8 MARCH 2017
Do you read Archie? If not, we have something in common; I was like you once, assuming Archie was too bland for
my sophisticated reading palate. Then at SDCC 2013, I caught on to the
furor over Kevin Keller, the first gay character in the Archie world, and
picked up the title in a show of rainbow support.
What I discovered: Archie
comics are awesome. I became an
ardent fan of Kevin’s creator, Dan Parent, and then last year at SDCC I
discovered his comic, Die Kitty Die, co-created with Fernando
Ruiz – and that was incredible too. (Seriously, pick it up.)
Dan was at ECCC last
weekend, where he let me pick his brain about Die Kitty Die, diversity in
comics, Archie, running a Kickstarter and other topics.
Let’s talk about Die Kitty Die, which I just love.
I’ve been feeling detached from comics over the last few years but this is a
comic I really like. I think you did something great here.
We did exactly what we
wanted to do. We’re fans of Archie and Harvey Comics, and this was a way for us
to pay tribute to the things we like.
You single-handedly converted me to Archie fandom with
Kevin Keller. Do you hear that from other people?
Sometimes. At the time
having a gay character was kind of a big deal; Archie was still considered
family entertainment. Now you have gay characters in Disney movies and things
like that. But at the time that was still not seen as much. But we knew the fans would
like Kevin. That wasn’t a question.
Was that personally meaningful for you? When you were
a kid, did you want to see more LGBTQ characters in your comics?
I always wanted to see
all kinds of people - more inclusiveness in movies and TV shows. In the 70s, The
Phil Donohue show used to have people from all walks of life. I remember one
episode where my mom said, This is what a
transgender person is.
They had that back then?
I think they said “transsexual.”
I’ve said that if you present stuff, kids can handle it better than anyone. The
kids are going to be fine.
Do you identify as LGBTQ?
Yeah, I’m bisexual.
Me too. Back to
Kevin - you did something groundbreaking. And you’re still pretty young, you
have a lot of career ahead of you. Going forward, will you make it a point to
represent overlooked voices or will you take more of a “if it happens, it
happens” approach?
It’s always there in my
head. I never want to do it for the sake of doing it. But it’s always there. I
want more diversity with characters in every way. Like Archie having his
relationship with Valerie. That was something pretty new too, believe it or
not.
When was that?
6 or 7 years ago? We were
going to have Archie and Josie in a relationship together, but they seemed very
generic together. Valerie was way more interesting – not because of the color
thing, but she was smart and kind of sexy and she put Archie in his place so it
worked out for more than one reason. Then when [Archie CEO] Jon Goldwater came
to the company in 2008, we talked about how white Archie was – and I asked, “Can
we add gay people, can we add minorities?” And he said, “Please do.” So we ran
with it and all it did was improve the company.
Have you ever read Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison
Bechdel?
No. But I like Alison
Bechdel.
Well, I was obsessed with it growing up because it was
the only lesbian thing I had. Would you consider doing an ensemble comic with
gay and bisexual characters?
Probably. It hasn’t
really presented itself to me because I’m working 24/7 doing this. But sure,
definitely.
Everyone has a limited amount of time. You
still work for Archie, right? In addition to doing Die Kitty Die?
Right. I do occasional
covers and little stories here and there; I did a Kevin story for the Love Is Love book for Orlando [for victims of the Pulse Nightclub shooting] and I’m doing a thing now for a
Kickstarter book called Femme Magnifique. We took famous real
women from the 20th century and did stories about them.
Who did you pick?
I picked Marlo Thomas. I
like her because she was the first woman on TV to be on her own; everyone
thinks it was Mary Tyler Moore but it was really her. In the 70s she did this
thing called Free To Be You and Me. If you were a sensitive kid, it was okay, if you were a boy
who cried it was okay, if you were a girl who liked trucks, it was okay. It set
the stage for the message – if you’re different, it’s okay.
That’s radical even for today.
She’s also the
spokesperson for St. Jude’s which she took over from her father. So it was that
combination – she was a feminist ahead of her time, the Free To Be You and Me, the St. Jude’s thing. I think I picked
Eleanor Roosevelt as well. But Marlo Thomas is more fun to draw.
Let me ask you this. Creative people usually instinctively
know their medium – they’re a novelist, a comic book writer, a poet. But in
terms of exploring mediums, do you think comics present an opportunity for
LGBTQ because the creative parameters aren’t so rigid?
Absolutely. There’s a lot
of freedom in comics. It’s a gateway drug, I call it, for kids. A kid will pick
up a comic before a novel. So they may be inspired by something on the page
that they wouldn’t otherwise be.
Let’s go back to Die Kitty Die. Have you seen anybody
do cosplay for this?
A girl from the Joe
Kubert School - Shannon is her name, she was at New York Comic Con. She’s one
of our Facebook friends.
Is Die Kitty Die a limited run or are you going to
keep doing it and doing it until you get sick of it?
We’ll keep doing it until
we get sick of it.
What did doing the Die Kitty Die Kickstarter teach
you? What would you tell other people doing Kickstarters?
I would say, have it
planned out before you do it. And make sure you can meet your requirements,
your deadlines and goals. Because a lot of people fall behind and don’t even
finish them, and that’s really bad if you’re taking people’s money. We were
really good about meeting our deadlines. Make sure you meet those requirements
and deliver your product. I’ve seen people get in over their heads.
If you missed Dan at
Emerald City, you can see him at a bunch of other Cons, including San Diego, Boston,
Denver and some others. Check out his site to keep tabs on his appearances and see what he's doing next.
