Archie Takes a Bullet for a Gay Veteran

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Archie Andrews

In the latest issue of Life With Archie, Archie Andrews dies when he steps in front of a bullet intended for his best friend Kevin Keller, the gay veteran and gun control advocated who's launched a political career after his husband is the victim of a mall shooting.

Let's pause a moment to let everyone who hasn't seen an Archie comic since the 1970s to catch their breath.

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Old timers won't remember Kevin Keller because he wasn't introduced until a 2010 issue of Veronica. Veronica has a crush on Kevin, an awkward situation which leads him to announce that he's gay. The issue proved so popular that he later got his own spinoff comic, got married and developed a close (non-romantic) friendship with Archie. Kevin is a military veteran who met his future husband in a military hospital after he was wounded during his service in the Middle East.

All of the comic book companies now seem to have multiple series with conflicting story lines even though they feature some of the same characters. Archie's no different. Archie covers the teenage lives of the characters in much the same way you might remember, Afterlife With Archie portrays Riverdale after a zombie apocalypse and Life With Archie is set in the future and features adult versions of the characters with a heavy emphasis on social issues.

Gay marriage, affordable health care, gun control and breast cancer are just a few of the hot-button issues tackled by the kids from Riverdale in the series. The comic's next issue will feature a tribute to the late Mr. Andrews (and most likely a discussion of the gun used to kill him), but Archie will live on in the comic's other series.

Comics-Archie Death

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