Archie Comics' Archie Andrews will die
while attempting to save Kevin Keller, the comics' first openly gay
character.
According to the AP, Archie is killed
in Wednesday's installment of Life
with Archie, which looks at the possible future lives of
Archie characters.
Archie's death will conclude the
series.
“The way in which Archie dies is
everything that you would expect of Archie,” Jon Goldwater, Archie
Comics publisher and co-CEO, is
quoted as saying. “He dies heroically. He dies selflessly.
He dies in the manner that epitomizes not only the best of Riverdale
but the best of all of us. It's what Archie has come to represent
over the past almost 75 years.”
Kevin Keller first joined the gang in
the Archie Comics spin-off Veronica in 2010.
Dan Parent, the creator of the
character, said in an It Gets Better video that response to Kevin was
overwhelmingly positive.
“When we introduced Kevin in Veronica
#202 it was the first Archie Comics ever to sell-out in 70 years.
That's a good sign. The readers responded really favorably,”
Parent said.
In Life with Archie #16,
Kevin returns from serving in the military to marry Clay. Cover
artwork for the issue showed Kevin and husband Clay standing in front
of a “Just Married” sign as the gang cheers on.
As the
series comes to an end, Kevin is a newly elected senator who's
pushing for greater gun control in Riverdale after Clay is involved
in a shooting. Archie's life is cut short when he intervenes in an
assassination attempt on Kevin.
“We
hope by showing how something so violent can happen to Archie, that
we can – in some way – learn from him,” Goldwater said.