Depictions of gay male/straight female friendship are so common on television as to be almost a cliché, with the pairing of the wacky woman and her GBF (Gay Best Friend) a staple of queer/straight representation. But the straight female and her gay best friend has not been portrayed very often in mainstream comic book series. The BFF pairing of Veronica Lodge and Kevin Keller first appears in Veronica #202 (2010) of the Archie Comics. Kevin is the new cute boy targeted by rich girl Veronica as her new “beau.” But Kevin is not interested in her romantically because he’s gay. This sets up a typical mistaken identity plot that introduces Kevin to the Riverdale gang and also establishes the gay male/straight female friendship that will be the basis of Kevin’s spin-off series, Kevin Keller. Although driven to a large extent by stereotypes – Kevin and Veronica spend a lot of time gossiping and shopping – it also deals with the more serious issues of coming out, homophobia, and gay romance in high school. While in the past the Archie Comics have been considered hopelessly old fashioned, Kevin Keller is surprisingly progressive. The relationship between Kevin and Veronica also offers a contrast to the usual focus on Veronica as a spoiled quasi-villainess always coming between Archie and Betty, humanizing her and giving her a purpose and a cause (gay rights), as well as offering an openly gay character entry into the Riverdale world. I’ll also chart the progression of the Kevin Keller character, his reception in the gay media, and the various directions Kevin was taken in Alternate Archie Universes, including the new CW series, Riverdale.
About the presenterGael Anne Sweeney
I teach in Syracuse University’s Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Composition in the areas of Queer Culture, Popular Culture, and Creative Nonfiction. I’ve given and published papers on everything from Elvis Presley, Hugh Grant, Cary Grant, and The Beatles, to The Lion King, A Christmas Story, Ed Wood, and Showtime’s Queer as Folk, everywhere from Harvard to the University of Newcastle. I’ve recently taught “The Culture of Fandom,” “Questioning Gender,” and “Reading Popular Culture.”