NEW DELHI: If it was not for US President Donald Trump’s antics, the country wouldn’t have woken up from its comfortable slumber during the tenure of Barack Obama, Archie comic artist and writer Dan Parent has said.
Parent, who was in the national capital participating in the seventh Delhi Comic Con, said although it was a bad phase for the country, they could “deal with him”.
“Unfortunately we are going through a bad phase right now, hopefully it will end soon. But our country is strong, we can deal with him. But in the meantime we are kind of stuck with him and he is a challenge,” he told PTI.
Talking about the Trump’s way of doing politics and handling the government, he said the president does things one could not imagine, owing to which comedians were “having a good time”.
“He is in news every day. And he does things you can’t believe he is doing. Comedians on TV are having a great time because of Trump, and certainly, he has kind of woken up the country.
“When we had Obama, we were comfortable as he was a good leader. He did things we took for granted. When things like these happen, you just wake up,” he said.
The artist, known for creating the first gay character, Kevin Keller, in Archie comics, attended the three-day comic fest and interacted with fans.
It was the decision of the publication company to take a step into the 21st century with a new character that gave birth to Kevin Keller.
“We were discussing why Archie is still set in the 60s and had so many old characters. So we decided to bring in a new character…a gay character. We couldn’t think of a reason not to do it. We introduced Kevin and the response was great.
“The fans took to him right away. Conservative groups kind of criticized it, but they don’t really buy our books so it didn’t matter what they thought,” he said.
Kevin Keller, who first appeared in Archie Comics in 2010, has remained a fan favorite with a following in India as well.
“The response for Kevin in India has been good. I have done so many Kevin sketches here. Never had any issues here,” Parent said.
The 53-year-old artist, who grew up reading DC Comics, still chooses DC over Marvel comics.
“The big three of DC- Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman have always been my favorites. I always followed ‘Justice League’ but my favorite was ‘The Legion of Super-heroes’ when I was growing up,” he said.
With Jughead and Veronica as his two favorite characters from the Archie Comics, he also confessed to not finding time to read other comics.
“I have a pile of comic books on my bedside, but you can’t find time when you are sketching for 18 hours a day. In Indian comic book scene, I have liked what I have seen so far.
I hope to find enough time some day to read them as well,” he said.
About the future of the Riverdale-based comic characters, he feels confident and right on path with a few more TV shows to begin soon.
“Riverdale TV show is doing great, we are also planning another show on Sabrina. They are developing another show.
There is an animation in the works but it will be more classic Archie. And with the comic books, we will keep putting out the classic Archie and new stuff for newer generations,” he said.-PTI
