# Archie Comics to reveal Jughead's sexual orientation **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 9, 2016, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-comics-to-reveal-jugheads-sexual-orientation/745647 "2016-02-09T20:24:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-comics-to-reveal-jugheads-sexual-orientation/745647/1 "2016-02-09T20:24:37Z")
…or lack thereof [Archie Comic Reveals Jughead Is Asexual](http://www.vulture.com/2016/02/archie-jughead-asexual.html?wpsrc=nymag#) > [@](#): > > Crown-wearing Archie Comics character Jughead Jones has traditionally been more into burgers than romance, and a new comic is about to casually reveal that he is, in fact, asexual. In other words, he’s a person who isn’t sexually attracted to other people — a kind of sexual identity that’s rarely depicted in popular fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-comics-to-reveal-jugheads-sexual-orientation/745647/2 "2016-02-09T20:48:29Z")
Wow, that reboot looks…terrible. How long have Archie comics looked and sounded like that? In > [@](#): > > my day Jughead would never said something like, “It’s why I can think clearly and see this administration for what it is! I’m not hobbled by these hormonal impulses!” Instead he would have made some pun then laid down in a hammock with a hamburger. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-comics-to-reveal-jugheads-sexual-orientation/745647/3 "2016-02-09T20:54:08Z")
> [@](#): > > Crown-wearing Archie Comics character Jughead Jones has traditionally been more into burgers than romance,… That doesn’t mean he’s asexual. “Tonight, on _Choklit Shoppe After Dark_…” ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-comics-to-reveal-jugheads-sexual-orientation/745647/4 "2016-02-09T20:56:15Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > Wow, that reboot looks…terrible. Guy looks like a fucking woodpecker. And “Betty and Whatsername”? Come _on_. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-comics-to-reveal-jugheads-sexual-orientation/745647/5 "2016-02-09T21:01:32Z")
I had him figured more as a burgersexual. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-comics-to-reveal-jugheads-sexual-orientation/745647/6 "2016-02-09T21:06:11Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > I had him figured more as a burgersexual. And you have a beef with him being asexual? (Honestly, ‘asexual’ was what I thought before clicking this thread. Not a big shock.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-comics-to-reveal-jugheads-sexual-orientation/745647/7 "2016-02-09T21:10:55Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > Wow, that reboot looks…terrible. How long have Archie comics looked and sounded like that? The Archie series of comics apparently started experimenting with new art last year. I believe the art you’re looking at is from Fiona Staples. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-comics-to-reveal-jugheads-sexual-orientation/745647/8 "2016-02-09T21:23:25Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The Archie series of comics apparently started experimenting with new art last year. I believe the art you’re looking at is from Fiona Staples. Erica Henderson per the caption. And, yeah, that looks God awful. I suppose they need to mix it up and stay contemporary and all that but that art just looks bad no matter what comic its illustrating. I guess I’m probably not the Archie target demographic though. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-comics-to-reveal-jugheads-sexual-orientation/745647/9 "2016-02-09T21:28:01Z")
That’s going to ruin a couple of scenes in _Chasing Amy_. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-comics-to-reveal-jugheads-sexual-orientation/745647/10 "2016-02-09T21:28:11Z")
I dunno, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that art style per se… except that it just doesn’t look like Archie. When you’ve got a book being published continually with the same art style for that many decades, you don’t just go and change it. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-comics-to-reveal-jugheads-sexual-orientation/745647/11 "2016-02-09T21:47:04Z")
Agreed: the art sucks, the dialog isn’t consistent with the character as previously developed, but yeah Jughead is and has always been asexual. In fact he’s the poster child for asexual. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-comics-to-reveal-jugheads-sexual-orientation/745647/12 "2016-02-09T23:06:04Z")
