Dan Parent

Dan Parent (born August 25, 1964 in St. Albans, Vermont) is an American comic book artist and writer^[1] best known for his work for Archie Comics. A graduate of The Kubert School, Parent began working for Archie immediately after graduation. His writing of the Love Showdown series from 1994 received widespread attention. Parent has also illustrated Felix the Cat, Barbie, Disney Adventures, and a wide variety of other titles. Parent is credited with giving Archie Comics a relevance with contemporary artwork and innovative story lines that wouldn't have been seen in years past. This includes a modern, fashion magazine-style revamp of the long-running Betty & Veronica Spectacular comic. Most notable were changes in 2010, when Parent wrote the first bi-racial storyline featuring Archie, teaming him with Valerie from Josie and the Pussycats. Reviews were glowing for the storyline. Archie then stepped into uncharted territory by introducing their first openly gay character, Kevin Keller, in Veronica #202. The story was written and drawn by Parent. Despite minor backlash from a few conservative groups, the character received national attention, positive reviews and became the first Archie comic book to sell out in its 69-year history, prompting the company to announce a four-part solo series featuring Kevin Keller in 2011. 2010 ended with Parent's design and creation of a bunch of new students introduced in a six issue storyline called "New Kids Off the Wall", written by Alex Simmons. The characters of various ethnicity and background were added to diversify the very "white bread" Riverdale High. And the year ended with a controversial storyline with a visit from President Barack Obama and Sarah Palin. Parent's image of Obama and Palin sharing a soda at Pop Tate's was one of the most exposed images in entertainment news at year's end.

References

External links

• Dan Parent's homepage
• Dan Parent at the Comic Book DB