Gay Character Appears in Archie Comics

[The Pecman]

Oh, this is too funny...

Archie Comics announces new gay character

By the CNN Wire Staff

April 23, 2010 2:47 a.m. EDT

(CNN) -- Riverdale High School, the stomping ground of comic book legend Archie Andrews, will open its doors to its first openly gay student.

Kevin Keller will be the new student to join Archie, Jughead, Veronica, Betty and Reggie, Archie Comics publications announced Thursday.

"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," said Jon Goldwater, Archie Comics co-CEO.

Kevin will make his entrance in the comic book in September.

Archie publishers provided a sneak peak of the the plot and a page of the comic book on its website.

The story begins when Kevin comes to Riverdale and promptly beats Jughead in a burger-eating contest. This gets the attention of Veronica who realizes that she is falling for Kevin.

"Mayhem and hilarity ensue as Kevin desperately attempts to let Veronica down easy and her flirtations only become increasingly persistent," Archie Comics said on its website.

Finally, Kevin confides in Jughead. "It is nothing against her. I'm gay," the new character says.

[The Pecman]

I'm hoping more comics will add gay characters: like a "Jasper, the Friendly Gay Ghost," or perhaps Superboy will gain a gay teenage friend in Smallville. Lotta potential for this idea... hmmmmm....

[DesDownunder]

See the new Archie gay character preview here.

Personally I think you have to go a long way to beat the Batman & Robin relationship. University cartoons depicting them, with Alfred (the elderly but loveable butler) looking on lasciviously, were quite common in the 1960s.

As for other gay cartoon characters, could one of the duck brothers be gay? If so is it Huey, Dewey, or Louie?

And just what does the Phantom do with all those natives in his skull-cave?

Doth Mickey'th mouth organ turn gay for good head?

And of course having Fred and Barney reveal that they are lovers, could explain why they hang out at the Stonewall caf? in Bedrock.

[Cole Parker]

I didn't know they still produced Archie comics.

I love the look of this. They're treating the gay kid as just a regular kid. That's very impressive. Hope they keep to that as the storyline progresses.

I'm dating myself (and I don't mean romantically. Age-wise, I'm dating myself) when I say I loved the Captain Marvel comics when I was a boy. For those of you who don't know about Captain Marvel, which probably encompasses most of you, his actual self was Billy Batson, boy newspaper reporter. He's say the word Shazam, which was an acronym with each letter of the word being the initial letter of one of seven gods. The gods would hear the word and throw down a lightning bolt that would hit Billy and transform him into Captain Marvel, a Superman-type figure without Superman's Achilles heel, that silly Kryptonite weakness he had.

OK, that sounds really dorky when I explain it that way, but it wasn't. It was really cool, at least to this 10-year-old by. Anyway, the point here is, Captain Marvel eventually had a family that consisted of himself, Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel, Jr. The latter, in his non-superhero personage, was Freddy Freeman, a crippled kid who sold newspapers on the street and used a crutch.

He would have make a perfect gay character for a number of reasons, one being the crutch as a metaphor for the stigma of being gay, way back then and to a lesser extent now.

I liked Captain Marvel, Jr. a lot. He was a kid like me. Billy Batson was, too, but he wasn't flawed. Freddy wasn't as perfect as the rest. I could dig that.

C

[DesDownunder]

I am pleased to to tell you that Captain Marvel made it to Australia for my childhood. I am certain now, that I became fixated on caped crusaders for peace, justice and liberty in the bedroom, where I read the exploits of these Marvel-lous characters.

My mum wasn't keen on me reading Archie comics as she thought they used too much American language abbreviations of proper English.

Goodness knows what she would have thought of her son being the admin of a Web site called 'AwesomeDude.'

I do remember these comic books having a profound impact on my appreciation of the male physique, probably in exactly the same way that the busty female characters affected the straight boys. And that observation should put to rest any idea that comic book super heroes 'turn' people, gay.

[JamesSavik]

I hope for this gay character what I hope for all gay characters- that they don't become comic relief or a running joke.

[The Pecman]

I'm dating myself (and I don't mean romantically. Age-wise, I'm dating myself) when I say I loved the Captain Marvel comics when I was a boy.

That's a little before my time, but I did read reprints of the original Captain Marvel in the 1970s and 1980s. No question, Captain Marvel Jr. was totally hot. What was bizarre is that the "older" character was drawn like a cartoon, while Junior was drawn in a very realistic style. Complicating it was the fact that both were actually young teenagers in real life, which makes no sense: Captain Marvel magically becomes 20 years older and turns into a he-man (ala Batman), while Captain Marvel Jr. still looks like a kid. It put a weird vibe on the whole story.

Here's how Captain Marvel Jr. looked:

Back to Archie: what impress me here is that the makers of the comic are at least acknowledging that there are gay kids in high school, and -- in some areas -- it's not a big deal. So even though it's the kind of thing I know Leno and Letterman will make fun of in their talk show monologues, I do see it as a step forward.

Anything that puts gay people in a positive light to a mainstream audience is a good thing.

[EleCivil]

I'm hoping more comics will add gay characters: like a "Jasper, the Friendly Gay Ghost," or perhaps Superboy will gain a gay teenage friend in Smallville. Lotta potential for this idea... hmmmmm....

My favorite gay comic characters are Hulkling and Wiccan/Asguardian from the Young Avengers. Their relationship is kind of hinted at in the beginning, but more overt as it goes on.

There's a brilliant scene in which they're trying to tell their parents that they're superheroes...but their parents think they're (finally) trying to come out of the closet.

The series won a GLAAD award, I believe.

And then of course there's Midnighter (gay Batman) who is officially married to Apollo (gay Superman), and they have an adopted daughter. He once killed a homophobic bad guy by jamming a long, hard, pole in his mouth. And then out the back of his head. So, you know. A cool guy.

[Cole Parker]

He once killed a homophobic bad guy by jamming a long, hard, pole in his mouth. And then out the back of his head.

Speaking of symbolism, uh, WOW!!!

C