raider
in canada:
portrait of sean martin
a documentary by Randy A. Riddle
Slack
Events:
Beginnings
The
Rodeo typically starts with what are known as "Slack Events", a series
of safe competitive events that require more skill than athletic prowess.
An example would be Standing Calf Roping, where a calf is released from
a chute and the competitor has to lasso the animal as he or she stands
next to the chute. Slack Events are a way that many "first timers" can
enter the Rodeo.
Sean had been doing, in his words, some "light cartooning" for some time when he hit upon the idea of doing a series about a couple in a relationship, a strip that would get away from what he saw as an overt amount of sexuality in Gay cartoons at the time. He approached the editor of a small newspaper, "Q", in Vancouver who thought it was a great idea and published two of the panels. Unfortunately, much to Sean's surprise, it turned out to be the last issue of the publication.
Luckily, "Xtra" in Toronto began running "Doc and Raider" and in Sean's words, "the series just snowballed from there". The panel saw a steady growth over its first few years of publication and, at its height, was seen in publications on three continents, from local gay and lesbian weeklies to monthly special-interest Gay magazines such as Drummer. Sean was also approached by the National Archives of Canada to donate the original panels to their collection -- Doc and Raider became the first works by a Gay cartoonist to be added to the Archives.
Doc is the aspiring
writer who finds himself making a living by writing romance novels --
"Danielle Steele kinds of things," Sean says, laughing. Doc provides "all
the bright colors" in the couple", Sean said in a telephone interview
before shooting the documentary. He always imagined the character as being
the son of a former hippie couple on the Sunshine Coast, bringing a kind
of "New Agey" quality to the relationship.
 |
| (c) copyright Sean Martin |
Raider, Doc's partner,
is definitely a product of the Prairies -- down to earth, a construction
worker -- someone with a strong sense of values and spirituality, but
without the religious and political conservatism. Raider is also the "cultured"
one, who may be at the construction site and two hours later wearing a
tux in a box seat at the opera, explaining the plot of "Aida" to a somewhat
confused Doc.
|
| (c) copyright Sean Martin |
Initially, the characters
began as roommates, but they were inevitably "drawn to each other" (pun
intended). One of the earliest and most popular series of the panels,
shown in the first book collection of Sean's work, Doc
and Raider: Caught on Tape, shows how Raider stumbles through
a formal proposal of marriage to Doc and their eventual wedding before
a suitably befuddled older minister.
 |
| (c) copyright Sean Martin |
rand@coolcatdaddy.com,
3.15.99