I am a proud father of an 11 year old girl who reads comic books (also proud to be the father of a 2 year old boy but he is not old enough to read comics yet). One of the ways I try to be a good father is that I preview any comic books I pick up for my daughter. At times, I have not given her the issues to read if I found it inappropriate (some of the previous Supergirl run). There have been times I have used the story as a segue into a conversation about things or ideas in the comic books. I am responsible to know what my daughter is reading and to give her an understanding of our thoughts on the issues.
The most recent controversy stems around the Archie Comics character Kevin Keller. He has been an openly gay character for over a year. He gets married in Life With Archie #16 with a front cover prominently displaying just married and two men.
This comic has been carried by some Toy R Us store. Some of their stores have started carrying comic books. Since Archie is usually thought of as kids comic book, it make sense that they decided to carry Archie and the gang. Reportedly, this comic was being displayed prominently in some stores showing the marriage of Kevin to another male character. This lead to a campaign by the One Million Moms group to have the comics removed from Toys R Us. This led to more backlash against the One Million Moms by gay marriage advocates.
I have no desire to get in the gay marriage debate in this article. In fact, I gave up political writing in a huge part because of the gay marriage debate. Gay marriage has become as polarizing of an issue as abortion. Very few people can see the valid opinions of those that disagree with them on the subject. Most either believe gay marriage advocates are attempting to destroy life as we know it or believe gay marriage opponents are evil hate mongers who love to use all of their energies to discriminate against others.
Gay characters are not new to comic books. Northstar, member of Marvel Comics Alpha Flight has been openly gay for over 20 years. The same is true to DC’s Obsidian. This is the first time that gay marriage has been this prominent in comic books. The even bigger issue is that Archie is usually thought of as a safe kids comic and not as a comic that will be controversial but that might be changing for those that are not comfortable with their children learning about gay marriage.
A few things are clear to me but may not be clear to others. Archie Comics has the right to put out comics with prominent gay characters and even have weddings. Parents have the right to find these comics inappropriate for their kids and refuse to buy them. These parents and others have a right to request the retail stores either remove them or change how they are displayed. The stores have the right to either remove, change the display, or do nothing (all of these options are lose/lose/lose for the stores). Gay marriage proponents have the right to get upset by One Million Moms and other groups.
I have read articles on both sides of this debate over Life With Archie #16. Both groups are deepening their entrenchment towards the other side. Name calling occurs instead of listening to others with difference thoughts and beliefs. They don’t care that the other side is entitled to their opinions but only that they feel their side is being slighted.
It would be nice if people who want to buy this comic would just purchase it and those that don’t want to spend their money on it don’t buy it. But that would too civil.
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