The first issue of Kevin Keller has been as success, I think, and Dan Parent is following up the talk about Kevin’s dating life with the storyline for Kevin Keller #2.

Here is the official rundown (as well as the standard and variant covers) for the issue:

KEVIN KELLER #2
Kevin Keller in “May I Have This Dance?” – As newly appointed class president, Kevin is in charge of selecting the theme for Riverdale High’s prom. That’s easy compared to the decision of who Kevin will take to the dance! And if things weren’t complicated enough, Kevin has a secret admirer hoping to be Kevin’s date…
Script: Dan Parent
Art & Cover: Dan Parent
Variant Cover: Dan Parent
Shipping Date: 3/28
On Sale at Comic Specialty Shops: 4/11

Supposedly, no one in the immediate Archie crew is gay (I beg to differ. I’m looking at you, Jughead and Reggie). So who could the mystery man be? I feel like it should be someone we know. Now, something that would be really cool is if they made someone a bisexual. Let’s see that happen.

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Is there no end to the 21st century-ness of Archie Comics Publications? Don’t get me wrong–I love the fact that they are indulging in everything that happens in today’s world, and it’s nice to see them with the rest of society. Perhaps I’m having a bit of shock since I’m totally used to Archie Comics not doing things that I would like for them to do. I’ve always wondered what it would be like for Archie Comics to have an interracial kid, and now, we all will no the answer.

Moniqueblog reader Paul Jeromack pointed this Comics Alliance story out to me. I’d been following the Valerie/Archie thing off and on, and I had written a post about the upcoming issue where we see Valerie and Archie as an item again. But, Archie Comics is showing that they’re going to go about the Valerie/Archie relationship in a big way, and they’re going to do it in the same vein as they did the Archie Marries series. If they make it bleed over into Life with Archie remains to be seen.

Anyway, it would seem that there are going to be three books in the miniseries just like the last time. Here are the covers, which are pretty self-explanatory, along with the official synopses:

ARCHIE #631
“Another Love Song” – The Pussycats are in town and Valerie has big news for her on-and-off-again boyfriend Archie: Her family is moving to Riverdale! Not everyone is thrilled with the news, however, as Betty and Veronica don’t need the competition! The girls may have found the perfect boy to get their mind’s off Archie, though – Valerie’s brother!
Script: Dan Parent
Art & Cover: Dan Parent
Shipping Date: 3/14
On Sale at Comic Specialty Shops: 3/28
32-page, full color comic
$2.99 US.

ARCHIE #632
Archie Marries Valerie Part 2 – “With This Ring…” – The greatest love story in Archie history continues as Valerie (from Josie and the Pussycats) moves to Riverdale and shakes things up in a big way! In the style of the best-selling Life with Archie, Valerie takes a stroll down the famed Memory Lane, envisioning what her life would be like marrying Archie! Is a life of wedded bliss in the cards for the pair or will unexpected complications, not to mention past flames, keep them apart? Find out in the second part of the Archie Marries Valerie saga!
Script: Dan Parent
Art & Cover: Dan Parent
Shipping Date: 4/11
On Sale at Comic Specialty Shops: 4/25
32-page, full color comic
$2.99 US.

No synopsis yet

The issues will be out in March, April and I’m presuming the last issue featuring the child will be in May. Paul told me about a comment at Comics Alliance that stated that because Archie gets accused of being conservative, they are using this guise in order to put out some very progressive stuff, while DC and Marvel, who are always labeled as being progressive, show a lot of conservative thinking in actuality. Paul also stated that the fact that Dan Parent is writing and illustrating this story arc for what could be thought of as a children’s story is probably even more progressive than people let on, because this means that the idea of sex is actually being addressed in a children’s comic book. Couple that with the recent addition of Kevin in Riverdale, and I dare say that Archie Comics is getting to be an even bigger player than DC and Marvel combined!

Perhaps DC is trying to show their relevance by putting out their Watchmen prequels. More on that later, but I think this could bite them in the butt.

In any case, I know now that I’m going to have to order the back issues of the Valerie and Archie saga in order to fully critique this new set of comics. I’ll be honest and say that Archie Andrews has never been my favorite (he always seemed like a misogynist to me), but perhaps he’ll be more likeable in this story. Perhaps Valerie has made him likeable.

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Credit: Archie Comics

You might remember me talking about the Life with Archie issue that will feature Kevin Keller’s fiance. Well, majorspoilers.com has a sneak peek of the issue.

I’m really excited to get this issue! I can’t wait for this to come out. Life with Archie #16 comes out this week.

Script: Paul Kupperberg
Art: Fernando Ruiz, Pat Kennedy, Tim Kennedy, Al Milgrom, Bob Smith
Cover: Norm Breyfogle
64-page, full color comic
$3.99 U.S.

