story where he wakes up in a different world and has to figure out what's going on. I mostly understood the story, I think. I'm not sure if it was a metaphor for something like childbirth but if it was, it went over my head. The artwork was far out. Although it was a bit abstract, it still wasn't too hard to distinguish the characters. I mostly read this while eating breakfast during late September, but I'm not sure if that did anything to affect my enjoyment of Fall Sunrise.

[Lucille · Rating 4 out of 5]

Il va falloir que je le relise pour être sure de bien tout comprendre mais magnifique !!!!! J’adore quand les comics embrassent le bizarre, s’éloignent du dessin évident habituel, et plongent vraiment dans l’originalité et le « nouveau »

[Ignacio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tradd Moore se pone gnóstico y fracasa un poco-bastante. Lejos de apoyarse en la mitología del personaje, crea un entorno nuevo que ni tiene carisma ni facilita la comprensión de lo que quiere contar. Por otro lado, nada complejo (un relato de fantasía pedestrillo), desplegado con un lenguaje pretendidamente alegórico que dota a su historia de una pátina de falsa trascendencia. Menos mal que después tenemos su dibujo, superexpresivo, una representación pop de Druillet pasado por el filtro de Heinz Edelmann. Hay algún combate en el que cuesta ver lo que pasa, pero resulta bonito de mirar. Y aquí creo que conviene enfatizar la diferencia con su Silver Surfer Black: prescindir de un guionista que supiera hacer algo más que dar rienda suelta a la creatividad del dibujante. 'nuff said.

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

The artwork/paneling in this book is like no comic I have ever read. It is absolutely amazing. A written review doesn't do it justice, just go look at some images of this book. Especially the fight scenes. I've never seen a more executed doctor strange fighting scene. You could see the fluidity in the fight (and usually I'm not the biggest fan of doctor strange fights, as it is often people standing and just saying random spells).

The story was interesting, although not mind blowing. I couldn't put down the book due to the art.

[ComicNerdSam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Want to love this more than I do. I'm such a big fan of what Moore goes for stylistically. I also don't think he's a bad writer, for his first outing it's pretty good. But I also find the way he lays out a page and composes panels to be disorienting, with a focus more on style than actual function. And yet, there are a lot of moments in this that leave me speechless. It's worth further study in the future, knowing where the story goes will definitely help me piece together what I missed. And I will definitely be reading anything else Moore writes/draws in the future.

[Yoghavaarman · Rating 2 out of 5]

what the fuck am i looking at

[Dubzor · Rating 4 out of 5]

God I've missed psychedelic Dr. Strange, and even more so I've missed the gorgeous artwork of Tradd Moore. I fell in love with his work on Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider, and this was a match made in heaven.

This run gives off serious Alan Moore era Swamp Thing vibes, and I dig it. The colors, the swirls, the trippy departures to form from panel to panel. It's not for everyone, that's for sure, but if you can keep an open mind you will love the journey you are taken on.

[Spaced Bear · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully compelling story of Doctor Strange's willingness to sacrifice himself for the good of others told through the backdrop of the most stunning and mold-breaking comics art to ever be put to paper. Tradd Moore delivers an emotionally dramatic narrative told through a visually dynamic style that cannot be found anywhere else. A must read for any art, comic book, or Doctor Strange fan.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading Silver Surfer Black, I knew Tradd Moore was an artist to look out for, but even still this totally blew me away. I love this self-contained epic of Dr Strange as a midwife having to deliver this Eldritch hell baby. The visuals are incredible, a surreal, psychedelic, Boschian nightmare. The character designs are also really inspired, with Dr Strange giving slender sexy elf against a whole horde of outstanding Dark Souls bosses. The composition of action sequences are impeccable, with the multiplication of figures ad infinitum and every line of motion stretched and squashed to the absolute limit. Despite there being so much chaos going on, the heft and weight of momentum is so clear and you can practically hear the action screaming out of the page. Terrific, terrific stuff.

[Burton Olivier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mesmerizing stuff.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aggressively psychedelic, infused with the lore of esoteric traditions, a hero's journey through worlds beyond Ditko. The best thing Marvel published in 2023? Probably.

[Enrico Figliola · Rating 5 out of 5]

una mina, il tipo di fumeyto cge mi piace

[Tobi ﾄﾋﾞ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finally thought of a word to describe this. It’s abstract. and absolutely beautiful

[Jonathan Ammon]

Not rating this one. Stunning art and a singular vision, but it's not entirely coherent and where it is coherent it can be a bit preachy. And I don't like the metaphysics or philosophy I think it is preaching or think it's congruent with Dr. Strange as a character, concept, or story vehicle.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Friendship ✔️ Adventure ✔️ Wild hallucinatory colors. Loved the art style. Story was a little confusing at first but it didn't matter so much?

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible surreal artwork unlike anything I've seen before in superhero comics, but I feel like I'd need to read it three more times and take a graduate course on esoteric mysticism to be able to explain what actually happens in it.

[Scott A. Love · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this the first time around when it first came out, but I LOVED reading it again, I'll admit, I didn't really follow it well the first time, but now that I was able to read it all together instead of each issue a month apart, the flow and story was so much easier to understand.

