Veronica Leaves Archie for Openly Gay Character

[Tom Goldman]

Veronica Leaves Archie for Openly Gay Character

The world of Archie Comics is set to introduce an openly gay character for the first time.

For the past 70 years, the wide variety of books known as Archie Comics have not once featured an openly gay character. This is about to change come September, as Archie Comics has announced it will be introducing its first in issue #202 of Veronica.

Archie Comics is a kid-friendly series that focuses on lovable redhead teenager Archie Andrews and his escapades while attending Riverdale High. Other main characters include jock Reggie, love interests Betty and Veronica (creating a hilarity-inducing love triangle), and burger fanatic Jughead. If you haven't read Archie Comics sometime in your life, you're either a robot or were raised by beavers.

The new openly gay character, Kevin Keller, will be introduced in a storyline called "Isn't it Bromantic?" Kevin first impresses Veronica by beating Jughead in a burger eating contest. Veronica ends up dumping Archie for the new blonde super hunk, only to find out that her milkshake doesn't bring Kevin to the yard. As Veronica desperately attempts to date a man without a firecrotch, Kevin is forced to let her down easy.

The introduction of Kevin is about "keeping the world of Archie Comics current and inclusive," says Archie Comics Co-CEO Jon Goldwater. "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."

Am I the only one up in arms about this new character? Archie Comics is really overstepping its bounds here, if I may be so bold. Do they seriously expect us to believe anyone could beat Jughead in a burger eating contest? Jughead Jones eats a stack of five burgers at once as a snack on a slow day, and some prettyboy out-of-towner is supposed to be able to defeat him just like that? I think not, Archie Comics, I think not. It's pretty forward thinking of them to introduce an openly gay character, though.

Source: Comic Book Resources [http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=25891]

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[Hurr Durr Derp]

If you haven't read Archie Comics sometime in your life, you're either a robot or were raised by beavers.

...or you're, y'know, not American.

[edit]
For the horde of people who keep quoting me saying "Hurr you're wrong! I'm not American but I still read Archie Comics!1111"

Stop failing at simple logic. Just because all Americans are readers (as implied by the article), and some not-readers are not-American, doesn't mean that I'm saying all not-Americans are not-readers.

I was merely pointing out that this stupid comic isn't nearly as popular outside of the US.

 

[Starke]

If you haven't read Archie Comics sometime in your life, you're either a robot or were raised by beavers.

...or you're, y'know, not American.

Lucky bastards.

Why have I read that crap? I swear it gets force fed to all of us or something.

 

[Aura Guardian]

If you haven't read Archie Comics sometime in your life, you're either a robot or were raised by beavers.

...or you're, y'know, not American.

Well, I'm American and I never read an Archie comic

 

[lasersandbearsohno]

If you haven't read Archie Comics sometime in your life, you're either a robot or were raised by beavers.

...or you're, y'know, not American.

Is there a difference between what you said and what they said?

All joking aside, I suppose one could call it progressive. You can't be tolerant of a group of people until they are in your comic books

 

[Meggiepants]

Archie has been dead to me ever since Archie proposed to Veronica. Bad Archie! Betty is your gal!

And you are right. Nobody save perhaps J. Wellington Wimpy could beat Jughead in a burger eating contest.

I just hope an openly gay character isn't an attempt to get notoriety for sales. That has been happening too often lately.

"Ratings dropping? Make someone gay!"

If done right, I see no problem with it. But if he is just a shallow attempt to make news, bleh.

 

[KeyMaster45]

I'll say it now because its going to be said eventually...*sigh*

Hur hur, he can eat more meat than jug head

Now that that's out of the way. I'm glad to see even a staple reminder of the 50's is making the effort to join the new reality we live in. Kudos to the makers of Archie comics for trying to teach the next generation more tolerance than the last

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

It's still going on?!

 

[Swifteye]

I wonder if kids even read archie nowadays? Even when I was a little kid reading archie was dork territory.

 

[Wakefield]

I've never read them, but man Veronica seems like a shallow ***** doesn't she?

"Oh my God you can eat hamburgers, FUCK YOU OTHER GUY I'M WITH THIS MAN NOW!"

That's kind of her personality trait. Shallow.

 

[Dok Zombie]

All I know about Archie comics is from dialogue in Chasing Amy...

 

[Twad]

..
Dude, that book "series" is wayyyy older than i am.. so, who cares? Points for them for being "trendy" but they are late by a decade at least.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

If you haven't read Archie Comics sometime in your life, you're either a robot or were raised by beavers.

...or you're, y'know, not American.

Well, it's a fact that all non-American's are raised by beavers.

 

[Nimbus]

I'll say it now because its going to be said eventually...*sigh*

Hur hur, he can eat more meat than jug head

Now that that's out of the way. I'm glad to see even a staple reminder of the 50's is making the effort to join the new reality we live in. Kudos to the makers of Archie comics for trying to teach the next generation more tolerance than the last

*Facedesk*

Seriously, I can't even read the rest of your post. That was awful!

 

[Aptspire]

If you haven't read Archie Comics sometime in your life, you're either a robot or were raised by beavers.

...or you're, y'know, not American.

I'm not American, and yet I've read them

 

[Wolfiesden]

Well, I guess I won't let my granddaughters read Archie. EVER.

 

[Popcicle42]

If you haven't read Archie Comics sometime in your life, you're either a robot or were raised by beavers.

Well, apparently I'm a robot raised by beavers. So... no, never read it. Walked by them enough times at the grocery store, though.

 

[Therumancer]

I've read Archie. I think everyone goes through that phase a bit.


That said I don't approve of this, and not just because I'm anti-gay men. Simply put I don't think Archie is supposed to be edgy or a social platform. Once you start opening up the door to toss in one minority group, you wind up with increasing questions from other minorities like "hey why isn't there a character like me?" at which point you wind up with a bunch of extraneous characters.

The thing is that Archie goes through this kind of thing periodically, so I'm guessing it's an attention grab and like countless other characters this one won't be around that long. I do however think that the stunt is tasteless, just as I have on previous occasions when they have tried to get attention.

Also I must point out that the idea of a girl going for a guy who is gay, is a stereotypical schtick, but not the kind of thing that I feel really fits in with Archie. Also as the article writer pointed out, the idea of some guy just coming by and beating Jughead at a burger eating contest is patently ridiculous. There are certain "laws" of the Archie universe and Jughead is like a burger black hole....

But then again also understand that I'm sort of the opinion that Riverdale should remain fairly static overall. Too much change kind of ruins the simple charm of that world. It also would mean that various jokes like cross overs with "The Punisher" or "Hack/Slash" (and those which will doubtlessly continue to come) wuld lose a lot of their impact.

My personal opinion on the group involved aside, there are other things this could work with. But Archie is not one of them. Archie is like the everlasting sweetness, light, and innocence to which other sequential art is compared.

 

[Chipperz]

HA! You're wrong, Goldman!

I was raised by Marmots!