Kevin Keller Creator Dan Parent Recovering After Eye Injury

Dan Parent, the star Archie Comics artist behind the creation of Kevin Keller, suffered a recent health scare but is recovering well, he told supporters on Facebook.

Parent, who has been one of the main artists shaping the traditional Archie look for years, explained in the post that he had suffered a hemorrhage in his eye, and that while he had briefly had vision problems and was worried about more serious symptoms, his vision has now been restored and laser surgery has repaired most of the damage already.

You can read his full post below:

Thanks to everyone who has has shown concern about my recent health “mishap”. My eye is doing much better, and my vision is back to 20/20. There is still some blood that has to settle in my eye, and that will take a few weeks more to be absorbed back in my body. But I’m feeling good. No more headaches and I’m feeling like 90% back to my old self.

For those of you who don’t know what happened, about 3 weeks ago I had a vitreous hemorrhage in my right eye ( google it ). Yeah, as if 2016 didn’t suck enough, this was the cherry on top! It was very scary, as my eye had a barrage of blood shooting through it, and other crap , and I was worried that was having a stroke or a retinal detachment. Fortunately , neither of those. I immediately had it checked, and there were no tears or detachments, just the hemorrhage. ( Theres no rhyme or reason for these hemorrhages , they are more common than you think. But being very nearsighted increases your chances of having one, I’ve learned)

But the following week when I had a recheck, they found a large tear in my retina that either formed in the following days, or was missed in the early diagnosis because of the difficulty seeing into my eye because of all the junk in there. They immediately did laser surgery to seal the tear.

A week later, good news. The tear is 90% healed,and the rest of the retina looks good. I still have to monitor the eye over the next few months, but I can resume normal activities now. Which is a good thing, because I have lot of projects I’m working on for 2017! And I’m really looking forward to this years projects, conventions and all that other fun stuff! ( I am cutting my convention schedule way down though. I burned myself out last year, which I’m sure didn’t help my situation)

So, that’s the latest!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR! And be grateful for the things we take for granted! Like our eyesight!!!!! So, get your eyes checked regularly! They can spot little problems that can turn into big ones!

Parent is currently working on a digital comic for Archie, Life With Kevin, which just released its third issue. You can read our interview with Keller, and check out some process art from the first issue, here.

The new series, set in the world of Life With Archie, comes from Parent and artist J. Bone and centers on the life of Kevin Keller, starting shortly after college. The character won’t live in Riverdale during the series, and it will not pick up from the heartbreaking end of Life With Archie, but rather bridge the gap between “traditional” high school adventures in Riverdale and the adult lives of previous Life With… comics.

You can get a copy of Life With Kevin on ComiXology or the Archie app now.