Here's How Archie Dies

As you've perhaps been dreading since April, Archie Andrews is going to die (sort of) on Wednesday. The beloved comic book character will be killed off in the issue of Life With Archie that comes out that day (but he'll remain alive in the other Archie Comics series), and the AP has details on how it will go down: Archie will take a bullet for Kevin Keller, his best friend and the character who made history as the comic's first openly gay one. In Life With Archie, Keller is a married military veteran and pro-gun-control senator who finds himself the target of an assassination attempt by a stalker when Archie intervenes.

"The way in which Archie dies is everything that you would expect of Archie," says the publisher and co-CEO of Archie Comics, Jon Goldwater. "He dies heroically. He dies selflessly. He dies in the manner that epitomizes not only the best of Riverdale but the best of all of us. It's what Archie has come to represent over the past almost 75 years." His death will come in the penultimate issue of Life With Archie, and the final issue will jump forward a year to show how the rest of Riverdale is honoring Archie's legacy. "We wanted to do something that was impactful that would really resonate with the world and bring home just how important Archie is to everyone," Goldwater says. "Metaphorically, by saving Kevin, a new Riverdale is born." The identity of the killer? You'll have to read the comic to find out. (More Archie Comics stories.)