While C2E2 may have been drawing most comic book eyeballs this weekend, the New York Times had a great piece about the behind-the-scenes drama at Archie Comics that has led to court battles over the control of the company:

What Mr. Goldwater refers to as “the boiling point” was reached in May 2011 when a female employee threatened to file a harassment complaint against Ms. Silberkleit with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Mr. Goldwater hired a lawyer and commissioned a human resources consultant to investigate the accusations of workplace abuses; Ms. Silberkleit was the only member of the company who declined to be interviewed. The report, released in June 2011, concluded her absence or removal was advisable, and in July, Mr. Goldwater began legal action against her. According to Mr. Goldwater, all two dozen employees volunteered to supply affidavits bemoaning Ms. Silberkleit’s conduct; Ms. Silberkleit termed that proof of a Machiavellian palace coup engineered by Mr. Goldwater.

After a series of court rulings against Ms. Silberkleit that included a $500 fine — for violating the temporary restraining order by twice showing up at the office in mid-December with a former football player in tow — and responsibility for $59,000 in legal expenses accrued by the company, last month the hostile parties agreed to take their problems to mediation. Ms. Silberkleit’s 50 percent share of the company is not in jeopardy, but her job may be.

Some of this has been public knowledge for some time, but the piece has a lot more information, and puts everything into a clear context, suggesting not only reasons for the conflict between Goldwater and Silberkleit, but also reasons for Archie’s relatively recent bid for the title of Most Progressive Mainstream Publisher, what with the Kevin Keller storylines, the upcoming “Occupy Riverdale” storyarc and the company’s wholehearted embrace of digital before anyone else. It’s an interesting, somewhat eye-opening read.

Archie has responded to the ridiculous and shameful protest being organized by the American Family Association organization against Toys R Us for selling Archie comics featuring the character Kevin Keller (The problem being that the AFA is upset that “children are now being exposed to same-sex marriage in a toy store”). In a statement released to Robot 6, Archie CEO Jon Goldwater said,

We stand by Life with Archie #16. As I’ve said before, Riverdale is a safe, welcoming place that does not judge anyone. It’s an idealized version of America that will hopefully become reality someday.

We’re sorry the American Family Association/OneMillionMoms.com feels so negatively about our product, but they have every right to their opinion, just like we have the right to stand by ours. Kevin Keller will forever be a part of Riverdale, and he will live a happy, long life free of prejudice, hate and narrow-minded people.

That’s much classier than the AFA deserves, in my opinion, and also crystalizes the appeal of Archie in general; an idealized version of America free of prejudice, hate and narrow-minded people. Now I can’t wait to see what the reaction to Occupy Riverdale is going to be.

What’s the latest boldly relevant move from Archie Comics? A story touching on the ongoing “Occupy” movement, titled “Occupy Riverdale.”

Though a date or issue hasn’t yet been announced for the story, it’ll be written by Archie PR exec Alex Segura, who also wrote the four-part “Archie Meets KISS” story that wraps up this week. The art is from cartoonist Gisele Lagace, who’s worked for Archie before and draws and co-writes the gleefully NSFW webcomic Ménage à 3.

As seen in the Jill Thompson variant cover provided by the publisher, working-class Archie Andrews is once again torn between Betty and Veronica, except this time, Betty represents the 99% and Veronica (along with Mr. Lodge and someone that may be Reggie in a fedora) is firmly in the 1-percenter camp. (Also, look at how cool Thompson’s scraggly Jughead looks.)

We’ll pass on more details as we know them, until then, check out the full cover after the jump.

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Over at the Huffington Post, Archie co-CEO Jon Goldwater explains why his company is, in his words, “the most progressive comic book publisher out there”:

I saw firsthand what happened to the music industry when they didn’t embrace digital, and I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen to Archie. Unlike most direct market-centric comic companies, Archie has always been about being available. On the newsstand. In comic shops. In bookstores. So it made sense to translate that philosophy to digital, both in availability in timing. Despite what some other companies may claim, we were the first to go day-and-date digital, which means our titles are available to digital consumers the same day they hit stores. We also believe in a different pricing model for digital than print.We were one of the first companies to aggressively put out collections and expanded product out there digitally. Our Archie Comics app, which is powered by the team at iVerse, has been downloaded close to 4 million times, and our comics are routinely among the most downloaded titles. Just last year in San Diego, we announced plans to launch the first-ever digital superhero universe with our Red Circle Comics app. The app will be a newsstand app via Apple. The shorthand we use is “Netflix for comics.” Each week, a subscriber will get six pages of our flagship title, NEW CRUSADERS, plus access to our continually-growing archive of Crusaders comics dating back to the Golden Age of comics.

In addition to that, we were the first company to make Spanish-language editions of our titles available to our Spanish-speaking readers, and we’ve just launched a Facebook app – in partnership with our friends at Graphicly – to sell Archie comics to our Facebook fans. Currently, we have over 116,000 fans on our main Archie page, growing significantly each day.

Digital is important for a number of reasons. Mainly, we’re always looking for ways to expand and grow the business. Archie is a global icon and one of the most recognizable brands anywhere. It’d be foolish to just limit ourselves to our existing distribution channels. We want Archie to be available to everyone everywhere. We want to create a one-stop shop — an Archie “superstore” that’ll serve everyone’s needs. That’s the goal. Digital is part of that over-arching plan.

When you factor in things like Kevin Keller being the first gay male lead for an ongoing solo series from a non-underground publisher – demonstrating that it’s not only in distribution that Archie is forward thinking – then it starts to seem like a much more convincing argument, doesn’t it…?

