Archie Gay Marriage Comic Sells Out in Toys R Us

American Conservative pressure group, One Million Moms, found themselves out of step, as they tried to shut down sales on a comic featuring gay marriage.

Mega chain-store, Toys R Us, was bombarded with letters and e-mails threatening a boycott, if they allowed the special edition Archie comic to remain on their shelves. In a manner of speaking, the lobbyists got their wish, but not quite as they envisaged.

Life with Archie #16, which included the wedding of established Riverdale resident Kevin Keller and his partner, Clay, sold out within hours of being stocked. 

Archie is one of America's longest running serial comics. It has been charting the lives of the people of Riverdale for over 70 years.

Since its first appearance, on December 22, 1941, it has led to dozens of spin-off titles.

The eponymous Archie Andrews is a seventeen year old boy, living with perpetual crushes on two local girls. Betty and Veronica both send him into fits of awe.

In 2010, a third girl named Valerie was added to his Valentine list. As an African-American, this was the first time that inter-racial themes had been explored, in this light-hearted comic.

However, the real controversy of the year came when Kevin Keller moved into the neighborhood. Openly homosexual, he automatically earned the censure of Conservative readers. Their red-faced fury went into over-drive, when it was announced that Kevin would marry his boyfriend, Clay.

Archie fans have refused to get drawn into the fray. By and large, their reaction has always been positive.

Veronica #202, which introduced Kevin, went into reprint, as all back-copies were bought out. This made it the most popular issue in Archie history. That prompted a mini-series, which gave further insight into Kevin's background as an 'army brat'.

Jon Goldwater, co-executive of the company behind the comic, reported that only seven people had cancelled their subscription to protest the Kevin Keller storylines. Meanwhile writer Dan Parent had reviewed his post about it. He determined that 'about 98%' of fans were in favor.

It was Kevin's return to the main Archie series which caused the real furore. In a dream sequence, Archie married first Veronica, then Betty, exploring adult life with both before waking up. As Kevin and Clay were part of his future, he attended their wedding.

This was too much for One Million Moms, who mobilized their ranks to protest the dilution of 'family values'. They threatened that, unless Toys R Us removed the title from stock, they would boycott the entire store.

Except it all turned into a bit of a damp squib, when the Conservative lobbyists were overwhelmed by a swarm of actual fans wanting to read the latest adventures. 

It appears that America gave a firm thumbs up to gay marriage on this issue.