Sean Stephane Martin (December 29, 1950 – August 3, 2020) was an

American-Canadian American Canadians are Canadians of American descent. The term is most often used to refer to Canadians who migrated from or have ancestry from the United States. Demography According to the 2016 Census, 29,590 Canadians reported American as ...

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

, and

graphic designer A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, ...

, best known for creating the long-running ''

Doc and Raider ''Doc and Raider'' is a Canadian comic strip, created by Sean Martin.Michael Willhoite, "Review: Caught on Tape: An Anthology of Doc and Raider Cartoons". ''Lambda Book Report'', May/Jun 1995 (Vol. 4 Issue 10). p. 45. Published in newspapers and ...

'' comic strip which appeared in

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

publications in the 1980s and 1990s, and online in the 2000 and 2010s.

Early life

Martin was adopted as a child. His adoptive mother, Elsie Martin, who died in 2017, estimated his birth date as 29 December 1960 based on the date he was taken from a Catholic-run orphanage in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. She also believed that he was born in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He was raised in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, and lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

before moving to

in 1986 and gaining Canadian citizenship in 1989.

Career

Martin produced the first ''Doc and Raider'' strips for a

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

gay publication in 1987. The titular characters' namesakes come from western novels written by J.D. Hardin Although the issue featuring ''Doc and Raider'' turned out to be the final issue of that publication, the strip was quickly picked up by other LGBT publications, including the ''

Xtra! ''Xtra Magazine'' (formerly ''DailyXtra'' and ''Xtra!'') is an LGBTQ-focused digital publication and former print newspaper published by Pink Triangle Press in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The publication is a continuation of the company's former pr ...

'' newspapers in Canada. Martin's fee for the strip was turned over to charities and organizations, going to causes that included AIDS hospices in New Zealand, and an arts festival in Scotland, with total donations estimated to be close to a quarter million dollars (US) (Exact figures are unknown because of variances in the number of currencies and irregularity of reporting involved, but it is a reliable estimate). The characters have also been used to promote safer-sex practices and AIDS education, as well as rodeos, country dance conventions, and film festivals. His works have often alluded to other queer comics artists of the past such as

Tom of Finland Touko Valio Laaksonen (8 May 1920 – 7 November 1991), pseudonym Tom of Finland, was a Finnish artist who made stylized highly masculinized homoerotic art, and influenced late 20th-century gay culture. He has been called the "most influential ...

by dressing up his characters as authority figures and highlighting their sexuality. He has also written about domestic relationships, as can be seen in

Gay Comix ''Gay Comix'' (later ''Gay Comics'') is an underground comics series published from 1980–1998 featuring cartoons by and for gay men and lesbians. The comic books had the tagline “Lesbians and Gay Men Put It On Paper!” Much of the early c ...

#16, through the bickering between Doc and Raider. Martin was an avid lover of cats and they often were woven into his narratives.“Sean Stephane Martin.” McClure Funeral Service, https://www.mcclurefuneralservice.net/obituary/Sean-Martin . He published two books collecting strips: ''Doc and Raider: Caught on Tape'' (1994) and ''Doc and Raider: Incredibly Lifelike'' (1996). He retired the regular strip in 1997, but drew two five-page stories for the Little Sister's Defence FundDetained at Customs: Jane Rule testifies at the Little Sister's trial
. Lazara Press, 1995. See the third page for correct spelling of "Defence Fund." anthologies ''What's Right'' and ''What's Wrong'' in 2002. The strip's archive is housed at the

National Archives of Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is th ...

and the Pride Archives at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

. Martin later revived the strip online, using digitally-rendered art from 3D models, and has published a number of anthologies, including "Canadian: Hope That's Okay", "Tastefully Canadian", and "Frankly Canadian". This transition to a new medium of art came about from an undisclosed injury to Martin's drawing hand. Martin would use this new outlet to provide modern political commentary and has responded to tragedies such as the

Pulse nightclub shooting On , 2016, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old man, killed 49 people and wounded 53 more in a mass shooting at Pulse (nightclub), Pulse, a gay bar, gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, United States. Orlando Police officers shot and killed him after a thr ...

. Some of this artwork draws from Eastern art influences as evidenced by the large eyes given to some of his figures, reminiscent of

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

. Martin wrote a manual for theatre designers, ''Big Show Tiny Budget'', based on his years as a scenic and costume designer, a novella ''Triptych'', and adaptations of classic theatre scripts, including ''The Prince of Pilsen'', ''The Pink Lady'', and ''The Black Crook''. He has also issued a volume of standalone illustrations of life in

Montréal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

, under the title of "Les citains", as well as publications of ''

Candide ( , ) is a French satire written by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, first published in 1759. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled ''Candide: or, All for the Best'' (1759); ''Candide: or, The ...

'', ''

Gilgamesh sux, , label=none , image = Hero lion Dur-Sharrukin Louvre AO19862.jpg , alt = , caption = Possible representation of Gilgamesh as Master of Animals, grasping a lion in his left arm and snake in his right hand, in an Assyr ...

'', ''The Little Prince'', and ''

Aesop's Fables Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE. Of diverse origins, the stories associated with his name have descended to ...

''. While living in Calgary, Martin worked with the Alberta Rockies Gay Rodeo, providing graphic design for the organization's posters and brochures. His work was honoured in 2001 with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the

International Gay Rodeo Association The International Gay Rodeo Association (IGRA), founded in 1985,

. Martin's illustration work for ''

'' is part of the permanent

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...

collection at the

University of Wittenberg Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

Death

Martin ended the digital version of ''Doc and Raider'' on July 13, 2020, with its 5600th installment. He died of complications of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

following hospice care on August 3, 2020.

Legacy

Martin was one of the first to work with theater designers remotely. He was a pioneer in his field when he transitioned to 3-D art and many of his drawings can still be found on his Coroflot page Doc and Raider now stands as one of the longest running LGBTQ comic strips in history as well as the second longest Canadian one, after For Better or For Worse. Martin continues to hold an online presence through the support of family and friends.“Sean Stephane Martin.” Tribute Archive, https://www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/17732117/Sean-Stephane-Martin.
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References

External links

*
Lambiek Comiclopedia article.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Sean 1950 births 2020 deaths Canadian comic strip cartoonists Canadian comics artists Canadian webcomic creators Canadian gay artists LGBT comics creators American gay artists American expatriates in Canada LGBT people from Texas 20th-century Canadian LGBT people 21st-century Canadian LGBT people