ARCHIE GOES BACK TO HIS ROOTS AT 75
Expo will feature local artist who created new look for comic icon, writes Eric Volmers
It’s not the first time he has been asked the question, nor will it be the last.
When longtime Archie Comics artist and writer Dan Parent travels to fan expos, someone will inevitably expect him to resolve something that has haunted Archie Andrews for 75 years.
So we thought we’d clear it up early. Who does he prefer? Betty or Veronica? The kind-hearted blond or the snobby rich girl?
“I tell them Veronica,” says Parent, on the line from New York. “I’ve always been a Veronica guy. I’m in the minority, most people like Betty. From a creator standpoint, when you are writing and drawing stories, the slightly more villainous characters are slightly more interesting. I think that hooks me in.”
It’s an obvious question for anyone who has spent decades creating the romantic and comedic adventures for our terminally teenage red-haired hero, but is particularly relevant to Parent.
Among his more notable achievements in the nearly 30 years he has written and drawn for Archie Comics is the fourissue Love Showdown series in 1994, which helped bring the gang from Riverdale international attention with the promise that Archie would finally choose between the two girls.
In case you’ve forgotten, Archie chose neither. That was Parent’s idea. He wanted to bring back a minor character named Cheryl Blossom to the Archie universe, so had his hero choose her. Briefly.
“It was the first time we had done a storyline that got national attention,” Parent says. “That was the time when it was happening for all the companies. There was the death of Superman, in the early 1990s. That was a time when it felt like finally the media were covering our stories. We were on Good Morning America and all these morning shows and it was in the New York Times.”
It was just one of the milestones for the comic series. Archie first appeared on the scene in late 1941, which means he has been around longer than Spider-Man and the Hulk. While it may not seem like it, Archie has actually gone through a number of incarnations over the decades. Some of them have been odd.
He was a right-leaning Christian in the 1970s, battled the undead in 2013, lived in the Year 3000, raced radio-controlled cars, explored outer space, was a hightech spy, got married and — in one of his more grim alternative-universe story arcs — was shot dead during a botched political assassination.
But 2015 marked one of the more drastic changes in Riverdale, when the publisher announced Archie No. 1. It was a complete rebirth of the character with a new look designed by Calgary artist Fiona Staples.
At Calgary Expo this year, both Parent and Staples will be a part of a panel scheduled for Saturday afternoon. They will be joined by fellow Archie creators Rich Koslowski, Fernando Riuz and Gisele LaGace. It’s all part of a year-long push to celebrate the character’s 75th year, a campaign that has also included a TV pilot for the CW, a planned animated series and clothing line.
Parent will be continuing on the classic Archie comics rather than the reboot. But his Love Showdown series in the 1990s wasn’t the only time he shook up Riverdale. He also introduced Kevin Keller in 2010, the first openly gay character in Archie Comics.
Needless to say, it also made national headlines again. But despite the obligatory protests from bigots early on, Keller has proven to be a popular addition. Earlier this month, it was announced that he would be the star of a new digital series called Life With Kevin.
“The fans are pretty true, they are always following us and have faith in what we do,” says Parent “Most of the backlash was from older people and conservative groups.”
Parent has illustrated other titles, including Felix the Cat, and for Marvel he has spent nearly 30 years with Archie Andrews. He started working for the company as an illustrator in 1987, the same year he graduated from the Kubert School of Cartooning and Graphic Art in New Jersey. A few years later, he began writing for the company as well.
But before all that, like many people, he was a fan who grew up reading about Archie’s hijinks.
“He’s ingrained in people’s consciousness,” Parent says. “At this point, at least here in the States, Archie is really a part of Americana. For 75 years he’s been around. He’s like Superman, Batman — one of those characters who has spanned so many generations. Everybody has somebody they can relate to in Riverdale.”