George Takei Joins Kevin Keller In Archie Comics

[Ganymede]

Kevin also runs, is an excellent public speaker, a lifeguard, a competitive surfer, and a master debater! Plus, he'll apparently become a war hero (DARN that Obama for pulling us out of war zones and ending DADT before Archie Comics made use of them!). By the time he meets Takei, he'll no doubt have resurrected the shuttle program and NASA singlehandedly!

[Tonebone]

Wow. Takei hasn't looked that young since the 60's. But old people don't sell comics.

Gay= in.
Old = out.

[toodoor]

Does Kevin Keller have any personality traits besides being gay and being perfect?

You feel he lacks the gritty realism of other Archie characters?

[Blackfist]

You feel he lacks the gritty realism of other Archie characters?

thanks, i needed that

[toodoor]

I feel like he's a PC archetype that can't be given any real character traits beside being "amazing" or it will be seen as offensive. I think he's a big PR stunt. Isn't it a little condescending to gays that gay character can't have any depth?

Possibly yes, I was just going for the funny to be honest. I've not read any Archie so i have no idea how much depth their characters have, I've never got much sense of any. Have you been reading them?

[Jason A. Quest]

Have you been reading them?

If he did that he might have to develop an informed opinion, and those don't always match what one wants them to be.

Out of curiosity, I've read 1.5 Kevin Keller stories. The half was the scene when he was introduced and outed, the full was the story in his recent solo #1. In both he was presented as superficially awesome but insecure. That really is about as two-dimensional as Archie, Veronica, Betty, or Jughead, all of whom are shown as basically nice people with one character flaw each (indecisive, snobbish, jealous, slacker). While it's clear that they've made an effort to avoid any negative "gay stereotype" traits with Kevin, and they're not going to cast him as the villain in stories (like they do with Reggie, the token asshole of the teen characters), the assumption that he's being presented as particularly flawless isn't true.

[toodoor]

Meyer, have you been reading his books? (genuine question, I just want to know if your opinion of Kevi is based on the books or a general impression from publicity materials)

[_OM_]

But old people don't sell comics.

...Egads! I just had this horrible thought: Mark Waid writing Spider-Wimp again, and having JJJSr fool around on Aunt May...with none other than George Takei! And if you thought the sight of two old heterosexuals caught in bed together, imagine the sight of two septuagenarian LBGTs getting it on while trying to keep the colostomy bags from getting entangled!!!

[Jason A. Quest]

Um, no. They aren't all nice kids. That's the deal. Each one is defined by flaws. Reggie is lazy and a glutton. Archie is indecisive and selfish. Veronica is a bitch and deceitful. Betty is co-dependent and a doormat. The adults are physically ugly in addition to have character flaws. Don't even get me started on Reggie.

If the Archie characters were as horrible as you imagine them to be, they would not the beloved icons - popular with both parents and young children - that they are. Their flaws are a thin gloss on otherwise wholesome squeaky-clean caricatures of middle-American mid-20th-century teens whose greatest conflict is deciding which girl to take to the dance. And the adults are harmless one-dimensional buffoons. That's how children's literature works.

But Kevin is perfect, beloved, a future war hero and his "flaw" is being a little insecure secretly. Nope. BS. He is a PC paragon meant for publicity. I'd think as a gay/bi man you'd think his lack of character (from the company thinking gays can't handle anything negative, even if all other characters are negative) is incredibly insulting.

So the fact that I don't think that should be your first clue that your perception and assumptions are way the hell off-base.

[toodoor]

Publicity combines with hearing from people who read it. The "worst" thing I could find is that in one story he ate a lot. Wow. Depth.

Paper thin knowledge attached to an immediate presumption of liberal propaganda. Wow. Depth.