As announced Thursday by Jon Goldwater, Co-CEO of Archie Comics, in September a new character will be introduced to the Archie Universe named Kevin Keller. The twist for this new highschooler in Riverdale: He’s openly gay.
This has come with a lot of surprise to many since Archie Comics has been seen as a very conservative safe-bet in the comic book world, however as quoted by Mr.Goldwater, “The introduction of Kevin is just about keeping the world of Archie Comics current and inclusive. Archie’s hometown of Riverdale has always been a safe world for everyone. It just makes sense to have an openly gay character in Archie comic books.” The introduction plot will spin the tale of Kevin moving to Riverdale, and after beating Jughead in a burger eating contest, Veronica starts to fall for him. After Veronica pursues Kevin with no luck, Kevin opens up about being gay.
It seems good Archie Comics is trying to push in different directions again. They also have an upcoming brand-new superhero series created by Stan Lee that will be coming out this upcoming year. Gay characters are no longer completely unheard of in the comic book world, where both Marvel and DC have already introduced gay characters to their universes, and so in my opinon this is a positive step in the right direction in the changing landscape of our world. What are your thoughts, readers?
Drew McCabe
drew@comicattack.net
I’m not sure what I think about that. I’ve never read an Archie comic. Aren’t they digest format?
I may try the new Stan Lee super hero stuff. But if it is going to be anything like DC’s “Just Imagine Stan Lee’s…” then I’ll have to pass. And I have all 6 of those prestige format books, by the way. If anyone wants to buy them…let me know…
hahaha!
Soooo they’re throwing in a gay character just because they want to be “current” and “inclusive” and how is it a “twist”? That’s one of the most ignorant things I’ve heard in a while. How about giving riverdale a deeper ethnic pool while you’re at it.
Yeah, it makes me a little nervous. Will it really play out in a genuine way? Haven’t read Archie since I was like…10 maybe. But I remember it being pretty campy….
It’ll go like this…
Veronica: Aren’t you going to ask me to be your girl?
Kevin: Oh no, Veronica! I like boys, you silly! Now where are those shoe sales?
I don’t know about this. I wonder if they are caving to pressure from some group or something. Just doesn’t sound all that genuine to me.
It’ll be strange b/c usually “Archie” is one big innuendo. I agree Infinite, they need to be more diverse.
We’ll see how it holds up, it’s an idea that I don’t know how much they can do with. It’s not like Batwoman who fits crime and just happens to be a lesbian, so the stories still focus on crime more then her personal life. Archie its only about personal life (and hamburger-eating contests) but also a gag-comic, so really I can’t imagine this staying fresh story wise, although I am happy to see Archie slowly making what appears to be strides away from its conservative base with this.
@Speech- Agreed, why not first recognize dozens of ethnic groups first.IMO, that would actually be something that would be more “with the times”.
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