On August 7th, Archie Comics will publish issue #10 of Archie’s Pal Kevin Keller. The book may go down in history for its cover art: the image of openly gay Kevin kissing his boyfriend. It’s not the sort of image which usually graces comic book covers, yet Dan Parent, the creator/writer of the Kevin series, thinks it’s long overdue.

"He’s dating," Parent said in a phone interview with GayCalgary Magazine. "There’s a kiss, but done in a very natural way that kicks off the story."

This particular storyline was inspired by an attempt to boycott Kevin Keller that was organized by One Million Moms, a conservative, Christian identified organization which seeks to censor pop culture they find "unwholesome" or "unsuitable for families." One of the characters in the new storyline is a potential member of One Million Moms.

"Veronica tapes the kiss and uploads it," Parent reports. "The Million Moms lady goes crazy, it gets media attention, and there’s a community forum. The Moms are on one side, the pro-Kevin camp is on the other."

Parent said that it was the most political storyline Archie Comics had done to date, but promised that future issues would feature lighter fare. "There’s a lot of fun stuff coming," he said. "There will be some competition between Kevin and Veronica."

In recent years, the once wildly popular Archie series had fallen out of favor with comic book geeks. The who’s-dating-who antics of Archie and the gang seemed stale, but the introduction of Kevin, the first openly gay character in Archie Comics’ history, attracted a great deal of attention and put the company back on the map. Parent reports that the response to Kevin has been overwhelmingly supportive, and that the Million Moms boycott actually increased sales.

"We hear from the parents of gay kids who thank us for having a gay character in a normal fashion," he said. "We’ve also heard from kids and older gay men who tell us that Kevin makes a difference."

Kevin Keller isn’t the only cutting edge book coming out of Archie’s creative bin. October 2013 will see the release of Afterlife With Archie, the company’s very first horror title. Afterlife will have the denizens of Riverdale doing battle with flesh eating zombies! It will be an ongoing series authored by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, the writer behind the company’s Archie Meets Glee series. Aguirre-Sacasa, a writer for TV’s Glee, is openly gay.

"There’s a big crossover of gay fanboys," Aguirre-Sacasa said to GayCalgary. "I’ve been writing for ten years and never had a problem. Like everywhere, the comic world is evolving."

Aguirre-Sacasa isn’t alone. Michael Troy is an openly gay comic book writer who has done a number of gay themed and gay interest graphic novels for Bluewater Productions. His most recent book, The Stonewall Riots, is now available. It’s a one shot title which recounts the historic night in June 1969, when patrons of The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City, fought back against police harassment. The three days of riots which followed gave birth to the modern LGBT equality movement.

"Part of the reason we’re doing the book is to keep the story of Stonewall alive," Troy said, speaking to GayCalgary from his home in the gay mecca of West Hollywood, California. "The younger generation has never heard of Stonewall. They have no idea of its impact. Rather than bitch about it, I’d rather educate. Stonewall is an important part of American history. It should be taught in schools."

Like Aguirre-Sacasa, Troy has been embraced by the world of comic book fandom. "I’ve been associated with gay comics for years," he said. "There are more gay comic book geeks than you think. Comic book geeks, even when straight, feel ostracized, so they’re more accepting."

It’s all part of the changes that are happening across the spectrum in society, according to Troy. "We’re the only group of people still denied our rights. One hundred years from now, this will be an embarrassment."