Verisimilitude

The new, more-realistic-looking Archie, Betty, and Veronica are out, but many aren't impressed:

The story, written by Melanie Morgan and titled "Bad Boy Trouble," will involve a new character, Nick St. Clair, a motorcycle-riding bad boy who comes to Riverdale and steals Veronica's heart, threatening her relationships with all her friends, especially Betty.

For the last several years, Archie's predominantly female readership has centered on 7- to 12-year-olds and, by revamping the characters to look more realistic, Silberkleit and Gorelick hope to capture a portion of the "tween" readers who typically move from Archie comics to teen magazines and chapter books. The story, though, stays true to the Archie sensibility, Silberkleit says.