The annual GLAAD Award nominees have been announced, and the comic category has some strong contenders this year; both Archie’s Kevin Keller and DC’s Batwoman feature LGBT leads, with the latter’s Secret Six and Marvel’s two nominees, Avengers: The Children’s Crusade and X-Factor all featuring prominent LGBT characters in their core line-up. My biases may push the choice in Kevin Keller‘s favor, if only because of Archie’s boldness not only introducing the character into the traditionally conservative universe but also allowing him to get married – but what do you think? Who deserves the win – and which books (and characters) should’ve made the nominee list but didn’t?

The two most attention-getting Archie Comics things in years — openly gay character Kevin Keller and possible future series Life with Archie — combine in January.

As previously announced, the adult version of the character will get married in Life with Archie #16, and the publisher has released the cover, up above, with Mr. Weatherbee apparently especially affected.

Something in the press release from Marvel yesterday, announcing the digital download codes to appear in every issue of the Ultimate Comics line as of next year:

The Ultimate Comics line made history in 2010 with the first line of comics to be offered digitally on the same day print editions hit stores, beginning with Ultimate Comics Thor #1.

If you read that and thought, “Wait, what?” then join the club – not least of all because the Ultimate line actually went line-wide day-and-date in February of this year with the “Death of Spider-Man” storyline in Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate Avengers vs. New Ultimates. Look, there was even a press release about that, too.

The real “first line of comics to be offered digitally on the same day [as] print editions” is, of course, Archie Comics, which went day-and-date in January this year. So, why did Marvel’s PR include this completely untrue piece of information, especially when it’s so easily disproven?

The “Red Circle” group of heroes has returned to Archie Comics after a brief run with DC Comics, but they are returning with more than one twist.

Archie announced the return of super hero comics in their line via the New York Times last night. In the announcement, they detailed the return, which features the classic heroes living in retirement in a community called, appropriately enough, “Red Circle.” Most of these retired heroes are killed, and replacements, the New Crusaders are brought in to save the day, led by veteran The Shield. The new stories will be 6-page digital exclusives written by Ian Flynn and drawn by Ben Bates, with no release schedule revealed.

In addition to these shorts however, Archie will be offering an extensive digital archive featuring their superheroes. For a low (not yet determined) monthly fee, only $3 or $4, readers will have access to the new stories plus an archive featuring “thousands and thousands of pages” of older stories. More details as they come, but what do you think of this deal so far?

Following the current four-issue miniseries and a glut of positive press, Archie Comics is launching a Kevin Keller ongoing series starting in February 2012, as reported by The New York Times.

Additionally, the article notes that an adult Kevin will make an appearance in Life with Archie, the publisher’s magazine format title that depicts two alternate Archie futures; one where he’s married to Betty and one where he’s married to Veronica.

Kevin is the first openly gay character in the company’s 70-year history, having first debuted in last year’s Veronica #202. Newsarama interviewed the character’s creator, veteran Archie writer and artist Dan Parent, last month about the current miniseries.

Well, here’s an interesting one. It’s not often you see comic book industry news on TMZ, but here’s something that caught their interest: the site is reporting that Archie Comics is taking legal action against their co-CEO Nancy Silberkleit due to offensive behavior, including at least two different rants involving the word “penis.” The aim, TMZ says, is for a judge to grant an injunction that prevents Silberkleit from returning the office.

Silberkleit joined the company as co-CEO in 2009, and last fall was the subject of a profile in Fortune magazine. The company’s other co-CEO, Jon Goldwater, has been much more visible in the comic book press and the subject of many Newsarama interviews, most recently in April of this year.

Whether you’re looking to celebrate with a special someone or commemorate a new phone plan, Archie Comics has you in mind with this deal: the increasingly progressive publisher is running a sale on their digital comics where every individual issue — that’s right, all of ‘em — available through their iPhone app will be 99 cents from now until midnight eastern time on Valentine’s Day (for lonely hearts and/or the calendar-challenged, that’s this coming Monday). More details over here on their official blog.

The sale is not only in honor of Valentine’s Day, but also the iPhone now being available through Verizon Wireless. Last month, Archie Comics announced that all of their titles would be available digitally the same day as their print release as of April.

Barack Obama and Sarah Palin arrive in Riverdale in the midst of Archie and Reggie’s heated political battle — it’s the second part of “Campaign Pains,” and a preview follows after the jump. For our interview with the story’s writer, Alex Simmons, click here.

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Archie Comics is going same-day digital with six of their monthly titles starting in April, in arguably the most significant commitment to digital comics seen yet from a major publisher. The news was originally reported today by the New York Times.

The titles going digital are mainstays Archie, Archie & Friends, Betty, Veronica, Betty and Veronica, and Jughead, which is all of their non-licensed, non-digest, non-magazine format, ongoing monthly comics. The NY Times article wrote that the publisher is “starting” with those comics, implying that more may be coming.

Maybe just as significantly, the digital copies of the comics are priced at $1.99, a full dollar less than the print product. When other publishers have released comics digitally the same day as the print product — such as Ultimate Comics Thor at Marvel or Justice League: Generation Lost at DC — both formats were priced the same.

Unlike most other major publishers, Archie comics have traditionally sold most at newsstands, thus are seemingly not at the same risk at disrupting relationships with direct market retailers, which has been cited as a stumbling block for going same-day digital. Check Newsarama later today for more on this story.