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Credit: Archie Comics

I bet a lot of you (me included) thought that the Archie/Valerie relationship was only for that miniseries and that it wouldn’t have any bearing on the original Betty-Archie-Veronica triangle. Well, apparently, it will!

According to USA Today, Archie and Valerie’s relationship is going to take the next step, Life with Archie-style. According to Dan Parent, the two are going to have a full life together, including marriage,”and all the things that go along with weddings: family, friends, the pitter-patter of little…You get my drift,” he said to the newspaper.

Parent also said that the relationship Valerie and Archie have is more substantial than the relationships he’s had with Betty, Veronica and Cheryl Blossom. It’s almost sounding like Parent is saying that Archie’s met “the One” (my words, not his).

Archie #631, which features the relationship, will be in comic book stores in March. You can read more about the issue at the link above. I’ll make sure to subscribe to the issue so I’ll be able to blog about it. I’m rather excited to see how this turns out.

On a related note, I do have to say that Dan Parent is on a roll at Archie Comics. He, along with Fernando Ruiz and Tania del Rio, are shaping up to be the rock stars of the company!

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Credit: Archie Comics

We’ve finally made it to the end of the Kevin Keller miniseries! We’re now so close to the permanent series, starting in February! I’ve already got my subscription set up so I can keep blogging about The Kev.

This issue is good; compared to the other ones, it’s about on par with the others in terms of storytelling. Actually, storytelling isn’t really what grabbed me in this issue, if that makes sense. Here are some major things that I think, possibly, makes this issue stand above the rest:

• The cover: There is a camp, I’m sure, that doesn’t think that the cover for this issue was particularly necessary. In fact, the argument could be made that it’s just a bit too politically-charged, too preachy, too pandering, too exploitative. Well, usually, I might agree, but I’m going to take the other end of the spectrum and say that a cover like this is necessary. I talked about the idea of exploitation a bit in one of my black Spider-Man articles, but I need to bring up something else that I didn’t talk about then, which is this: In today’s culture, there’s way too much talk of LGBTQ teens killing themselves over something somebody said about them. No one needs to kill themselves over bullying, but bullying causes teens to have low self-esteem to the point where they think no one wants them on the planet and that they can’t even achieve anything in their lives. That is far from the truth–of course these kids can do anything they want to; it’s just they don’t believe it because it’s been verbally beaten out of them by idiots. I say, we need to do everything we can to keep these kids around, to let them know that they are loved and wanted and that they can do anything they want to do in life. They can make a difference in others’ lives. And as much as their self-esteem has been beaten out of them, this cover is doing its darnedest to put that self-esteem back in. This cover is practically yelling at LGBTQ kids, “YES! You can be the President! You can serve your country proudly and do anything else you want to do! Believe in yourself because others believe in you! Kevin believes in you!” So there. That’s my viewpoint on it. This cover is absolutely necessary.
• Addressing gay slurs and homophobic talk: This issue does bring a little bit of harsh into the proceedings. Kevin gets talked about A LOT in this issue. It gets pretty rough, rougher than I ever expected from squeaky-clean Archie Comics. However, instead of seeing a Kevin who is down and out about people saying hurtful things about him, he puts on a brave front, facing those attacks head on, and he succeeds. This, just like the cover, is teaching children and teens (and anyone else reading this, for that matter) that you can face adversity and not give into it. You can overcome anything because you will always have a loving force surrounding you and helping you, whether it’s your family, friends, or even just yourself.
• The revamped pin-up pages: Perhaps someone was listening to me and my rantings about the dubious pin-up pages, because now there’s more than just Veronica and Kevin drawn in different fashions; now it’s everyone, even including peripheral characters Chuck and Cheryl Blossom! It might seem hypocritical of me to say that the pin-up pages were a bit touchy and this issue’s cover isn’t, but I thought there was more of an issue with the pin-up pages because it seemed like it was unintentionally indulging in the stereotype of a gay man automatically loving fashion, when that’s not always the case, just like how some girls aren’t into fashion but are into mechanics or how some straight men are  into fashion and hate sports. By having the whole gang in this pin-up section, it lessens the potential backlash this section could have. Will it still be deployed in the Kevin Keller series? I don’t know (personally, I would prefer it not to be), but if it is, I would hope that they keep everyone in it or finesse it in some way.

I only have one small issue with this story:

• Jerry: We learn about Kevin’s reformed bully in the Issue #3, and we are supposed to figure out what his problem is in this issue. However, we only get a whiff of what it could be. All we know now is that he’s having a rough time at home and had to get away; he asked to stay at Kevin’s house for a while until his aunt and uncle come get him. I thought he was going to say that he was struggling with his sexuality in middle school–the reason why he was picking on the already-out Kevin–and that when he finally came to grips with himself and told his parents, one or both of them flipped out. Perhaps we’ll see that happen in the series, because we need to know what happened to Jerry! I want to know!

