Comics Alliance, which always has really good articles about Life With Archie, breaks that Cheryl Blossom will battle breast cancer in an upcoming issue.

From the article:

…To see her looking so thin and without her trademarked long red hair is dramatically shocking as well as a realistic depiction of the effects breast cancer has on hundreds of thousands of women every year.

What’s more, the story deals explicitly with Cheryl’s nature as a person of privilege, and the guilt she feels for being able to afford the medical insurance necessary to get treatment for her disease. As is the case with teen homosexuality, gay marriage, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the Occupy Wall Street protests, the topic of medical insurance is driving socio-political conversation in the American media, and Archie Comics has folded these issues into its stories.

Here’s the cover for the issue: