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Archie Stays Current with the Times

Bruce Furst

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Austin executive Bruce Furst leverages a successful career in merchandising licensed products to guide Ashber Corporation as president. Bruce Furst has been a direct licensee of leading pop-culture entities such as King Features Syndicate, Paramount Pictures Theatrical Library, and Archie Comics.

Reigning supreme as "America's Typical Teenager" for more than 75 years, Archie debuted in 1941 and has reflected changing cultural norms since then, in ways that have kept the comic’s core readers interested and involved. Storylines over the past decade have included a ground-breaking miniseries and follow-up series focused on Kevin Keller, a gay role model whom the Den of Geek lauds for embodying the idea “that Riverdale is a place for everybody.”
Another significant twist involved a unique storyline centered on parallel universes: one in which Archie married Veronica, and another in which he married Betty. It was within the plot of Life with Archie: The Married Life that Kevin Keller, an Iraq War veteran, met and settled down with his physical therapist, Clay Walker.
A more recent twist on Archie that has proven popular with readers is the series Afterlife with Archie, which is populated with an undead Jughead, among other zombie-inspired characters.