In Archie’s first gay character, a focus on Army life

[w8liftinglady]

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/02/2248154/in-archies-first-gay-character.html


Kevin Keller may find himself dead square in the national debate over gays in the military because of his dad.

Keller, the first openly gay character in Archie Comics’ 70-year history, is loud and proud of his father, a retired Army colonel, in a four-issue miniseries debuting next week.

Archie, Veronica, Jughead and the rest of the Riverdale gang are puzzled given their pal’s sexual orientation. They’re even more perplexed when Kevin’s mom calls her son her “future military man.”

The miniseries debuts Wednesday, and will be released monthly.

Writer and artist Dan Parent says Kevin’s relationship with his father is a key plank of the character’s identity, just as much as his being gay



http://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2011/06/02/18/B82761311Z.1_20110602180205_000+G5U2Q88S9.1-0.embedded.prod_affiliate.56.jpg

[TlalocW]

1. Interesting...

I remember a time when Archie Comics tended to have not only a very Christian message to them but if you read in between the lines, a somewhat right-wing social agenda as well. In one story from the 1970s, set in the Old West with Archie as Marshal of Riverdale, Miss Betty Cooper, the school marm, was complaining about how things had gotten worse in the school (lack of discipline, more fights, etc.) since kids from the wrong side of the tracks had started attending her schools (a condemnation of bussing).

Now if the Black kid in Archie could get more than a line or two in an entire comics digest. ;)

TlalocW

[provis99]

2. Archie has had a gay character for 70 years.

Jughead is the most obviously in-the-closet homosexual there is.