Rolando Merida Comic Gayl Better Guide

Since I cannot reproduce copyrighted comics or specific artists' work directly, I have written an original, short fanfiction-style story featuring these two characters meeting.

Gayl Better — The Comic

First appearing on Merida’s social media and later compiled into self-published zines, Gayl Better follows a semi-autobiographical character (also named Rolando or a thinly veiled alter ego) navigating: rolando merida comic gayl better

• Messy gay dating — ghosting, Grindr mishaps, yearning for tenderness.
• Body dysmorphia — drawn with grotesque yet loving exaggeration.
• Mental health spirals — anxiety loops, therapy ambivalence, late-night overthinking.
• The immigrant queer experience — code-switching between Spanish and English, feeling “too Latin for white gays, too gay for family.”

The title itself is a layered pun: Gayl Better sounds like “gay all better” — a sardonic nod to the idea that coming out fixes everything. Merida’s punchline? It doesn’t. You just get better at hiding the cracks. Since I cannot reproduce copyrighted comics or specific

Who Is Rolando Merida?

Merida is a Guatemala-born, Atlanta-based cartoonist and illustrator whose visual language blends chunky, expressive lines, neo-expressionist scrawl, and confessional chaos. His work pulls from punk zine aesthetics, Latin American historieta traditions, and the unfiltered voice of social media-era queer storytelling. Gayl Better — The Comic First appearing on

The Critique: Is It Projection?

Of course, the movement has its detractors. Traditionalist critics argue that the "gayl better" reading is a massive projection. They claim that Mérida simply draws dynamic anatomy and that modern fans are so starved for representation they see romance in every panel.

To which the "gayl better" faithful respond: "So what?"

The death of the author applies here. Regardless of Mérida’s personal intent (he has remained professionally silent on the matter), the affect of his work is queer. Once a piece of art is released, its meaning is co-created by the audience. And a significant, vocal, creative audience has decided that their version of the Mérida comic is, unequivocally, better.