Archie Comics To Continue the Shift from Comic Book to Graphic Short Story - Not Sure if This is a Good Thing or a Bad Thing

Conservative Million Moms in Opposition – So It is Probably a Good Thing

For many people who grew up decades ago the comic books with Archie, Jughead, Reggie, Veronica and Betty along with the other members of the cast were a source of amusement and escape. Life for these eternal teenagers was pretty much non-stop fun and whenever there was an issue or conflict it was usually along the lines of “who shall I go to the Prom with?” type of question.

The current publisher, descended from the originator of the comics views the publication as much more than a “funny”. 

Archie Comics recently debuted its first main gay character, Kevin Keller — and not only gave him a series but also a husband, Clay Walker— and has an upcoming "Occupy Riverdale" story line, addressing the concerns of the current Occupy movement.

Things will get real emotional in Life With Archie issue 22, out Aug. 15. In one story, Cheryl Blossom breaks the news of her breast cancer to her friends, while in another, something sudden and quite violent occurs for a fan-favorite character.

Well that doesn’t sound like a lot of laughs.  To a great extent this evolution of Archie comics reflects an evolution of American society.  Teenagers are much more “adult” these days and much more likely to be exposed to adult themes, adult problems and adult issues.  This is not necessarily good, but it is reality. 

So it looks like Archie comics is evolving from a pure comic into an illustrated or graphic short story, not that much different from Japanese anime type books and other illustrated literature.  But at least there is some joyful news from the fallout of the introduction of a gay character who, of all things, got married in the Archie comic book series.

Goldwater wants to ensure fans that this new situation is part of a longer detailed narrative involving Archie, Kevin and their friends, as are all the different issues that have been discussed in the comic pages as of late.

It has garnered them new fans, who are showing support with their dollars and voices. When the conservative organization One Million Moms decried the sale of the gay-wedding issue of Life With Archie at Toys R' Us, the comic sold out — a clear message of support, Goldwater says.

And no the Goldwater here is not of the Barry Goldwater fame, but he is a Goldwater that one thinks that Barry Goldwater the late Senator would approve of.  That Goldwater came late in life to favor equal rights for gays and lesbians, and famously said of gays in the military, “It’s not whether you act straight but whether your shoot strait”.  Just one reason why no one in the Republican party or the Conservative establishment todayrefers to Mr. Goldwater, a founder of the modern Conservative movement.