Kevin Keller preps for a blind date in Archie - Love and Heartbreak

Archie: Love and Heartbreak excerpt (Image credit: Archie Comics)

Romance is a big part of the Archie comics' long success, and it's being magnified even more for the upcoming one-shot special Archie: Love and Heartbreak. As the title suggests, the February 9 one-shot won't all be 'happily ever after' - but that's true in real life sometimes too, right?

Archie: Love and Heartbreak cover (Image credit: Archie Comics)

"Coming off the heels of our 80th anniversary, we wanted to welcome fans of the modern comics back to the romantic core of Riverdale with this special one-shot," says Archie Comics' senior director of editorial Jamie L. Rotante in the announcement.

"Capturing the ideals of young love, readers get to experience firsthand the ups-and-downs of new relationships and what it means to discover yourself in a way we haven't seen before in Archie comics. We hope readers see a little bit of themselves in each of these stories."

Archie: Love and Heartbreak is set in and around a carnival that's arrived in Riverdale, giving these teens a chance to get out and meet, mingle, and in some cases, mess around. The three couples at the center of the romantic hijinks are Archie and Veronica, Jughead and Betty, and Kevin and Devon.

Check out this preview of Archie: Love and Heartbreak:

Image 1 of 6

Archie: Love and Heartbreak preview

Archie: Love and Heartbreak is written by the team of Thomas Pitilli, Stephanie Cooke, and Sina Grace. For Art, Pitilli is pulling double-duty, alongside Lisa Sterle and Iolanda Zanfardino. Matt Herms and Jack Morelli are coloring and lettering the book, respectively. Pitilli has drawn the main cover, with a variant by Paulina Ganucheau.

Archie: Love and Heartbreak goes on sale on February 9 - just in time to buy for Valentine's Day.

Archie Comics is doubling down on "humor, heart, and horror" in 2022 according to our interview with its top editor.

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)