Interview with Rick Parker
Artist, letterer Rick Parker spent a long career at Marvel and elsewhere, lettering literally thousands of comic book pages in the 1980’s, including the Kraven’s Last Hunt cross-over in Spider-Man titles in 1987. Rick drew all 28 issues of the Beavis and Butthead series that started in 1994. His most recent work is Drafted (JUL241194), a memoir of his time in the Army during the Vietnam War era which The Beat named one of the “50 best of 2024.”
Q: Rick, Why are we getting “Drafted” from you at this point in time? I know this has been a long project for you. What are you feeling as it makes its debut?
A: Well, Chad—as you know, I’d been dreaming of doing my own graphic novel for years after having illustrated graphic novels written by others. It might be fair to say it was only when the phone stopped ringing and the work stopped coming that I told myself that it was time to get serious. I spent a year or more practicing my figure drawing before beginning to draw the story in 2017. I finally finished it in 2022 and I felt a great sense of relief as doing my own book had been on my bucket list for over 30 years.
Q: Who are you trying to reach?
A: As for the audience, the publisher has it for 16 and up and I hope to reach anyone who has ever been thrown into a life-threatening situation against their will and found themselves ill-prepared and having to make the best of it.
Q: I’ve seen pages from your current project about your career at Marvel and beyond on your Facebook. How is that progressing?
A: My current project is called The Artiste and it’s the story of a young artist who comes to New York City in the early 70’s to seek his fame and fortune. It’s pretty- much written and laid out. I’m going back through it and tweaking it. I think I’ll need another year to finish it and hopefully it will be published after that.
Q: You’ve been on the convention circuit this summer.
A: Yes I was an invited guest at the San Diego Comic Con and was honored with an Inkpot Award. I want to go to as many comics shows as I can to let people know about my new book and see old friends and make new ones.
Drafted (JUL241194) is available now from ABRAMS ComicArts and you can order your own copy by chatting with your local comic shop owner.