There was a comic book story once–I think it was connected to the [Archie:To Riverdale and Back Again](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099054/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) TV movie–where the gang, much older, gets together for their 20th Anniversary and Jughead is married to the surprisingly okay-looking Ethel (formerly known as Big Ethel). Or was it Midge? It’s been a while. Gene Colan, of all people, drew it. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-comics-to-reveal-jugheads-sexual-orientation/745647/13 "2016-02-09T23:10:15Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > There was a comic book story once–I think it was connected to the [Archie:To Riverdale and Back Again](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099054/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) TV movie–where the gang, much older, gets together for their 20th Anniversary and Jughead is married to the surprisingly okay-looking Ethel (formerly known as Big Ethel). Or was it Midge? It’s been a while. Gene Colan, of all people, drew it. [Married Jughead page here](http://jontrouten.blogspot.com/2014/05/jughead-big-ethel-get-married-in-life.html) [Not sure what led up to this though.](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F4qhTUKFbKE/Tqpcjxk5JJI/AAAAAAAAC4g/IpgWqC7r7wo/s1600/ArchieJughead.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-comics-to-reveal-jugheads-sexual-orientation/745647/14 "2016-02-09T23:17:54Z")
Does this mean we have to add an A to LGBTQQ? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-comics-to-reveal-jugheads-sexual-orientation/745647/15 "2016-02-09T23:30:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I dunno, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that art style per se… except that it just doesn’t look like Archie. When you’ve got a book being published continually with the same art style for that many decades, you don’t just go and change it. You do if you want to increase your monthly sales by about ten fold, which is what happened with Archie comics after the reboot. They went from selling around 3,500 books a month to over 30,000, with a brief peak of over 100,000 for the first issue of the reboot. (The last issue before the reboot - #666, humorously enough - got a bump to about 17,000, presumably on buzz over it ending.) Also, I will fight any man who questions the artistic chops of Erica Henderson. > [@AHunter](#): > > Jughead is and has always been asexual. Jughead’s interest in romance has been portrayed [inconsistently](http://media.comicbook.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Jughead-in-Love.jpg), at best. As the writer on the book put it: > [@](#): > > I’m writing him as asexual, but this is comics, yeah? The next writer could make him discover girls or boys or both and that’s totally fine. There have been iterations of Jughead over the decades where he HAS been interested in girls, so there’s room to play around if someone was inclined. For me though, I like an asexual Jughead. That’s more interesting to me than writing him as just being behind everyone developmentally. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-comics-to-reveal-jugheads-sexual-orientation/745647/16 "2016-02-09T23:35:53Z")
In trying to eradicate traditional all-white culture, some people will go into things like injecting the issue of sexual orientation into children’s comics. That’s how I see it. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-comics-to-reveal-jugheads-sexual-orientation/745647/17 "2016-02-10T00:38:53Z")
:rolleyes: The characters sexual orientation has been part of Archie comics since _1941_; when Archie first tried to woo Betty Cooper in Pep Comics #22. Then Veronica Lodge moved to town in Pep Comics #26 and America’s favorite love triangle was born. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-comics-to-reveal-jugheads-sexual-orientation/745647/18 "2016-02-10T00:39:43Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > In trying to eradicate traditional all-white culture, some people will go into things like injecting the issue of sexual orientation into children’s comics. That’s how I see it. 😕😕😕 Archie has always been _all about_ sexual orientation :smack: - specifically the heterosexual orientations of Archie, Betty, Veronica, Midge & Moose, Big Ethel, etc. Are you saying that none of the teenagers should be pursuing any sort of relationships? Because the minute one of them starts making hearteyes at another, that’s injecting sexual orientation into the comic. eta: What **Alphaboi** said. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-comics-to-reveal-jugheads-sexual-orientation/745647/19 "2016-02-10T00:44:44Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > In trying to eradicate traditional all-white culture Who’s doing what now? ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-comics-to-reveal-jugheads-sexual-orientation/745647/20 "2016-02-10T00:48:32Z")
Wow. They found a way to make Archie comics suck even more. \* That Wilkin Boy\* is now actually good by comparison. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-comics-to-reveal-jugheads-sexual-orientation/745647.md?page=2)