Archie Comics writer/artist Dan Parent talked about his work on the Kevin Keller series in his "Ask Me Anything" forum Tuesday, hosted by GLAAD and the social video network #waywire. Parent's third consecutive GLAAD Media Award nomination was announced in January; he is up for Outstanding Comic Book for Archie Comics' Kevin Keller series.
Keller, the first out gay character in the Archie universe, was introduced in the Veronica series in September 2010, had a miniseries during summer 2011, and became the central figure in his own ongoing series in February 2012.
During his forum, Parent was asked about the One Million Moms boycott around last year's Life with Archie #16 which flashed forward a few years and saw Kevin marrying Dr. Clay Walker; this became the first Archie issue ever to sell out.
"When we first introduced Kevin there was some negative backlash. I think there were a few subscriptions cancelled, like 6 or 7. But thousands more came on, so it was worth the tradeoff there," Parent said. "So once One Million Moms came into the issue, it got a lot of controversy and sold out. We want to thank One Million Moms, and we hope that every issue we put out they protest because they really helped the case." Check out the video below.
Kevin Keller can also currently be seen in Archie's ongoing crossover series Archie Meets Glee, illustrated by Parent and written by Glee writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.
Check out the full list of GLAAD Media Award nominees here. The GLAAD Media Awards are presented in three different cities. The event in New York City took place this last Saturday. The GLAAD Media Awards continue in Los Angeles on April 20 and San Francisco on May 11.