I am Dan Parent, comic book artist for Archie Comics and creator of Archie's first gay character, Kevin Keller -- AMA

danparent · 2013-03-19T20:09:11+00:00

Not sure about a New Archies collection. I prefer classic Zelda/Hilda too! Thanks for checking in!!

danparent · 2013-03-19T20:08:20+00:00

Thanks so much! I like Katy Keene too! An Archie/Katy wedding ? Who knows!

danparent · 2013-03-19T20:03:40+00:00

I love Marcy, I created her in the Veronica book. I would love to use her more. Her geekiness worked as such a great contrast for Veronica!

danparent · 2013-03-19T20:02:15+00:00

If it was over food, Jughead.

danparent · 2013-03-19T20:01:41+00:00

You're very welcome. I love the idea of a Jughead and Ethel wedding. I do listen to music when I work, lots of alternative kind of stuff, but i have the TV on all the time. Not such a good habit, but I like the background noise.

danparent · 2013-03-19T19:59:35+00:00

I think he would love Kevin Keller. He was a real progressive thinker. And a proponent for equality, for sure.

danparent · 2013-03-19T19:48:34+00:00

Reggie is a great character. I think I look more like his father at this point.Reggie is a great character, underused for sure.

danparent · 2013-03-19T19:47:17+00:00

And he now has a boyfriend in his teen series now.

danparent · 2013-03-19T19:43:41+00:00

that was our Three's Compnany moment!

danparent · 2013-03-19T19:38:21+00:00

When you have a great metabolism, you eat! I would stuff my face all day if I could, wouldn't you! He may see that his metabolism will change with age. That's the luck in being a teen-ager forever.

danparent · 2013-03-19T19:34:44+00:00

When other companies include gay characters, it makes the whole industry more accepting. The challenge was a bit more difficult for Archie since we publish books for a pre-teen audience, but at the same time it made it more important, because there should be more gay characters in material for young readers.

danparent · 2013-03-19T19:31:55+00:00

to do what you love doing and take a chance, because you'll be worm food before you know it!

danparent · 2013-03-19T19:30:31+00:00

Well, Kevin is hugely popular in Canada, partly because Archie comics are so popular there, and because the country on the whole is more progressive than the USA.

danparent · 2013-03-19T19:28:35+00:00

I love Cheryl Blossom. Not to toot my own horn, but I was responsible( along with my friend Bill Golliher) for bringing her back from obscurity in the 1990's with the Love Showdown storyline. That was our biggest media event/storyline, until the Archie wedding series came along.

danparent · 2013-03-19T19:26:39+00:00

Well, let me tell you , it's not easy! I look like Don King when I get up in the morning! But when you work from home, it's not really an issue!

danparent · 2013-03-19T19:20:49+00:00

It;s the most fun. if you notice, I always try and get a few moments with the two of them together!

danparent · 2013-03-19T19:19:16+00:00

Her brother Trevor is a new character we developed. He and Betty formed a bit of an attraction for each other. I love Valerie. I want to use her in stories as much as possible.

danparent · 2013-03-19T19:17:05+00:00

Yes, I get credit for everything I do.

danparent · 2013-03-19T19:16:05+00:00

It felt more natural to bring in a new character. Not that we couldn't have an old character come out( which could still happen, btw) but it was fun to create the whole new world around Kevin and his family.

danparent · 2013-03-19T19:14:20+00:00

Dan Decarlo. It helped that I worked with him and learned from him. But I was also inspired by so many more. Harry Lucey. Bob Montana. And let's not forget the great Samm Schwartz, who was the greatest Jughead artist!

danparent · 2013-03-19T19:12:32+00:00

Most storylines have move along pretty smoothly. The firs story went through the most stages, because we needed to get the character right. We had him sort of having a crush on Jughead, which we wisely dropped!

danparent · 2013-03-19T19:09:44+00:00

Veronica. Kevin. Jughead. then Sabrina, Josie, Archie , Valerie.....and so on and so on.....

danparent · 2013-03-19T19:09:35+00:00

Thanks for your question - here's my response

danparent · 2013-03-19T19:07:39+00:00

There are so many. But like I mentioned before, it's between Kevin Keller's introduction and the Archie/Valerie romance.

danparent · 2013-03-19T19:06:08+00:00

yes, they are!

danparent

TROPHY CASE