It has been quite a while and I had lost touch with Archie and his Riverdale gang since I finished my schooling. And then there was this fatal news last day saying that Archie is going to be shot dead. What!? In Riverdale!? In that beautiful town where you believed the height of violence that could ever occur was Moose pulping Reggie for ogling Midge? Guns!? We never saw a more dangerous weapon with anybody in Riverdale than those baseball bats with which Archie and Reggie used to fight each other. Gays!? And who is this Kevin Keller guy Archie so 'heroically' dies for? Never heard of him before. World of Archie suddenly felt very strange and alien to me. It was not like how I had known it for a while, and believed would remain like, forever. I thought Archie and his gang would never graduate and leave Riverdale High; not even the nerdy Dilton Doiley. I thought Mr. Weatherbee and Miss Grundy could never get anymore older. I believed Pop Tate and his Chocklit Shoppe will be there in Riverdale forever.
Not anymore. We have been told by the publisher that Archie is as ordinary as any teenager would be, and that he is not a superhero to be immortal. And they say that he is dying a hero's death, trying to save his friend. They also say that it is a lesson against gun violence and would herald a new age for Archie comics.
Okay, but why Archie? Violence has never been the trademark of Archie comics. In that department, we have an overwhelming number of characters from both Marvel as well as DC universes. Kill Spiderman or Superman or any other larger-than life figure and I don't think I would be as sorry as I feel towards Archie's death. Maybe, this is exactly what the publishers want. More turning heads, more hype, more circulation and thus more money. It was mainly because of the fact that I could relate to Archie and his Riverdale, than Thor and his Asgard or Batman and his Gotham, that I loved him. That he was as ordinary as any other teenager would be, I always knew it long before the publisher announced it, because that exactly was why I grew much fond of him.
They say that other incarnations of Archie would continue in the series. Although it may be a big relief for fans, I am not sure to like this 'new age of Archie Comics’, as they put it, knowing that it is not the same old Riverdale where Archie and his gang used to fool around, but a dark and dangerous place where a stalker could point a gun at you and claim your life. Some things were better kept unchanged.
