Covering 75: October 2023

Most doctors we know can’t fly or shoot lasers from their eyes. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t at work constantly pulling off superhero-esque feats. Because the MDs who keep us healthy typically don lab coats instead of capes, it can be easy to forget that the stethoscopes and clipboards they often rock in classic regional magazine covers (like this one from October 2009) are their own Bruce Wayne–style tools to save lives and help those in need.

In honor of our 75th anniversary, we’re asking local artists for fresh takes on retro covers. To remind us all of doctors’ daily heroics, we asked Keithan Jones, a local comic book artist and founder/owner of independent publishing company KID Comics, to recreate this past Top Docs cover, touching on many of the medical advancements and STEM-related news happening in San Diego.

You’ll spot references to the Human Milk Institute, which studies how medications impact breast milk; Orchyd, a period-tracking and telemedicine app offering confidential access to healthcare; new scientific research in outer space; the much-discussed Ozempic craze; and groundbreaking lab-grown fish at San Diego company BlueNalu.

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San Diego is a hub for science and technology, with companies like Illumina, Erasca, Gilead Sciences, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (to name just a few) calling this city home. If you look close enough, the future of medicine is unfolding before our very eyes. And the doctors, scientists, and researchers leading the charge are actual superheroes.