Speaking of Archie, this AP story surveys the development that was, all things considered, even more shocking than Cap’s death: updated Archie characters, which the story claims startled regular readers. Archie’s managing editor Victor Gorelick says it was all a misunderstanding and the newer versions are only appearing in a few stories — but they had their reasons for doing it.

The serialized story — a change from Archie’s usual short reads — and the accompanying new art style are meant to attract a slightly older readership, Gorelick said.

“Most of our readers are between 7 and 12 or 13 years old, and mostly girls. Once these girls finish reading Archie Comics, they’ll usually go on to chapter books and a little bit more detailed stories. We want to try to keep that audience a little bit longer. So we’re trying out this new look and seeing what the response is going to be.”

The longer story also offers an opportunity for Archie Comics to enter the booming graphic-novel market by eventually gathering the story into a single book.

Though the story, titled “Bad Boy Trouble,” is more involved than usual, there’s nothing inappropriate for young girls, Gorelick said — “nothing out of the Archie code of decency, so to speak.”