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Kevin Keller, Archie: The Married Life
I thought I'd talk about some of the things I've been reading lately, which includes a trip down memory lane with the Archie comics. I grew up reading them as a kid, then moved on to other things as I got older. But the Archie comics have changed with the times--they generated a lot of publicity when a gay character was added to the cast. And when I saw that my local public library had the Kevin Keller books, I decided to check them out.
Kevin Keller and Kevin Keller: Drive Me Crazy are graphic novel collections featuring the gay character mentioned above. It's been years since I've read Archie, and it was a lot of fun to revisit Riverdale again! The stories are basically lighthearted: the story acknowledges that Kevin sometimes has to deal with bigotry, but it never gets too heavy, and Archie and the gang are supportive friends. Drive Me Crazy is especially fun, as it features an appearance and foreword by George Takei, who is Kevin’s inspirational hero for the obvious reason, and also because Kevin is a comic and sci-fi fan.
The Kevin series includes a novel titled Kevin (by Paul Kupperberg) that's a prequel to the comics, and flashes back to Kevin's middle school days before he moved to Riverdale. The novel is a bit more serious and angsty, as Kevin deals with bullies (who pick on him because he's overweight and a geek, since he hasn't come out yet), and comes to terms with being gay. But again, it doesn't get too heavy, and we know in advance that Kevin will eventually work things out. To be honest, I didn't have high expectations of this novelization, but found that I really enjoyed getting a more in-depth look at Kevin, and I liked the friendship that Kevin shared with his fellow geek outcasts.
There is one more graphic novel, Kevin Keller: Welcome to Riverdale, which I think takes place between Kevin Keller and Kevin Keller: Drive Me Crazy, but the library didn't have it. I liked the Kevin books enough that I'm thinking about buying it and maybe donating it to the library when I'm done.
The library also had the first two volumes of Archie: The Married Life, a what-if series that creates two AU worlds, one in which Archie marries Veronica and one in which he marries Betty. Both have their ups and downs: the pressures of working for his father-in-law and the tension that causes in his marriage to Veronica in the first; and in the second, he and Betty become teachers at Riverdale High, a mostly positive experience, except that some of the kids get up to mischief, and someone appears to be sabotaging repairs to the school. In both, Mr. Lodge (Veronica's father) seems to be involved in some kind of sinister conspiracy to take control of the town that has yet to be fully explained.
Although I've always preferred Betty to Veronica, I find the Archie-marries-Veronica 'verse to be the more interesting one, partly because of the unexpected Betty/Reggie romance. Reggie has never really shown any interest in Betty in the comics I read as a kid, although there was one cover in which the two girls were striking sexy poses, and Archie was drooling over Veronica and (surprisingly) Reggie seemed to be drooling over Betty. It was probably only for the effect of visual symmetry, but even though I was just a kid, I remember being intrigued by the possibility of Reggie dating Betty.
Of course, Reggie was kind of a jerk back then, but he was merely vain and self-centered rather than evil. In the Kevin Keller books, he's still typical Reggie, but not enough of a jerk to be bigoted towards Kevin, so he's not all bad. It's been awhile since I read the first graphic novel, but I think he said something like, "Hey, even I'm not that much of a jerk."
In the Married Life, Reggie has matured a great deal, having been humbled when his post high school career efforts didn't go so well. In the Archie-marries-Veronica world, Archie gets him a job with Mr. Lodge's company, but Lodge has Reggie framed for giving bribes to the ex-mayor (who has been replaced by Moose, of all people). Betty offers Reggie her friendship and support, and that friendship blossoms into romance--and thus, a new OTP was born for me! I was never that into Betty/Archie anyway--I thought she deserved better than a guy couldn't make up his mind and was always ditching her for Veronica.
The whole thing with Mr. Lodge is weird, though--in the old comics, he was a bit snobbish, but otherwise a decent guy, so I don't get the evil!Lodge storyline. The second volume seemed to drop hints that he has some bigger plan in mind, that somehow he might doing all these awful things in order to save Riverdale? Dilton Doiley is involved somehow, and with the way he mysteriously appears and vanishes without a trace, I think he might be time-traveling? Or I could be completely off-base, but I'm really getting that vibe.
