Kevin Keller Meets George Takei // Plus Thoughts About Kevin's Future!

Several months ago, I noted that Kevin Keller would be meeting his personal hero, George Takei, in KEVIN KELLER #6. Due to a series of mishaps that might have made for a ho hum Archie Comics storyline, it took me way too long to track down an actual copy of this comic book. Fortunately, I finally picked up a copy of issue #6 last week while doing some post-Christmas shopping!

Here's the story in a nutshell, Miss Grundy assigned her students to write essays about their personal heroes. The entire Archie Gang read their essays (my personal favorite was Jughead's hero: Colonel Sanders!), leading up to Kevin Keller's hero essay: George Takei! Writer Dan Parent did a good job of summarizing some of Takei's interesting life story in 1 1/2 pages: the time he and his family were uprooted and placed in Japanese Internment Camps during WWII, the rise of his acting career, his life-changing role as Lt. Sulu on Star Trek, and his late-in-life coming out process.

Everyone was so impressed with Keller's essay that half of them decided to take him to a nearby comic book convention to see George Takei while another group decided (for some unexplained reason) to post a copy of his essay online. Fortunately for Kevin, Takei's husband found a copy of the essay online and decided to visit Riverdale High School while he was nearby at the convention. This was fortunate, because Kevin got stuck in traffic and totally biffed his chance at meeting Takei at the convention!

The moral to the story, I guess, is that you should post essays about the people you like because you never know when they might show up at your school or -- if you're old enough -- at your work place!

Anyway, the George Takei storyline was interesting, but there were a couple other nuggets that grabbed my attention. First, check out these descriptions for KEVIN KELLER #7 and #8:

KEVIN KELLER #7: "Decisions, Decisions!"– Where's Kevin? Archie and the gang haven't seen him in a while and begin to wonder what their pal is up to. Must be school obligations and work, right? Nosy BFF Veronica is determined to get to the bottom of his absence and spots him with a new friend. However, Kevin seems distant about his new friendship and when his parents inquire, Kevin is reluctant to share. Is this just a friend? Has Kevin found a boyfriend? Has Veronica finally driven him up a wall? Find out in this issue!

And...

KEVIN KELLER #8: "PLAY by the Rules"– Kevin's got a new flame! Now that Kevin has an active love life, things are looking up. That is, until Kevin's secret admirer pops up to throw Kevin into the middle of an Archie-style love triangle! To make matters more complicated, Veronica roped Kevin into performing in the school play, and both Kevin's boyfriend and not-so-secret admirer are involved, sparking jealous tension on set. Will Kevin make it through Act I before the scenery comes crashing down around his blossoming relationship, or will he get stage fright? Let the drama begin!

First things first. I'm not for sure, but I'm wondering if Kevin's new boyfriend will be this Brian kid from KEVIN KELLER #1 and #6? They've dated a few times now and seem to like each other. They seem like a couple limp noodles together, but maybe that will change after they've had time with one another:

(Kevin and Brian)

Second things second, I think Kevin ran into his "Secret Admirer" in Issue #6. You may or may not remember KEVIN KELLER #2. In it, class president Kevin was planning a 1970's themed school dance. But he was also getting his ego repeatedly fluffed by a Secret Admirer who was telling him how nice and good looking he is and how he would love to take Kevin to the prom! Kevin fell hard for his anonymous friend and ended up getting his heart smashed when Secret Admirer stood him up. Kevin mulled it over and came up with a pretty mature response for his Secret Admirer:


Fast forward to Issue #6: Kevin is moping about missing George Takei at the comic book convention and finds himself comforted by some creep in a Tribble costume:


I'm pretty certain that the Mr. Tribble is also Kevin's Secret Admirer. In fact, I'm sincerely hoping for Mr. Tribble to turn out to be Kevin's Secret Admirer!

I am all for Kevin getting a boyfriend. Personally, I'd like for him to find himself someone with some edge to him -- a male version of Cheryl Blossom or Veronica Lodge would be awesome! But I would also love for Kevin to have a creepy stalker guy in his book. A gay "Ethel Muggs", if you will!

I'm a pretty big fan of Kevin Keller, but he needs a few people in his life who bring out the worst in him. Or people who are out to cause him trouble. So far, most of his pratfalls have come from out-and-out anti-gay Pembrooke Academy kids or Veronica's good-deeds-gone-bad. One of the things that I love about Kevin Keller is that all of Riverdale's nasty rich kids (Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle, Cheryl Blossom) all genuinely like him. It makes you wonder what they see in the kid... or what they hope to see!

My point is that Kevin needs to be more than the nice gay boy. His book also needs to develop a well-rounded cast of characters to bring out the best and the worst in Kevin Keller!

Updated to Add One Last Thing: While re-reading KEVIN KELLER #2, I noticed that Kevin was instructed to drop notes to his Secret Admirer in Locker 317. Say what you will about Riverdale High School, but you cannot say that it's a huge place and say what you will about Kevin Kller, but you cannot say that he's a dumb kid. Plus, he's the Class President. My point? He could track down the identity of his Secret Admirer if he really wanted to.

Maybe he decided that his Secret Admirer is too much drama, what with the secret notes and the prom invitation and then being stood up without notice on the big night.