Comic book hero Archie Andrews will die a hero in two days, saving his best friend from an assassination attempt. The shocker is this is a huge statement about gun control from the Archie Comics publisher.
Gone are the days when comic books were somewhat mindless and wholly removed from the realities of the day. Archie Andrews first came to life in 1941 at Riverdale High School. On Wednesday, he will die a hero, saving his best friend, Kevin Keller, from an assassin’s bullet.
In the final installment of “Life with Archie,” the grown up Archie will make a profound statement about gun control, likely one conservatives will despise.
Kevin Keller, Archie Comics first gay character, “is a married military veteran and newly elected senator who’s pushing for more gun control in Riverdale after his husband was involved in a shooting,” Mashable reports.
“The way in which Archie dies is everything that you would expect of Archie,” said Jon Goldwater, Archie Comics publisher and co-CEO. “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.”
“We wanted to do something that was impactful that would really resonate with the world and bring home just how important Archie is to everyone,” said Goldwater. “That’s how we came up with the storyline of saving Kevin. He could have saved Betty. He could have saved Veronica. We get that, but metaphorically, by saving Kevin, a new Riverdale is born.”