Jughead and Asexuality

Cover of Jughead #1 (2015), written by Chip Zdarsky with art by Erica Henderson.

In his article “Asexuality & Its Discontents,” Nicholas E. Miller (@uncannydazzler.bsky.social) discusses a 2015 series starring #Archie’s best pal, Jughead Jones. Artistically and culturally, Miller argues the portrayal of #Jughead as asexual is both important & complicated. 1/14 #PrideMonth

Cover of Archie #1 (2015), the debut of the New Riverdale universe, written by Mark Waid with art by Fiona Staples.

The 2015 “Jughead” solo series was originally written by Chip Zdarsky with art by Erica Henderson. It was part of the New Riverdale line, which recruited top talent, including Mark Waid and Fiona Staples on the flagship series, to re-envision the Archie franchise in a more contemporary vein. 2/14

A scene from Jughead #4 (2015) in which Jughead confirms his asexuality in conversation with Kevin Keller.

Jughead’s asexuality is confirmed in Jughead #4. In the relevant scene, the Archie’s franchise’s first canonically gay character, Kevin Keller (created by Dan Parent in 2010), laments his limited romantic options while acknowledging Jughead can’t relate, because he’s asexual. 3/14

A scene from the 1976 Jughead story “Rhythm & Blues,” in which Jughead’s parents try to convince him to go to the dance, and Jughead reminds them he has no interest in girls.

Speaking with Comic Book Resources, Zdarsky said he was not changing Jughead’s orientation, but rather making manifest an orientation that always existed: “historically he has been portrayed as asexual. They just didn’t have a label for it.” As Miller notes, scholars have also made this claim. 4/14

Photo is sourced from a blog post by Andrew S.: https://80pagegiant.blogspot.com/2012/10/jughead-and-sexuality-rhythm-and-blues.html

Cover of Bart Beat’s 2017 book Twelve-Cent Archie, published by Rutgers University Press.

Miller quotes Bart Beaty’s book “Twelve-Cent Archie,” in which Beaty writes, “[i]n the hormonal Archie universe, Jughead is unique for his asexuality,” and claims that “Jughead’s relationship to Archie is one of the strongest presentations of the asexual male pairing in popular culture.” 5/14

A page from the Jughead story “The Brain Campaign,” in which a group of vengeful girls try to “cure” Jughead’s distaste for girls using a brainwashing machine.

Yet Miller notes other fans & scholars, including Jeffery P. Dennis in his 2002 article “Queer Spaces in Archie Comics,” have historically read Jughead as gay. Whether Jughead’s asexuality is consistent with perceptions of queerness depends, in part, on whether asexuality is perceived as queer. 6/14

Photo sourced from a blog post by Andrew S.: https://80pagegiant.blogspot.com/2012/10/jughead-and-sexuality-rhythm-and-blues.html

Close-up of Kevin’s dialogue from Jughead’s coming out scene, as discussed above.
As Miller observes, Kevin’s language “implicitly excludes Jughead from assuming an LGBT identity… subtly highlight[ing] the tension… between asexuality and the LGBT umbrella.” While some advocates embrace similarities between LGBT identities & asexual ones, others note important differences. 7/14
A scene from Jughead #1 (2015), by Chip Zdarsky with art by Erica Henderson, in which Betty hugs Jughead and he is visibly uncomfortable and says he does not like being touched.

While emphasizing that he has “no desire to pit identity categories against each other,” Miller thus poses the difficult question, “When placed alongside a long history of reading Jughead as gay, does canonizing Jughead as asexual function as a form of LGBT erasure?” 8/14

A graphic of the asexuality spectrum, sourced from Trans Wellness Ontario.

Miller also questions whether Jughead’s example unhelpfully flattens the diversity of the asexuality spectrum by implying all asexuals are aromantic (i.e., do not experience romantic attraction). In reality, people experience many forms, degrees, and intersections of asexuality & aromanticism. 9/14

A panel from Archie (2015) in which Jughead states he desires nothing but burgers.

Miller does not definitively answer the questions he poses, but rather underscores the importance of asking them, emphasizing that representations of asexuality “must grapple with how to visually portray an identity that, itself, has been too often erased or defined as an absence.” 10/14

Splash pages from Jughead (2015) #9, #10, and #15, in which Jughead “has a crush,” is “on a date,” and is mobbed by female admirers who have been subjected to Sabrina’s magic.

Subsequent portrayals of Jughead demonstrate how vulnerable asexuality is to erasure. After Zdarsky and Henderson leave the series, most of Jughead’s plots are, in fact, romantic ones, involving love potions and an extended, failed date with Sabrina the Teenage Witch. 11/14

A scene from 1965’s Archie’s Pal Jughead #119, in which the United Girls Against Jughead scheme to get back at Jughead by using a computer to find his perfect match.

These stories largely replicate Jughead’s historical identity, where he is not canonically asexual, gay, straight, or otherwise, but rather a misanthropic “woman-hater”–as in 1965’s Jughead #119, in which the “United Girls Against Jughead” view his lack of interest as a threat to their power. 12/14

Scene from Jughead (2015) #11, written by Ryan North with art by Derek Charm, in which Jughead ways he didn’t realize Sabrina had asked him out on a date, and that he “doesn’t like people that way.”

Technically, Jughead’s asexuality is preserved in the remainder of his solo series and the flagship “Archie” series; in the former, he tells Sabrina he’s not interested in dating, and in the latter, he only desires burgers. Yet Jughead #4 is the only comic that ever says the word “asexual.” 13/14

A photo of Jughead from the Riverdale TV show, which appeared in Jughead (2015) #13. Caption says: “He’s been described as a ‘woman-hater,’ but this is not exactly true; he just avoids complicated romantic situations.”

However, the TV show “Riverdale” made Jughead canonically straight, and in the wake of the New Riverdale line, Archie comics followed suit. Thus, although it was brief & imperfect, Jughead’s asexuality remains an important milestone in representing an orientation that is too-often invisible. 14/14

You can read Nicholas E. Miller’s article “Asexuality and Its Discontents: Making the ‘Invisible Orientation’ Visible in Comics” in “Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society” (@inkscomicsjournal.bsky.social). https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/30/article/679772