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Interview with the quietly prolific Marvel letterer, who has been in the business since 1940 and calls this his first interview after forty years. Rosen traces his entry into comics through his brother Sam, who lettered The Spirit for Will Eisner and got Joe his first job lettering The Blue Beetle for Fox just before Pearl Harbor. He recalls Marvel when it was "just Stan Lee and Artie Simek working in the corner of an office on Madison Avenue" and credits Marvel's institution of creator credits with making letterers feel prouder of their work. Known for the smallest lettering in the business — a necessity he developed to fit heavy scripts into tight spaces on a Sgt. Fury story — Rosen describes lettering about forty pages a week while working seven days, and notes that his current contract with benefits would have been "undreamed of" thirty years ago when he earned fifty cents a page.

Previews the issue's contents, noting the "First Look" at D'Arc Tangent provides a cross-section of comics creators from writers/artists to letterer, editor, and publisher. Highlights the mix of newcomers like Tod Smith and the D'Arc Tangent crew alongside veterans Jack Abel and Joe Rosen, plus the magazine's first interview with overseas industry figures.