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For more than seven decades, Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge have been the all-American apples of Archie Andrews’ eye in the town of Riverdale — but for their latest comic book outing, they’re getting a pretty dramatic makeover.
Following in the footsteps of comic book series like Afterlife With Archie and the CW’s Riverdale, the new B&V Vixens comic book series will feature an entirely reimagined version of the Archie mythos. This time around? Betty and Veronica are badass biker chicks in charge of the meanest gang in town.
“The idea for B&V Vixens came from our own Jamie Rotante, who works in the NY office as a proofreader and editor. She’s a huge talent, and she has a unique and special take on the girls that I just felt like had to be out there,” Archie CEO and Publisher Jon Goldwater tells Heat Vision. “It wowed me from the start. I mean, Betty and Veronica as bikers? There’s so much great ground to cover here, it just had to exist.”
The title reflects Goldwater’s belief that the two female leads of the core Archie cast are as popular — if not more so — than Archie, Jughead or any of their male counterparts. “Betty and Veronica are icons,” he said.
The two have co-starred in their own comic book series on an irregular basis since 1950’s Archie’s Girls Betty and Veronica, most recently in a series launched in July 2016 by writer/artist Adam Hughes.
“I couldn’t be more honored and excited for the opportunity to not only let pop culture’s two most recognizable BFFs take center stage, but to give them the opportunity to kick a whole lot of ass along the way,” Rotante told THR via email. “Betty and Veronica aren’t just two young ladies who happen to like the same boy — they’re two hard-working, intelligent and strong women who maintain a friendship despite their differences; consistently defying all expectations to overcome the odds stacked against them. That’s something I really wanted to explore with this series — and not just Betty and Veronica, many of the female Archie Comics characters will get a chance to tell their own unique stories in a way that’s fun and action-packed.”
Rounding out the creative team for B&V Vixens is Eva Cabrera, whose work on Black Mask Studios’ Kim & Kim has won her legions of fans. “Pairing [Rotante] with Eva Cabrera on art, [giving the book] an entire all-female creative team was a conscious decision on our part to really give the girls the kind of creative direction a unique take like this needs,” Goldwater said.
B&V Vixens launches in November, alongside the company’s new superhero team series The Mighty Crusaders (below, a variant cover for the first issue by Chilling Adventures of Sabrina artist Robert Hack). Stay tuned to Heat Vision for more from our conversation with Goldwater.
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