Dan Parent

Archie and the gang have been facing quite a bit of adversity lately. They've taken on the forces of the undead in Afterlife With Archie, covens in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and, perhaps most fearsomely of all, the creeping ennui of adulthood in Life With Archie. In the center of this maelstrom is Dan Parent, longtime Archie writer and artist. It’s tempting to say that he is the placid, controversy-free sun around which the Archie system orbits, but that isn't exactly accurate — Kevin Keller, Archie’s first gay character, is his creation. In fact, Parent merges the opposing forces of change and status quo at work within the publisher into a harmonious whole. ComicsAlliance sat down with Parent at New York Comic Con to discuss the legacy he inherited, the present he’s shaped, and the future to come.

Archie Comics is on the move. Afterlife with Archie, the horror take on the Riverdale gang, garners acclaim wherever it goes -- after an initial “wait, the comics they sell at Stop N’ Shop?” double take, of course. Its sister book, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, promises to take the teen witch to the heights of 1960s-style psychological horror. Lena Dunham, fresh off her book tour, will pen a series for Archie in 2015. The publisher's new imprint, Dark Circle, will revive classic superheroes. Even dear old Riverdale is getting a shakeup, from Archie’s recent death in the Life With Archie series to a recently announced TV show. Though the gang’s teen shenanigans endure in every checkout line, their universe stretches far beyond the confines of Pep and Pals n’ Gals. As the publisher’s future grows ever more crowded with plans and announcements, ComicsAlliance sat down with CEO Jon Goldwater and chief creative officer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa to discuss how they plan to honor their past while building a bold new future.

Over the past few years, Archie Comics has been making a pretty concerted effort to add a little diversity to what has traditionally been a pretty homogenous setting. Characters like Chuck Clayton and Ginger Lopez have been around for a while, but over the past few years Riverdale has added more than a handful of new students to Riverdale High, with the most notable by far being Kevin Keller. Now, in next month's Archie #656, writer/artist Dan Parent is taking the next step in what CEO Jon Goldwater describes as an effort "to make Riverdale feel like a city in today’s world" by introducing Riverdales newest resident, Veronica's cousin Harper, a "spunky fashionista" with hot pink streaks in her hair and a matching wheelchair.

  We make a regular practice at ComicsAlliance of spotlighting particular artists or specific bodies of work, as well as the special qualities of comic book storytelling, but because cartoonists, illustrators and their fans share countless numbers of great pinups, fan art and other illustrations on sites like Flickr, Tumblr, DeviantArt and seemingly infinite art blogs that we’ve created Best Art E

It's hard to believe that Kevin Keller, the first openly gay character in Archie Comics, debuted nearly three years ago. It simultaneously seems like the character first appeared yesterday, but it also kind of feels like he's always been around. Archie acknowledged the impact Kevin has made over the past 34 months by declaring July 9 "Kevin Keller Day" and releasing a video about his cre

For a company that only recently got around to doing variant covers, Archie sure has caught on quick to how to do them in a fun way. Case in point: Kevin Keller. Over the last nine months, Riverdale High's newest student has been featured in a series of "Retro Variants," with veteran Archie artist Dan Parent dropping Kevin into homages to stuff like Pureheart the Powerful, and even Supe

It's an age old question...or, at least, a 70-year-old question: Betty or Veronica? The two female points of the love triangle at the very center of publisher Archie Comics have always formed a sort of either/or dichotomy for those male readers envious of Archie Andrews' predicament, being seemingly forced to choose between two ideal girlfriends of opposite natures...

My affection for Archie comics has been well-documented here at ComicsAlliance, and I never love them more than when things get weird for the teenagers of Riverdale. Magical gender reassignment, hillbilly murderers with bad intentions, those are my favorite Archie stories...

Over the past three years, Archie artist Dan Parent has been at the center of some of the company's biggest events, from Archie Meets Kiss to Kevin Keller. I spoke to him at today's Comic-Con to find out what it's been like to be a key factor in Archie's new direction, and in the process, he told me about Archie vs... Read More ...

Over the past few years, Archie Comics has released some pretty unexpected comics, not the least of which was the recent crossover with KISS. Now, they've unveiled their latest surprise: A crossover with Glee, FOX TV's musical drama about a high school glee club, set to run in upcoming issues of Archie...