Dan Parent is a comic book artist and writer best known for his work on numerous projects at Archie Comics, such as Archie Meets KISS, Archie vs. Sharknado, and, more recently, Archie Meets Batman ’66. He also created Kevin Keller, the first openly gay character for Archie Comics, in 2010; in 2013 Parent received the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book.

We caught up with Parent at Flame Con 2018 to discuss his current projects at Archie and elsewhere, and the importance of diverse representation in comic books and at conventions.

Scoop: Can you discuss what the experience has been like so far with regards to bringing the Batman of the 1960s into Riverdale?
Dan Parent (DP): I grew up a huge fan of the Batman series, and I’ve been doing Archie forever – and I was a huge Archie fan before that, of course. The two just feel natural. Batman ’66 has that campy ’60s quality, and Archie has had a campy quality for many years, too. All the characters sort of blend together, and even the style of the Batman ’66 series is a little more cartoony. It lends itself to the Archie style. Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon going to Riverdale High doesn’t seem that strange.

Scoop: Within the last few years we’ve seen this huge resurgence with Archie Comics, with the rebooted series and then the Riverdale show proving to be a huge success on television. How has that effected how your work has been received?
DP: Now, the whole Archie audience is a little more all over the place. You have your younger fans, who are fans of Riverdale and maybe don’t know much about the comics, who are now being introduced to the comic books for the first time. And then you have older fans who have been reading the books for years. We’ve always have a large audience with a good range, age-wise, and it’s even more diverse now.

Scoop: Kevin Keller, who you created, is openly gay. How important was it for you to have queer representation in the Archie books – and now, on TV as well?
DP: Of course, it’s important. Especially in a show like Riverdale, which is contemporary. Now, with other characters on the show, you’re seeing Cheryl Blossom on the show being shown as bisexual, in addition to some others. You couldn’t do a show about a high school today realistically without having gay characters. You just couldn’t do it. I think it’s great. Kevin has been great for Archie, and really, for our readers – they have someone they can relate to.

Even beyond Kevin, to have other diverse characters is important too. Ten years ago, when Jon Goldwater took over the company, he was sort of like, “Why does this feel like the 1950s?” It was so white! And we knew that. So it’s been a pleasure to enter the 21st century with Archie.

Scoop: Besides the stuff at Archie, what other projects do you have going on?
DP: I work on a series called Die Kitty Die, which is something I Kickstarted with my friend Fernando Ruiz. We’ve worked together for 25 years or so. It’s fun! It’s sort of a little bit of a parody of the comic book industry, but really, it’s more of a love letter. You see a lot of Harvey Comics referenced and some superhero stuff. It’s based around a comic book character, Kitty, who is a witch, and they don’t know what to do with her – so they try to kill her. And that didn’t go so well. We’ve created our own little universe with that, and it’s a lot of fun.

Scoop: There’s just a ton of people in here at Flame Con. How important is a show like this in the context of the overall convention scene?
DP: Well, it’s already gone from Brooklyn to Manhattan, and it seems to get bigger all the time. As you can see, just looking around here, there’s all these creators that are here and the fans as well. There’s a huge audience here for queer content and queer representation. I think it’s a good sign!