Comic books helped Daniel Parent improve his reading skills when he was a boy. Now that he’s a comic book artist and writer, his work is helping a new generation gain exposure to and understanding of our increasingly diverse society.

“Ever since I was a little kid, I was into comic books,” said Parent, 47. “That’s actually how I really started to read. I was a mediocre reader, and then when I got into comics, my reading level shot through the roof.”

On Saturday, Parent will be at Casablanca Comics in Portland to meet fans and sign his work. For the past 25 years, Parent has written and drawn for Archie Comics, as both a staffer and a freelancer. He’s also done work for a host of other companies, including Marvel Comics, Felix the Cat Productions, Mattel, Disney, HarperCollins and Golden Books.

Parent’s latest work for Archie Comics includes the just-completed “Archie Meets KISS” storyline for “Archie” — in which the gang helps the band defeat monsters bent on making Riverdale boring — and the new “Kevin Keller” series. Introduced in 2010, Keller is the first openly gay character in the Archie cast. His first appearance, in “Veronica” No. 202, was the first to sell out in Archie Comics’ 71-year history, prompting the company to launch Keller’s own ongoing series last month.

While the first issue came out only weeks ago, Parent is now working on the fifth issue.

“We’re learning more about his past, and we’re just getting him to a place where he’ll date,” Parent said. “It gives us more material. The more we learned about Kevin, the more he wants to be a typical teenager, which includes dating.”

Parent said that so far, the public reception of Keller has been overwhelmingly positive.

“We were a little worried that there could be backlash,” he said. “And there were some people who weren’t happy. But it was probably 95 percent positive I think in this day and age, kids have less prejudice than older people.”

Creating Keller was just one example of how Parent has helped to bring Archie, one of the most recognizable comic-book characters in history, into the modern era. In 2010, he wrote the comic’s first biracial storyline, which paired Archie with Valerie, the African-American member of Josie and The Pussycats. The same year, he depicted President Obama sharing an ice-cream soda with Sarah Palin.

When he attends comic book conventions or hosts appearances, Parent gets a lot of fan feedback. He often meets the parents of young children at these events who praise the Keller character.

“Some people have told me that it was sort of an easy way to ease your way into telling someone what a gay person is,” Parent said. “So it is a teaching tool, too.”

When he’s creating a new issue of a comic, Parent starts by coming up with a story idea and a synopsis. Once this is approved by his editor, he works on sketching out the scenes and adding the dialogue.

“Dialogue is one thing I’ve always had a really easy time with,” Parent said. “What’s harder for me is coming up with basic storylines or the frame of the events.”

But even when he struggles to devise a narrative or work on a tricky plot point, Parent realizes that he has a pretty sweet gig.

“I’m always in my real zone when I’m drawing,” Parent said. “I really like drawing for people and making them happy.”

Staff Writer Avery Yale Kamila can be contacted at 791-6297 or at:

akamila@pressherald.com

Twitter: AveryYaleKamila