Which is why fans were excited when he learned that Kevin was getting himself a boyfriend and even more excited when we learned that a second love interest was also going to show up and offer some competition to Kevin's new boyfriend.
Last week, Archie Comics writer/artist Dan Parent had this to say about Kevin's new boyfriend and his boyfriend's rival:
His boyfriend is a new character. Devon is his name, and he's not quite what you'd expect. I wouldn't say he's a bad guy, but he's not who you'd expect Kevin to be dating. He's not as clean cut, and he's not as lucky to have grown up with Kevin's family. His coming out was a very different experience. There's a lot of baggage with this character, and Kevin kind of takes that all on. His parents are concerned because in any scenario, your parents want you to be with the best person you can find. We'll see how that plays out.That's the set-up, but how does it actually play out?
Then the other character who likes Kevin -- Paul, the secret admirer -- has issues too. So we're introducing new characters, and like every other character in real life and in the Archie books, they have flaws. That makes them more interesting. Even Kevin has flaws. I know it can seem like he's perfect, but we're trying to break that down a little too.
Let's talk about Devon first. In the actual story, he's sort of played up as a bad boy. Not really by anything he does, but by what others think of him. Such as Betty Cooper ("That's funny... I don't see them as a couple! Devon was always kind of obnoxious! Much too abrasive for Kevin!") and Kevin's Dad ("I thought that Devon was kind of a trouble-maker..."). The problem is, Devon wasn't actually a trouble-maker in this story. He reacted negatively to a situation where he was almost outed in front of his friends and he got pissed at Kevin for pushing him to come out before he's ready, but we the readers are just left to assume that Betty and Dad are right that Devon is a bad guy.
To me, Kevin came off as a much bigger jerk. He is out and he wants to date Devon, who isn't out. But Devon has reasons for not coming out as a gay teen. His parents aren't terribly supportive. His friends aren't terribly supportive. He doesn't have the right foundation for coming out at this point in his life and -- when this happens towards the end of the story -- we see the sad truth behind that lack of foundation. But at least Kevin gets to hear Devon ask the following question:
Before their relationship has a chance to gather any dust, Kevin gets approached by his old secret admirer, from KEVIN KELLER #2. That kid asked Kevin to the prom via note and then didn't show up. Kevin had the maturity to tell his secret admirer that he would be there when his closeted friend was ready to come out of the closet. I'm still pretty sure that his secret admirer was dressed as a giant creepy Tribble-stalker last issue. But we finally meet the secret admirer. His name is Paul. He's newly out and ready to take Kevin on his promised date!:
As Betty observes, "Yikes! Awkward moment!"
Next issue, we will get to see Devon and James vie for Kevin's affections. Maybe we'll even see Kevin's first kiss. But what I really hope we get to see is some of that obnoxious behavior that Devon is supposedly known for. And I want James to be revealed as a creepy stalker fan for our Mr. Keller. Those three things would really make my month!