There are two more Married Life volumes out so far--Kevin gets married in Vol. 3--but again, the library doesn't have those yet, so I've been debating whether to buy them or hope the library picks them up eventually. The stories are a little overly melodramatic for my taste, but as I said, I really dig the Betty/Reggie romance, so I do want to continue reading the series.
Kevin Keller and Kevin Keller: Drive Me Crazy are graphic novel collections featuring the gay character mentioned above. It's been years since I've read Archie, and it was a lot of fun to revisit Riverdale again! The stories are basically lighthearted: the story acknowledges that Kevin sometimes has to deal with bigotry, but it never gets too heavy, and Archie and the gang are supportive friends. Drive Me Crazy is especially fun, as it features an appearance and foreword by George Takei, who is Kevin’s inspirational hero for the obvious reason, and also because Kevin is a comic and sci-fi fan.
The Kevin series includes a novel titled Kevin (by Paul Kupperberg) that's a prequel to the comics, and flashes back to Kevin's middle school days before he moved to Riverdale. The novel is a bit more serious and angsty, as Kevin deals with bullies (who pick on him because he's overweight and a geek, since he hasn't come out yet), and comes to terms with being gay. But again, it doesn't get too heavy, and we know in advance that Kevin will eventually work things out. To be honest, I didn't have high expectations of this novelization, but found that I really enjoyed getting a more in-depth look at Kevin, and I liked the friendship that Kevin shared with his fellow geek outcasts.
There is one more graphic novel, Kevin Keller: Welcome to Riverdale, which I think takes place between Kevin Keller and Kevin Keller: Drive Me Crazy, but the library didn't have it. I liked the Kevin books enough that I'm thinking about buying it and maybe donating it to the library when I'm done.
***
The library also had the first two volumes of Archie: The Married Life, a what-if series that creates two AU worlds, one in which Archie marries Veronica and one in which he marries Betty. Both have their ups and downs: the pressures of working for his father-in-law and the tension that causes in his marriage to Veronica in the first; and in the second, he and Betty become teachers at Riverdale High, a mostly positive experience, except that some of the kids get up to mischief, and someone appears to be sabotaging repairs to the school. In both, Mr. Lodge (Veronica's father) seems to be involved in some kind of sinister conspiracy to take control of the town that has yet to be fully explained.
Although I've always preferred Betty to Veronica, I find the Archie-marries-Veronica 'verse to be the more interesting one, partly because of the unexpected Betty/Reggie romance. Reggie has never really shown any interest in Betty in the comics I read as a kid, although there was one cover in which the two girls were striking sexy poses, and Archie was drooling over Veronica and (surprisingly) Reggie seemed to be drooling over Betty. It was probably only for the effect of visual symmetry, but even though I was just a kid, I remember being intrigued by the possibility of Reggie dating Betty.
Of course, Reggie was kind of a jerk back then, but he was merely vain and self-centered rather than evil. In the Kevin Keller books, he's still typical Reggie, but not enough of a jerk to be bigoted towards Kevin, so he's not all bad. It's been awhile since I read the first graphic novel, but I think he said something like, "Hey, even I'm not that much of a jerk."
In the Married Life, Reggie has matured a great deal, having been humbled when his post high school career efforts didn't go so well. In the Archie-marries-Veronica world, Archie gets him a job with Mr. Lodge's company, but Lodge has Reggie framed for giving bribes to the ex-mayor (who has been replaced by Moose, of all people). Betty offers Reggie her friendship and support, and that friendship blossoms into romance--and thus, a new OTP was born for me! I was never that into Betty/Archie anyway--I thought she deserved better than a guy couldn't make up his mind and was always ditching her for Veronica.
The whole thing with Mr. Lodge is weird, though--in the old comics, he was a bit snobbish, but otherwise a decent guy, so I don't get the evil!Lodge storyline. The second volume seemed to drop hints that he has some bigger plan in mind, that somehow he might doing all these awful things in order to save Riverdale? Dilton Doiley is involved somehow, and with the way he mysteriously appears and vanishes without a trace, I think he might be time-traveling? Or I could be completely off-base, but I'm really getting that vibe.
There are two more Married Life volumes out so far--Kevin gets married in Vol. 3--but again, the library doesn't have those yet, so I've been debating whether to buy them or hope the library picks them up eventually. The stories are a little overly melodramatic for my taste, but as I said, I really dig the Betty/Reggie romance, so I do want to continue reading the series.