Archie Dies

One of my childhood pleasures which probably surprised some of my readers, was announcing my love for Archie comics. 

My dormant interest in the Archie comics and the Riverdale gang was reawakened after the six series arc of comics (that I own) in the Life With Archie series launched in 2010 was published which depicted him being married to Veronica and another marriage scenario to Betty.

It was interesting to note in those six issues how his life evolved along different trajectories in both instances based on whether Betty or Veronica was his spouse.

I was also intrigued by issues #608 and 609 in which he and Valerie Smith of Josie and the Pussycats briefly dated and issue #636, the gender swap one in 2012 in which the eternal love triangle between Archie, Betty and Veronica gets gender flipped and it's a female Archina being pursued by Billy and Ronnie.

But hitting the stands today is Life With Archie issue #36 in which our hero is shot while trying to stop an assassination attempt on openly gay  US Senator Kevin Keller.  

Keller is one of the newer characters in the Archie universe. He's a married military vet (issue #16) who is pushing for more gun control after his partner Clay Walker is shot in a robbery attempt
     

Archie unfortunately doesn't survive the shooting and dies.  In Issue #37 the story continues and skips ahead a year as all his friends honor his legacy as the series of comics that feature adult versions of Archie and his pals concludes.

As to who shot Archie?   That will be revealed as well. 

The Life With Archie series touched on the post Riverdale High School lives of our fave characters.  It also tackled more socially relevant storylines and topics that seems at times ripped from the headlines such as Keller's same gender marriage to Clay, the death of beloved teacher Ms. Grundy and sometimes Archie love interest Cheryl Blossom tackling breast cancer and affordable health care.

Now the Archie writers are taking one the issue of gun control and the senseless violence that plagues our society.

Countdown to Fox Noise and the conservafools slamming the issues in 5...4...3...2...1... 

If they haven't sold them out at my fave comics stands, I'll definitely be getting those two issues.