Interview: Dan Parent on ‘The Many Loves of Archie Andrews’

While Archie Comics has rebooted its familiar characters in the monthly comics, with a somewhat more sophisticated look and slightly more adult stories, the monthly digests continue to run new stories in the traditional style. One of those storylines is “The Many Loves of Archie Andrews, by longtime Archie writer and artist Dan Parent (the creator of Kevin Keller and Harper Lodge). Each story in the series pairs up Archie with a different girl.

We asked Parent to tell us about what it’s been like working on this series—and as a special bonus, there are previews of four of the stories below!

Archie is always getting into romantic situations. How is “The Many Loves of Archie Andrews” different from other Archie stories?

This series is a bit different since we focus on one girl at a time. And we do it in a way that if you didn’t read Archie Comics, you would get a little crash course about that character.

How many episodes will there be?

I believe it’s been eight stories.

Were there any girlfriends you absolutely had to have—or that you didn’t want to include? Who was the biggest challenge to write about?

I wanted to include Harper Lodge and Cricket O’Dell, and possibly Katy Keene. But we couldn’t have the series run forever, so we had to cut it down. The biggest challenge was probably Amisha, because she’s new and I was trying to not repeat myself with Archie’s other girls.

Some of these characters have been around for a while. Do you see any changes in them—or did you make any changes yourself?

I’ve tweaked Sabrina and Valerie a bit, but the characters are amazingly consistent as to how they were when they were created. Mainly it’s just the surroundings and circumstances that change. And the fashions!

How does it feel to be continuing the traditional Archie style of art and storytelling when the monthly comics are getting a reboot?

Well, I’m happy to keep the traditional style going! There will always be a strong fanbase for that!

Have the changes in those comics affected your work at all?

Not really. The art styles have changed, but the characters haven’t. So I’m happy to keep telling those classic stories!

Betty and Veronica Comics Double Digest #240

Betty and Veronica Comics Double Digest #241

Betty and Veronica Comics Double Digest #238

Betty and Veronica Comics Double Digest #239

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