Overall, a very solid issue. I’m looking forward to the Kevin Keller series.

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The cover for January’s Life with Archie is finally out, and it shows a scene from Kevin Keller’s wedding! It’s a little exciting, to say the least. Here it is:

Credit: Archie Comics

I think I’ve said before that I don’t actually read Life with Archie. I tried keeping up with it, but I just kept missing issues, and I couldn’t handle it anymore after (SPOILER–highlight to read) Ms. Grundy died.However, I’ll have to look for this issue and write a bit about it after it comes out. Hopefully, I can do that. As for right now, I can say that I’m glad to see Kevin included into all of the Archie universes and treated not only as a character for change, but a character in general.

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Seeing Archie and the gang rendered in guest comic artists’ styles is always fun, and the variants for the four-part Archie Meets Kiss mini-series is no exception. These wonderful variants have been completed by Francesco Francavilla.

You can check out his artwork at his official site and blog.

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As you can see, I haven’t written anything since Monday. I’m sorry about that–things have been busy. But I’ll soon have a book review up, as well as some “Native Americans in entertainment” news to report on. But for now, here’s something I’ve been trying put up since last week–Kevin’s first cover of his first issue of his permanent series.

Credit: Archie Comics

Looks neat, huh? As you can see, they are carrying on with the Kevin tradition of variant covers. I suspect the popularity will be such that it’s good to anticipate it with the extra cover. I don’t know how, but I’d love to campaign to be a “Kevin” writer. I think I could help out with the workload quite well.  The first issue of Kevin hits stores early 2012.

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Credit: Archie Comics

There are a lot of characters that aren’t getting the face time they probably need. Two such characters:  Toño Diaz and Kumi Tamura.

You can click here to learn more about the characters, but for a quick rundown, Toño and his family are Mexican immigrants and run a party planning business. Toño’s dream is to become a chef. Kumi and her family are Japanese immigrants and she loves reading shojo manga (girl’s comics).

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Credit: Archie Comics

AOL Comics Alliance isn’t kidding when they proclaimed Life with Archie ”[t]he most fascinating Archie Comic ever printed.” It’s going to get even more fascinating when he see the plot of Kevin getting married! And, you can see several preview pages at Comics Alliance. 

No, everyone, he’s not getting married to Jughead. While that would still be cool to see, the guy Kevin’s getting married to is just as awesome–if not more so–than Jughead; this new guy was Kevin’s physical therapist after Kevin suffered an injury in the war.

Speaking of the war, it’s very intriguing to see war actually depicted in an Archie comic. It’s almost jarring, but the battle flashbacks are done extremely well. There’s a certain level of tension you get from them that you wouldn’t expect from an Archie comic.

Anyway, the fiance–whose name we aren’t given in the preview pages–is awesome for another reason: he’s black. Or at the very  least, he’s an ethnic person. Now, I’m not saying he wouldn’t be awesome if he was white. What I am saying, though, is that, coupled with the new Spider-Man, this new character is helping shed some light on homosexuality in the ethnic community, something that’s still a touchy subject with many darker-skinned people, especially in the black community.

Of course, by saying that sentence, that alludes to the idea that it’s not a touchy subject in white families. Homosexuality is touchy in families of every race, but the black community especially has some issues we as a whole haven’t yet dealt with. The idea of being “manly” for a lot of black men makes it seem impossible to come out of the closet, so they either stay in or do something that’s called being on “the down-low” or “the DL.” This phenomenon occurs in order for some black men who are insecure about their sexuality to indulge in their sexuality while retaining their “straight” “manly” demeanor to their family and friends. It gets more complex than this simple explanation, but this, coupled with many families’ strong ties to religion, is what keeps many men stuck in the closet. I can’t begin to speak for other ethnicities, but the issues are very similar across the board.

With Kevin’s fiance being a person of color, this not only shows black/ethnic boys who are homosexual that they can be accepted by friends and family, but that they can be open about themselves and be proud of themselves. They can find love and, ultimately, they don’t have to hide in the dark. In short, Kevin’s fiance, along with Spider-Man, can be very empowering for the ethnic homosexual community.

Let’s not forget the multi-racial marriage angle this story has. This story has many levels of empowerment, and I’m glad Archie Comics is tackling this story period, but also that they’re writing Kevin’s story with grace, decorum and maturity.

What I’m going to write will sound like a backhanded compliment, but who knew that Archie Comics would be such a bastion of forward-thinking? They’ve really dusted off the cobwebs and got with the times very quickly, and I think they are a much better company for it. In fact, they are like how Marvel Comics was in the 1960s–a company that focused on inclusion, equality, and the social issues of the day. Keep up the good work, Archie Comics!

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