Kevin gets a Kiss

August 10, 2013 9:00 PM

Archie Comics Gets Its First Gay Kiss, Takes On One Million Moms. A couple years back, Archie Comics introduced its first gay character, Kevin Keller. (previously) Since, he's become a normal fixture in Riverdale, and even gotten married in an alternate universe. But finally, Kevin gets an on-panel kiss for the first time -- in his own universe, even! The issue includes a riff on everyone's poorly-counting scolds One Million Moms.

"We were aware we were doing something that could be controversial even though it shouldn’t be controversial." - Jon Goldwater Jr., publisher and co-CEO of Archie Comics.

posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me (39 comments total)

Way to revive the brand! Not that there's anything wrong with that.
posted by Wordwoman at 9:03 PM on August 10, 2013 [2 favorites]

I'm pretty sure anything that pisses off "One Million Moms" is pretty OK.
posted by notsnot at 9:10 PM on August 10, 2013 [12 favorites]

Hmm, by their own count, One Million Moms represents about 1.2% of American mothers.
posted by stopgap at 9:17 PM on August 10, 2013 [3 favorites]

Controversial 15 years ago maybe.
posted by Bonzai at 9:26 PM on August 10, 2013

mannnn you know when Archie Comics goes down that route it's pretty mainstream
posted by edgeways at 9:36 PM on August 10, 2013 [9 favorites]

Any organization that has "One Million" in its name but can't rally more than 40-some-thousand members to its Facebook account is guilty of false advertising to start with. I'll even bet a large percentage of them aren't even Moms.
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:43 PM on August 10, 2013 [10 favorites]

I wonder if they still run Li'l Archie stories. Those were kick ass.
posted by KokuRyu at 9:51 PM on August 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

One Million Moms got to 40K? I remember when a friend of mine was trolling them and they only had one thousands moms. He quit because it was too easy.
posted by Max Power at 10:06 PM on August 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

Once upon a time a Christian comic publisher, Spire, was actually putting out their own line of official, licensed Archie comics. They were highly WTF-worthy. ComicsAlliance covered them a little. The line's come a long way since then.
posted by JHarris at 10:13 PM on August 10, 2013 [5 favorites]

One million moms - not one million, and not all moms.

Sort of like "Moral Majority". Not moral, and not majority.

The homophobes certainly seem to be soundly losing the 'culture wars'.

Next war to win - the war on christmas (which there really isn't a war on christmas, but it would be great if we could start one - that holiday is some consumerist bullshit).
posted by el io at 10:15 PM on August 10, 2013 [3 favorites]

One Million Moms got to 40K?

IN THE GRIM FUTURE OF MOTHERHOOD, THERE IS ONLY WAR.
posted by lumensimus at 10:16 PM on August 10, 2013 [59 favorites]

WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?

Someone did, and they're working to make sure they grow up in a world with less bigotry.
posted by hippybear at 10:17 PM on August 10, 2013 [32 favorites]

The One Million Moms are no match for their rival, the pro gay rights organization The One Billion Knights of Columbo (Current membership: Zero)
posted by Uppity Pigeon #2 at 10:30 PM on August 10, 2013

I still follow Archie after being introduced to it decades ago while a toddler. It is the only comic I still follow. It is stupid brain stuff to put me to sleep or distract me through a difficult poo.

It's about damn time. Good for you, Kevin. Now if someone will just explain to me why Ambrose exists in the Little Archie timeline but not the real Archie timeline, because the only explanation I could come up with was leukemia.
posted by chemoboy at 10:31 PM on August 10, 2013 [8 favorites]

The homophobes certainly seem to be soundly losing the 'culture wars'.

I knew it was over when my Hannity watching mom told me that she thought if two people love each other they should be able to get married no matter what, and voted accordingly in Maryland's gay marriage referendum.
posted by codacorolla at 10:33 PM on August 10, 2013 [12 favorites]

Now just hold on a second. How did alternate-universe Kevin get married a year ago without kissing being involved? Do I get an Archie Comics no-prize?
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:38 PM on August 10, 2013

The Archie universe is wall to wall fucking for like 95% of the day. The comics just capture the G-rated stuff that happens in that final five percent.
posted by Uppity Pigeon #2 at 10:41 PM on August 10, 2013 [29 favorites]

I just want to know how Kevin makes his hair do that. I covet it, but I have no idea where to start. Is it gay sorcery?
posted by The Whelk at 10:46 PM on August 10, 2013 [3 favorites]

Now just hold on a second. How did alternate-universe Kevin get married a year ago without kissing being involved? Do I get an Archie Comics no-prize?

It's an alternate universe, so CLEARLY kissing never became a thing in that universe.

(that's actually why I clarified on-panel, but yeah, it is kinda weird they apparently didn't do the "you may now kiss" thing in that issue)
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 10:51 PM on August 10, 2013

Yeah, I really wish we could come up with a different name for them than calling them their self-appointed, lofty-membership-goal "one million moms." Maybe "40,000 likes", which kind of takes the teeth right out of it. Or "OMM." It sounds like it could almost make waves to the uninformed, and it doesn't really deserve to.

Or, we could all just agree to stop covering them entirely (which is the popular, unheeded advice for Westboro) since who gives a fuck what a few angry bigots who can't count have to say anyway?

