Wednesday Webcomics: “The Doctors are Out” and I am SO IN

What better comic to read during a global quarantine than one about feuding doctors? The Doctors are Out is an LGBTQ+ romance centered on the rivalry between Dr. Matias Guevara and Dr. Fernando Guevera, who have clinics next door to each other.

In The Doctors are Out, Matias is a general practitioner and Fernando is a veterinarian; their similarly spelled names cause massive confusion in the neighborhood when Fernando opens up his brand new vet office right next door to Matias’s health clinic. But they’re adults, right? Wrong! Tempers flare, and the men start up an instant rivalry that devolves into pranks and bickering.

This is a relatively new comic, with only 8 episodes (easy to catch up with!), and I always enjoy coming in right from the beginning and growing with the characters. It’s obvious right from the start that both Matias and Fernando have been hurt in the past; Matias is a single father who doesn’t get to see his son that often, and it seems that Fernando has suddenly moved to the neighborhood after a breakup. I’m really looking forward to seeing how their relationship develops as the story continues.

One thing I’m excited about is that these are two men in their 30s, which is actually kind of rare to see with regards to queer relationships. A lot of the LGBTQ+ couples we get in media now are younger, and many stories deal with a coming out narrative, or a person just figuring out their sexuality. There are a few exceptions (like Holt and Kevin on Brooklyn Nine-Nine or Mitchell and Cameron on Modern Family), but in general, you tend to not see older queer characters.

It’s nice to see such queer characters (even though Matias and Fernando are both still younger than I am), but it’s also nice to see characters in their 30s who don’t quite have their lives figured out yet. I’m 38 and I often feel like I’m just drifting, and I always relate to characters who are going through a change and realizing that maybe they don’t want what they thought they wanted.

Although, you wouldn’t know that these two are in their 30s. They certainly behave like teenagers.

You know, something that I like about queer romances is that they almost always have decent development. A lot of heterosexual relationships in media rely heavily on heteronormative assumptions (which can be adequately summed up by this scene from One Day at a Time) and don’t bother to properly flesh out the relationship.

You can’t really do that with LGBTQ+ couples, because a lot of times you literally have to clobber people over the head for them to get the hint that they’re dating and not just friends.

Anyway, the point of all of this rambling is to say that I’m really very eager to truly dive into The Doctors are Out, because I can’t wait to read about 30-something-year-old queer men who don’t necessarily have their lives completely figured out dealing with that nice slow burn relationship building of which I’m such a fan.

Also, a lot of the comics I subscribe to on Webtoon are fantasy, so it will be fun to read a regular, slice-of-life comic.

I really like Blau’s art style for this comic, as well. I can’t get into a comic if I don’t like the art, so that should be a given, but I really like how colorful everything is, and how soft everyone is drawn. They all just look super adorable. Who wouldn’t want to read about these cuties? Just look at them!

The Doctors are Out by Blau is hosted by Webtoon and updates on Mondays. You can find it here.

For more great webcomic recommendations, check out our Wednesday Webcomic archives!

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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