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Lee, a Princeton psychology graduate who stumbled into comics only two years before the interview, recounts his rapid rise: self-taught from library anatomy books and back issues of Comics Interview, he landed a try-out story from Archie Goodwin and Carl Potts at his first ever convention, then completed eleven issues of Alpha Flight before moving to Punisher War Journal. He shares practical advice for breaking in — showing work face-to-face at conventions, using a mirror to spot anatomical errors (a tip from Terry Austin), and tracing published art to understand construction.

Potts, editor of the Punisher line and writer/layout artist on Punisher War Journal, explains that the character's appeal lies in the theme that revenge creates a never-ending cycle and functions as the Punisher's self-punishment for failing to protect his family. He speaks at length about his mentoring of new artists — including Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, and Jon Bogdanove — and his use of cinematography principles to teach comic-book storytelling. He details upcoming storylines, reveals that three Punisher graphic novels are in progress, and notes that a Punisher movie was being scouted in Australia.

Byrne reflects on his return to the X-Men franchise as scripter (working from Jim Lee and Whilce Portacio's plots), running down his take on each major character and flagging Gambit's Cajun dialect as his chief challenge. He outlines his long-term goals — including a major "mutant massacre" to thin the overcrowded mutant population — while discussing the concurrent projects he is phasing down or handing off. Byrne also speaks at length about Next Men, his creator-owned Dark Horse series intended as an attempt to build a "Fantastic Four" for a virgin universe, and voices frustration with an industry driven by event-publishing and fan spending habits over storytelling.

A Nairobi-raised commercial artist who built his career doing storyboards for films (*Freejack*, Fried Green Tomatoes) and advertising (Kellogg's Tony the Tiger, Coca-Cola, U.S.M.C. commercials), Boonthanakit discusses his upcoming multi-part Wolverine story for Marvel Comics Presents, written by Dwight Zimmerman. He reflects on balancing the lucrative commercial market with his long-held desire to do mainstream comics, and expresses admiration for Crying Freeman and Modesty Blaise alongside Jim Lee's Marvel work.

White traces Impel's rapid growth from a sports-card distributor to the world's second-largest trading card company, driven by the breakout success of the Marvel Universe Series One and Two sets. He discusses upcoming releases including the Jim Lee X-Men set (with a gold-foiled hologram and a new X-Force Sentinel character debuting via cards), the DC Cosmic Cards line, Disney and Star Trek sets, and market research showing that women now purchase 36% of all entertainment cards.

(int. Jim Salicrup) — Part one of a two-part interview with a legendary Marvel collector whose 8,000-book collection includes a copy of Marvel Comics #1 signed by three original artists. Reece recounts his childhood in Brooklyn, his lonely teenage years collecting comics at English flea markets while attending school near Manchester, and his return to America in 1967 with his comics as virtually his only possessions. Describes the awe of attending his first Phil Seuling convention in 1968, where he acquired Captain America #1 for a fraction of its later value, and his brief, unhappy stint in Marvel's reproduction department — where he believes an editor sabotaged his hiring for a better position out of fear that Stan Lee would rely on Reece's encyclopedic knowledge over the editorial staff.

Shooter discusses the origins and astonishing commercial success of Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars, which outsells even The X-Men nearly two-to-one and is the best-selling comic series in twenty-five years. He explains how the Beyonder story was designed from the outset with Marvel's entire continuity in mind, with input from writers like Claremont and Byrne, and how the Mattel toy tie-in came about with Marvel refusing to compromise the integrity of the Marvel Universe. He also reveals that a sequel, tentatively called Secret Wars II, is already in the works, and that the ending is known only to himself and editor Tom DeFalco — not even Stan Lee.

Conducted the morning after their elaborately themed wedding at Atlanta's Dixie Trek convention, this wide-ranging interview covers the history of MICRA from its origins as a prose novel and rejected graphic-novel proposal to its eventual publication through Comics Interview Publications. Waldron discusses his background in adolescent psychology and his twelve years running the Atlanta Fantasy Fair, where he cultivated relationships with figures like Stan Lee, Jim Steranko, and Forrest Ackerman. Barrows describes her journey from graphic designer to letterer and editor on MICRA; both discuss MICRA's science-fiction themes — a domed future society where economic inequality is a central concern — and Waldron outlines plans for a follow-up 12-issue series and a possible prose novel adaptation.

Colan recounts his career beginning at Fiction House in 1944, his years at Timely/Atlas under Stan Lee, his use of the alias "Adam Austin" for early Marvel work to avoid issues with DC, and his definitive runs on Daredevil, Sub-Mariner, Doctor Strange, and Tomb of Dracula. He describes auditioning for Tomb of Dracula by sending sample Dracula designs in one day, reveals he modeled Dracula on Jack Palance, and speaks candidly about how Jim Shooter's editorial style forced him out of Marvel.

Mooney traces his career from 1930s pulp illustration for Weird Tales through his Golden Age work at Ace, Quality, and Fiction House, his definitive decade-long run on Supergirl for DC under Mort Weisinger, and his move to Marvel in the late 1960s where he worked on Spider-Man, Man-Thing, Son of Satan, and Ms. Marvel. He discusses the contrasting editorial styles of Weisinger ("Jekyll and Hyde") and Stan Lee, and his current work on the Superboy TV tie-in comic.

Don Markstein argues the Capital City policies create a "chilling effect" on experimental small-press publishing; Lee Solomon writes an open letter to Batman Forever producers suggesting Leonardo DiCaprio for Robin (DAK notes Chris O'Donnell and Jim Carrey had since been cast).