Lena Dunham Plans ‘Archie’ Comic Books

Image by Archie Comics/ Dan Parent

By Anne Cohen March 4, 2014

Fantasies do come true — if you’re Lena Dunham.

The “Girls” creator will reportedly be writing a story four-issue for “Archie,” the iconic comic featuring everyone’s favorite carrot-top. Dunham has previously spoken of her love for the comic and her desire to be involved in its production.

From the New York Times:

Sometimes, opportunities will present themselves. That was the case when, in November, Lena Dunham, the creator and star of the HBO series “Girls,” expressed her love of Archie during a conversation with the filmmaker J. J. Abrams and the novelist Doug Dorst at Symphony Space in New York. Ms. Dunham said she owned the first Archie comic and remarked, “You really haven’t lived till you’ve been to an Archie convention.”

The information went from stage, to audience, to text (a friend sent the line to Mr. Goldwater’s son), to Archie’s publisher, to its new chief creative director, who is friends with Ms. Dunham. “As his first initiative, Roberto really brought together the whole Lena project,” Mr. Goldwater said.

“I was an avid Archie collector as a child — conventions, first editions that I kept in plastic sleeves, the whole shebang,” Dunham said in a statement. “It has so much cultural significance but also so much personal significance, and to get to play with these beloved characters is a wild creative opportunity.”

Though the comic isn’t set for release until the spring of 2015, the promotional art released by Archie Comics looks ominously like the original Season 1 poster for “Girls.” Maybe it’s time to bring out the R (rated) in Riverdale.

Photo credit: Archie Comics/Dan Parent.

Anne Cohen was the Forward’s deputy digital media editor. When she’s not looking for the secret Jewish history of Voodoo in New Orleans, or making lists about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she writes for The Assimilator. She graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism with an M.S. magazine concentration in 2012.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO