Dan Parent, the creator of Kevin
Keller, the first gay character in the history of the Archie
comics, says he's been “overwhelmingly well received.”
Kevin was first introduced last April.
In the January issue (#16) of Life
with Archie – the comic which looks at the possible future
lives of Archie characters – Kevin gets married.
Cover artwork for the issue shows Kevin
and his husband Clay standing in front of a Just Married sign as the
gang cheers on.
In the issue, Kevin, who first came out
gay to Jughead at Pop's Chocklit Shoppe, returns from war to get
hitched, while Archie separates from his wife Veronica.
“Kevin followed in his father's
footsteps and is returning to Riverdale as a war hero, but that's not
all – It's Kevin's wedding day!” Archie Comic Publications said
in a release.
During an
interview on the Take Away with John Hockenberry and Celeste
Headlee, Parent said Kevin's storyline had been embraced by fans.
After agreeing that people don't want
Archie to become too political, Parent added: “When we first
introduced Kevin there was some slight, you know, controversy about
having a gay character in the book. But when they read the story, it
was overwhelmingly well received, because the story was not
political. And we were very careful not to make it that way.”
(Audio of the interview is embedded in the right panel of this page.
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