A new year brings a new love interest — and a new creative team — for Riverdale’s clumsiest and (somehow) most eligible bachelor as the long-running “Archie” trades out its current co-star Sabrina the Teenage Witch for a new classic Archie Comics character: the model and pin-up gal Katy Keene.
Per Newsarama, December’s #709 sees the end of the titular pairing of “Archie and Sabrina,” giving way to January’s “Archie and Katy Keene” #710. Series co-writer Mariko Tamaki will continue on the series, with the outgoing Nick Spencer passing off co-writing duties to Kevin Panetta. The new series will feature art from Laura Braga, colors by Matt Herms, and lettering by Jack Morelli.
Tamaki, fresh off her Ignatz Award wins for “Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me,” told Newsarama she is approaching writing the series by channeling nostalgia. “Probably more than anything else I’m funneling my Teen Beat, Seventeen magazine nostalgic energy into this.”
“I think our Katy has a lot in common with classic Katy, but the world is a different place now,” said co-writer Panetta. “Moving into adulthood and figuring out who you are is a lot more complicated than it used to be, and we wanted our story to reflect that.”
Katy Keene’s co-lead role comes just as Katy is set to join the CW’s Riverdale universe with her own show, starring Pretty Little Liars alum Lucy Hale. Katy Keene was ordered to series and is scheduled to premiere in 2020.
