Parallelizing GDI+ Image Resizing .net

I've tried to parallelize the resizing of jpegs using .Net. All my tries failed, because the Graphics.DrawImage-func seems to lock while active. Try the following snipped:

Sub Main()
    Dim files As String() = IO.Directory.GetFiles("D:\TEMP")
    Dim imgs(25) As Image
    For i As Integer = 0 To 25
      imgs(i) = Image.FromFile(files(i))
    Next

    Console.WriteLine("Ready to proceed ")
    Console.ReadLine()

    pRuns = 1
    For i As Integer = 0 To 25
      Threading.Interlocked.Increment(pRuns)
      Threading.ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(New Threading.WaitCallback(AddressOf LongTerm), imgs(i))
    Next
    Threading.Interlocked.Decrement(pRuns)

    pSema.WaitOne()
    Console.WriteLine("Fin")
    Console.ReadLine()
  End Sub

  Sub LongTerm(ByVal state As Object)
    Dim newImageHeight As Integer
    Dim oldImage As Image = CType(state, Image)
    Dim newImage As Image
    Dim graph As Graphics
    Dim rect As Rectangle
    Dim stream As New IO.MemoryStream

    Try
      newImageHeight = Convert.ToInt32(850 * oldImage.Height / oldImage.Width)
      newImage = New Bitmap(850, newImageHeight, oldImage.PixelFormat)
      graph = Graphics.FromImage(newImage)
      rect = New Rectangle(0, 0, 850, newImageHeight)

      With graph
        .CompositingQuality = Drawing2D.CompositingQuality.HighQuality
        .SmoothingMode = Drawing2D.SmoothingMode.HighQuality
        .InterpolationMode = Drawing2D.InterpolationMode.HighQualityBicubic
      End With

      'Save image to memory stream
      graph.DrawImage(oldImage, rect)
      newImage.Save(stream, Imaging.ImageFormat.Jpeg)
    Catch ex As Exception

    Finally
      If graph IsNot Nothing Then
        graph.Dispose()
      End If
      If newImage IsNot Nothing Then
        newImage.Dispose()
      End If
      oldImage.Dispose()
      stream.Dispose()

      Console.WriteLine("JobDone {0} {1}", pRuns, Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId)
      Threading.Interlocked.Decrement(pRuns)
      If pRuns = 0 Then
        pSema.Set()
      End If
    End Try

  End Sub

All threads wait at graph.DrawImage(). Is there a way to speed up code performance using other functions? Is it impossible to use Graphics.Draw with multiple threads? In the real application multiple images should be resized at the same time (on a quad-core pc), not always the same. The posted code is only for testing purposes...

Thanks in advance

Edit: Updated the code according to comments