In recent years, Archie Comics has made headlines with storylines about same-sex marriage and openly gay characters but today we learn that the long-running comic book series is making headlines with the news that Archie Andrews, the main character of Archie Comics, is being killed off in the final issue of the ironically titled Life With Archie. In honor of Archie‘s upcoming death, a whole series of different covers will be released for the Death of Archie issue, some of which you can see in the gallery presented here. After you check out the covers, click below to find out why Archie is being killed off and learn how he will die.
Archie Andrews, everyone’s favorite, freckled denizen of Riverdale, will die a hero’s death in an upcoming issue of Life With Archie, as he sacrifices his life to save a friend’s, the CBC reports. The story will help conclude the Life With Archie series, which publisher Archie Comics relaunched in 2010 to follow the lives of Archie, his love interests Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge, best friend Jughead Jones and frenemy Reggie Mantle after they’ve graduated from high school and college. “We’ve been building up to this moment since we launched Life With Archie five years ago and knew that any book that was telling the story of Archie’s life as an adult had to also show his final moment,” publisher Jon Goldwater said in a statement. Archie will die in issue Number 36, which is set for release this July. The subsequent installment will jump ahead a year and examine how Betty, Veronica, Jughead and Reggie have dealt with the death of their friend. Archie has been a comic-book fixture since his introduction in Pep Comics in 1941. “This story is going to inspire a wide range of reactions because we all feel so close to Archie,” Goldwater added. “Fans will laugh, cry, jump off the edge of their seats and hopefully understand why this comic will go down as one of the most important moments in Archie’s entire history. It’s the biggest story we’ve ever done, and we’re supremely proud of it.” Though tragic, tackling Archie’s death is fitting for the comic series, which in recent years has dealt with more contemporary and mature issues, like introducing its first gay character in 2010.
While killing off Archie may sound crazy, it’s really not unheard of for major comic book characters to be killed off. I’m reminded of the time that DC Comics killed off Superman back in the 90s and when Batman had his back broken. Both of those characters were replaced with a new Superman and a new Batman for a short time before they both came back to life/full strength. Archie Andrews may be killed off in Life With Archie No. 36 but he will never die, not really. He’ll be back.