Sound The Trumpet : Gay Character Joins Archie's Gang

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“Gay Character Joins Archie's Gang”
by Gulf Daily News
April 24th, 2010

NEW YORK: Archie, Betty, Veronica and Jughead have a new friend: Archie Comics' first openly gay character.

Kevin Keller, who first appears in Veronica #202, to be released on September 1 is a teenager at Riverdale High School, the fictional universe that has been entertaining kids of all ages since 1939.

"In the last year or two, we've been introducing a lot of new characters: Diverse characters, characters with different ethnicities. With trying to be diverse, we wanted to have everybody at the table," said cartoonist DAN PARENT, who's writing and drawing the issue.

"We knew at some point we wanted to introduce a gay character, and when I came up with the story idea, we felt it worked in context with this story."

In his introductory story, titled Isn't it Bromantic? Kevin's good looks get the attention of Veronica, who doesn't know he's gay because he's the new kid in town. Her thwarted attempts at winning his attraction amuse the other characters - particularly Jughead.

"They just like watching Veronica making a fool of herself, trying to get this guy to like her," Parent said. "At the beginning of the book, Kevin tells Jughead first that he's gay. And Kevin feels kind of bad and wants to tell Veronica why he's not interested. But Jughead keeps saying, 'No, you should wait to tell her,' because he's enjoying watching Veronica's antics."

Parent said the story works because it wasn't something radical concocted just to introduce a gay character. "The story is very much in the true context of our Archie stories," he said. "It's Veronica being Veronica. The fact that there's a gay character in the story isn't a big deal to the characters."

The cartoonist said Archie Comics wants to reflect what high schools are like in America, where being gay "isn't a big deal anymore."

Art's Commentary.... This is another example of how the media have advanced the acceptability of homosexuality.

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13