Doc and Raider

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Doc and Raider was a Canadian comic strip, created by Sean Martin. Published in newspapers and magazines for LGBT audiences beginning in 1987, the strip's main characters were Doc and Raider, two gay men who began the series as roommates but eventually became a couple. Doc was a writer, while Raider was a construction worker.

The strip was usually drawn as a single panel, although for some more complex stories Martin used a multipanel format.

The series, while primarily humorous, also addressed serious issues in the gay community. During the strip's run, Raider was gay-bashed, and Doc tested positive for HIV. Towards the end of the strip, Doc's HIV status became a strain on their relationship, and a fight between the two erupted into domestic violence. In the final strip, Doc and Raider had reconciled and Raider asked Doc to have unprotected sex, although it was never revealed whether this in fact happened.

In addition to the regular strip, Doc and Raider appeared in safer sex education campaigns in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Two books were also published, Doc and Raider: Caught on Tape in 1994 and Doc and Raider: Incredibly Lifelike in 1996.

The regular strip was retired in 1997, although in 2002 Martin created two standalone stories featuring the characters, which were published in two anthologies sold to raise money for the Little Sister's Defense Fund. More recently, he has redesigned the characters in a more contemporary cartooning style, and has worked on an animated cartoon starring the redesigned characters.

Filmmaker Randy Riddle released Raider in Canada: A Portrait of Sean Martin, a documentary film about Martin and the strip, in 1998.