22 Apr 2010
The Washinton Post
The way Archie Comics artist-writer Dan Parent tells it, Riverdale High is getting ever more diverse.
Archie’s already dating Valerie from Josie and the Pussycats. The House of Archie is discussing a “Jersey Shore” influence. And according to Parent, a new gay character will enroll at Riverdale later this year.
Suddenly the ol’ “Betty or Veronica?” question just got potentially more interesting. (And a lot more like a story-line from, say, the ’90s film “Clueless.” Or an echo from Hooper’s line in Kevin Smith’s “Chasing Amy”: “Archie and Jughead were lovers”; in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Smith cheekily speaks to this tonight at DC’s Sixth & I Historic Synagogue.)
With some comics, this would qualify as non-news. But in the historically less-diverse world of Riverdale, in the longtime land of white-walled jalopies, this registers as notable.
“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,” Archie Comics honcho Jon Goldwater said in announcing the news.
In a C2E2 interview (clip below) with Feast of Fun, Parent said that the comic is striving for more diversity and that the new character, a “burgeoning journalist” named Kevin Keller, reportedly will appear in Veronica Comics (#202) in September, in an issue titled “Isn’t It Bromantic?” (To see character art of Kevin, you can check the blog “Robot 6.”)
“Veronica’s got the hots for this guy and can’t understand why he’s not interested in her … and, uh, he’s gay,” Parent says in the interview.
Adds the artist, about any other potential gay characters (Jughead? Perhaps Moose?): “Traditional Riverdale characters won’t be coming out.”