(Though I appreciate Archie for going after the bigoted element head-on. If only kids ANYwhere still read Archie.)
posted by disillusioned at 12:48 AM on August 11, 2013

Actually, Archie's still a thing. My neighbor's kids flew to Italy, and the little girl was excited because she had two of the double digests for the trip.
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 1:03 AM on August 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I think it's partly because Kids Like Comics, but they're also about the only comics that are readily available, since Archie is about the only title (or titles, as there's a mess of different flavors) sold at supermarkets anymore.

(I also occasionally buy an Archie Digest. It's kind of nostalgic and comforting. And I like that it basically hasn't changed in the past 20 years from when I was a kid. And, well, probably for the 40 years before that, too.)
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 1:05 AM on August 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I can also vouch that there's something comforting about Archie comics, especially to the prepubescent. It's the least sexually-charged version of sexuality imaginable. Betty and Veronica might wear bikinis sometimes, but that's as far as it goes. It is kind of odd that a homosexual couple has kissed in its pages, because I'm not sure that anyone else there ever has.
posted by JHarris at 2:04 AM on August 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

All those moms, you'd think they would have at least one gay child.
posted by Mario Speedwagon at 3:53 AM on August 11, 2013 [4 favorites]

Hey, Marvel and DC, Archie has handled gay marriage, Occupy, and similar topics recently. Who's making the "mature" comics?
posted by Legomancer at 6:03 AM on August 11, 2013 [2 favorites]

I wonder if they still run Li'l Archie stories. Those were kick ass.

There's two volumes collecting some of Bob Bolling's Little Archie stories, which indeed are great all-ages tales. My only quibble is that the first volume I own is far more focused on the adventure stories, as opposed to the heartripperoutters that I really like. The second volume seems to be the same, and not all the stories are by Bolling. However, two great stories that I love, 'The Long Walk' and 'Caramel Has a Tale' are included in these bigass Best of Archie Digests.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 7:23 AM on August 11, 2013 [5 favorites]

> "Hey, Marvel..."

Marvel has had a gay superhero (Northstar, one of the X-Men) since 1979, he's been out since 1992, and he married his partner last year.
posted by Jacqueline at 7:40 AM on August 11, 2013

I used to have the Christian Archie's, having grown up in a fundie church. I remember one really horrible nasty thing they were trying to push was the whole "save your virginity" thing and their example was "a used up orange peel, only good for the trash". In the sense of that's what you're left with if you don't wait before marriage, and who wants *that*?

I recall seeing something in the past couple years, a shot of an Archie comic where they're like in the old west on wagons and one of the lines is a dig at integrated busing. Like where the fuck does it say THAT in the Bible?

There's a lot of subtext that I think kids don't even really get when reading the Christian Archies (I suppose the same could be said for Secular Archie, too? Been a while since I read those). But seriously, it's sort of funny how their subtext is one that *I* think is filth and the kind I like is the ones that they think is filth.

Thanks, I'll be over here in my racially and sexually integrated universe while you wall yourself in that hatefilled whitey mcwhitepants universe all by your lonesome.
posted by symbioid at 8:40 AM on August 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

> Once upon a time a Christian comic publisher, Spire, was actually putting out their own line of official, licensed Archie comics. They were highly WTF-worthy

My kids are big Archie fans, so whenever I see the comics in a thrift store I grab them. I accidentally brought home some of the Spire ones once. They weren't just religious, but were racist when it came to saving the ignorant Africans.

I wish I could show you some of the panels, but I tossed them in the recycling bin.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:49 AM on August 11, 2013

Haha, happy service member.
posted by buzzman at 8:52 AM on August 11, 2013

All those moms, you'd think they would have at least one gay child.

I would guess more than one. Nothing gets you charged up to fight the Gay Agenda like them seducing and brainwashing your very own son/daughter.
posted by history_denier at 9:07 AM on August 11, 2013

I was going to make a Jughead joke, but since he's mentioned in TFA, I figured that would be a little on the nose.

The weird, rectangular nose.

Heeeeyyyy.....
posted by Jughead at 11:32 AM on August 11, 2013 [8 favorites]

I'd like to see an alternate universe where everyone is gay except Kevin. Turn the Betty and Veronica rivalry into more of a Sam and Dianne thing. Archie and Reggie will be rivals for the attentions of Moose, they sabotage each other until Moose heads out on the town with Dilton. Jughead is exactly the same.
posted by RobotHero at 11:35 AM on August 11, 2013 [2 favorites]

Alvy, thank you for posting links to those two wonderful stories.
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 12:20 PM on August 11, 2013

It's not a comic, but I remember seeing Mission Hill (my favorite animated show) for the first time and not being perturbed by the sight of the gay couple (Gus and Wally) making out in an elevator the first time you see them, and I think that was about 13 years ago or so. I don't know if anyone else was upset over it, but the show was never that popular as far as I know.
posted by gucci mane at 12:29 PM on August 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I'm happy with any scenario that leaves Reggie without a date. That guy is a pretty big jerk.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:47 PM on August 11, 2013 [3 favorites]

Not having followed it all that close, I'd kind of assumed Jughead was Ace. And regardless of all of that he seems to have some sort of serious trauma he is sublimating with the food addiction. 30 years on in Riverdale I suspect he'll be 350 pounds and diabetic... Poor kid, hopefully his friends are true friends, he'll need them.
posted by edgeways at 1:50 PM on August 11, 2013

I resent having to approve of something about Archie. It's an awful comic.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 1:58 PM on August 11, 2013

The Spire Archies were something I read, back when I was a born-again. They are creepy beyond imagining.

There's a couple up as scans out there: here's Archie's One Way in its unlovely totality.
posted by jrochest at 4:46 PM on August 11, 2013 [1 favorite]