Kevin Keller

Over the weekend, Archie's chief creative officer and writer of the Riverdale pilot, Roberto Aguirre Sacasa tweeted that newcomer Casey Cott will be playing Kevin Keller, Archie's first out gay character. Furthermore, white not officially confirmed, Irie Hayleau and Ashanti Bromfield are rumored to have been cast as The Pussycats as Valerie and Melody respectively. Original story follows below:

Valentine's Day is just around the corner, so naturally, our thoughts have turned to comics' most infamous hotbed of love triangles: Riverdale, USA! For over 75 years, that idyllic town has been built around the eternal question of who makes the best couple, but we here at ComicsAlliance are not content to merely debate. We're here to settle this once and for all. So today, join us as we turn things over to you, the readers, to help us decide the biggest, most romantic question of all: Who will reign supreme as Riverdale's One True Power Couple?

Of all the changes that Archie Comics has made to Riverdale over the past few years --- you know, overrunning the town with zombies, doing a parallel universe marriage story and even rebooting the core continuity for the first time ever - I'm not sure that any of them have had the impact of Kevin Keller. Originally created by Dan Parent and introduced in Veronica #202 back in 2010, Kevin made headlines by being Riverdale High's first openly gay student, and even got his own ongoing series in the process. Now, as part of Archie's series of digital collections celebrating its 75th Anniversary, the publisher is putting Kevin back in the spotlight with 75 pages of his adventures, including the time that he hung out with Star Trek's own George Takei. Check out a preview!

I don't know about you, but I did not wake up this morning expecting to see the phrase, "Jughead relaunch from the writer of Sex Criminals." And yet, here we are. Following up on the upcoming relaunch of Archie with Mark Waid and Fiona Staples, Archie Comics announced today that they plan to expand the rebooted Riverdale through a Kickstarter campaign. The goal is set at $350,000, with the money going to a trio of rebooted comics: Jughead from writer Chip Zdarsky and an unannounced artist, Life With Kevin by Dan Parent and J. Bone, and, maybe the most surprising one of all, a new Betty & Veronica #1 written and drawn by Adam Hughes.

Archie and the gang have been facing quite a bit of adversity lately. They've taken on the forces of the undead in Afterlife With Archie, covens in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and, perhaps most fearsomely of all, the creeping ennui of adulthood in Life With Archie. In the center of this maelstrom is Dan Parent, longtime Archie writer and artist. It’s tempting to say that he is the placid, controversy-free sun around which the Archie system orbits, but that isn't exactly accurate — Kevin Keller, Archie’s first gay character, is his creation. In fact, Parent merges the opposing forces of change and status quo at work within the publisher into a harmonious whole. ComicsAlliance sat down with Parent at New York Comic Con to discuss the legacy he inherited, the present he’s shaped, and the future to come.

Archie Comics is on the move. Afterlife with Archie, the horror take on the Riverdale gang, garners acclaim wherever it goes -- after an initial “wait, the comics they sell at Stop N’ Shop?” double take, of course. Its sister book, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, promises to take the teen witch to the heights of 1960s-style psychological horror. Lena Dunham, fresh off her book tour, will pen a series for Archie in 2015. The publisher's new imprint, Dark Circle, will revive classic superheroes. Even dear old Riverdale is getting a shakeup, from Archie’s recent death in the Life With Archie series to a recently announced TV show. Though the gang’s teen shenanigans endure in every checkout line, their universe stretches far beyond the confines of Pep and Pals n’ Gals. As the publisher’s future grows ever more crowded with plans and announcements, ComicsAlliance sat down with CEO Jon Goldwater and chief creative officer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa to discuss how they plan to honor their past while building a bold new future.

It's been very interesting to watch Archie Comics transform from a company built on eternally unchanging teenage shenanigans in a peaceful, small town to the culturally progressive company that grabs headlines at every turn with how it's rebuilding Riverdale for the modern comics reader. But besides the stories that strike chords within contemporary political conversations, it's been fun seeing just how Archie tackles these "Big Event" elements that we've seen in other American comics. I mean, in the world of superheroes, a character's death (or "death") has been a rite of passage since the '70s, but for Archie, it's entirely new territory. In waiting so long to use these elements, the events not only feel fresh, they're also built in a much more interesting way than their cape-and-tights counterparts. Or at least, that's the case with Archie's death at the hands of a gunman in the pages of this week's Life With Archie #36, which isn't just an evocative and moving story, it's also one of the most fascinatingly structured comics I've ever read.

Due to a "breach [of] content guidelines for imported publications," the trade paperback collection Archie: The Married Life volume 3, which depicts the same-sex marriage of Riverdale's Kevin Keller, has apparently been banned in Singapore by the country's Media Development Authority -- or censors, basically. Sonny Liew, the artist of the new graphic novel The Shadow Hero, editor of the acclaimed Liquid City anthology series, and a resident of Singapore, noticed the book wasn't available through distributor Kinokuniya's catalog and did some following up to find out why. They told him it has been "removed from sale" by order of the MDA.

GLAAD, a high profile media advocacy group for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, has announced the nominees for its 25th annual GLAAD Media Awards, including five nominees for Outstanding Comic Book. The GLAAD Media Awards recognize high quality productions that represents LGBT people in fair, inclusive, original, and impactful ways.

It's hard to believe that Kevin Keller, the first openly gay character in Archie Comics, debuted nearly three years ago. It simultaneously seems like the character first appeared yesterday, but it also kind of feels like he's always been around. Archie acknowledged the impact Kevin has made over the past 34 months by declaring July 9 "Kevin Keller Day" and releasing a video about his cre