Comics Interview — Issue #065

An in-depth academic interview covering the thematic and philosophical architecture of Watchmen: the treatment of power in its many forms (Veidt's liberal utopianism, Dr. Manhattan's impersonal nuclear menace, Rorschach's moral absolutism), the deliberate ambiguity of the ending, and the influence of William Burroughs and semiotic theory on Moore's approach. Moore discusses departing from DC, his refusal to sign new contracts with independents over creator rights abuses, and his intention to write graphic novels for book publishers while abandoning superheroes in favor of work rooted in mundane contemporary life, political journalism, and poetry.

A sprawling roundtable first published in the British Fantasy Advertiser, covering the structural, visual, and thematic construction of Watchmen in exhaustive detail. Topics include the nine-panel grid's formal discipline and its origins in Ditko's Spider-Man, the symmetrical character pairings, colorist John Higgins's evolving contributions, the serendipitous real-world coincidences (the smiley-face crater on Mars), the Charlton characters as archetypes, the impossibility of a worthy sequel or film adaptation, and how thinking of Watchmen as science fiction rather than superhero fiction liberated Gibbons's artistic approach.

A guest editorial arguing that comic writers are systematically undervalued compared to artists — both by the price guide and by fandom — despite writers like Chris Claremont and Marv Wolfman being the sole constants behind the longest-running successful titles.