[Ángel Javier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Las buenas historias de Stephen Extraño siempre han sido pura extravagancia, y han contado con algunos de los mejores dibujantes del cómic para ilustrar los paisajes oníricos y surrealistas por los que suele transitar el buen doctor: así, el gran Steve Ditko, Frank Brunner, Michael Golden, Paul Smith y P. Craig Russell han pasado por las páginas del mago más famoso de los tebeos (con permiso de Mandrake).

Venga, hablemos de P. Craig Russell.

Este dibujante no es solo un maravilloso ilustrador, sino también un estupendo narrador. Sus preciosas viñetas de estilo art decó cuentan una historia a la perfección. Ni siquiera es necesario leer un cómic de Russell para entender lo que sucede, ya esté dibujando a Elric, adaptando una ópera a las viñetas o plasmando un guion de Neil Gaiman; Russell es un maestro del medio, sí señor. Y, aunque ya tenga el hombre sus buenos 70 años, sigue siendo un profesional como la copa de un pino.

¿Y qué tiene todo esto que ver con este «Amanecer de otoño»? Pues todo y nada.

Todo, porque el autor de este cómic, el ilustre desconocido (al menos para mí) Tradd Moore es un pedazo de clon de P. Craig Russell como no hay dos, vamos. El hombre se inspira mucho, pero mucho, mucho, en Russell, y lo cierto es que dibuja bien. Dibuja de puta madre, vamos, hablando mal y pronto. Pero no tiene ni puñetera idea de escribir una historia comprensible. Ni tampoco de que el lector la entienda, obviamente.

Y ahí viene el «nada» que mencionaba antes. Donde Russell es limpio, claro, donde Russell nos cuenta una historia mediante imágenes, Moore es farragoso, oscurantista, incomprensible. De hecho, únicamente hacia el final podemos comprender (más o menos) lo que está pasando. «Bueno, eso es parte de la magia del Dr. Extraño, ¿no?» diréis. Y no.

Una buena historia del Doc es psicodélica, alucinante, nos traslada a mundos fantásticos e incomprensibles, más allá de nuestra lógica, tal vez, pero siempre con su propia lógica. Steve Englehart, Marc Andreyko y Roger Stern, entre otros, lo entendieron así. Para Tradd Moore, esta traslación parece haberse realizado a base de LSD y porros del tamaño de un portaaviones. Así, la historia se sostiene mediante un hilo finísimo (de hecho, lo hace incluso literalmente), alargándose durante páginas y páginas sin la menor preocupación porque fluya y/o capte nuestro interés. Asistimos a una galería interminable de ilustraciones de hermosa factura, cierto, pero sin una causa que nos haga comprender por qué están ahí. A Moore habría, tal vez, que explicarle por qué el único artista art decó que ha tenido éxito en el cómic es Russell: porque este tipo de ilustración no se presta bien al medio. Lo que pasa es que Russell es un genio, y Moore, al menos por ahora (démosle el beneficio de la duda), no. Y recordemos que Russell empezó con un estilo más convencional, fogueándose con tebeíllos de usar y tirar, como los primeros números que hizo para «Killraven», adquiriendo con el tiempo la habilidad necesaria para hacer lo que le diera la gana. Tradd Moore, sin embargo, va de divo. Carece de humildad. Y toda su soberbia la ha plasmado en este cómic, precioso, sí, pero pretencioso hasta decir basta, lo que, en la triste época en la que vivimos, suele equivaler a «obra maestra». Pues vale.

[Alex Sarll]

Far and away the trippiest Strange I've ever read, and yes, I am including the Brendan McCarthy miniseries that claimed to be a Spidey story in that. Like him, Tradd Moore writes and illustrates, so you're getting the unfiltered outpouring of one remarkable visual imagination, the words serving as an occasional handrail on which you probably shouldn't lean too heavily. Did I always know exactly what was happening? Hell no. If you were one of the people irked that the finale of Loki's second season went with vibes more than clear explanations, then this may not be for you. But for me, those vast, weird vistas, somewhere between Art Deco, John Martin, spooky old children's book illustrations and prog rock album covers, are exactly what I'm after in a Strange comic. Not forgetting an opaque yet vigorous personal Gnosticism recalling the bits of William Blake nobody's fool enough to try setting to music. More, please.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much like Tradd Moore's take on Silver Surfer, Fall Sunrise is gorgeously incoherent. The artwork (large format, bursting from the page, overflowing with detail) is superb, when you can figure out what's going on. Which you can't, most of the time.

The storytelling is obtuse. There's another realm, where Doctor Strange has been tasked with finding the newborn child of one of the gods. The worldbuilding for the pantheon of gods and their history is actually pretty fascinating - give me a fantasy series based on that! Unfortunately, Strange's narrative in Fall Sunrise is more often about mind-melting psychedelic expanses and less about him solving an actual mystery.

Again, like Silver Surfer: Black, I'm glad I read Fall Sunrise, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as like, a good read.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have no idea what this was about, but at least it was pretty to look at

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was really beautiful! the story too simplistic for my taste and told in an overly confusingly way. but you could hang some of these pages on your walls

[Mag · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really like Moore’s art but it’s often times very hard to follow and his cryptic and fantastical writing is not doing it any favors here.