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Rubinstein discusses his start at age thirteen as an assistant at Neal Adams and Dick Giordano's Continuity Studios, crediting Giordano as the definitive influence on a generation of inkers including Klaus Janson and Terry Austin. He argues passionately that inking is a full artistic discipline requiring anatomical knowledge and an understanding of light and rendering, not mere tracing, and discusses his approach of preserving each penciller's individual style rather than imposing a homogeneous look, and his pride in inking 164 different pencillers for the Marvel Universe Handbook. This is part one of two.

Concluding a two-part conversation, Rubinstein discusses the difference between technically proficient and genuinely artistic inkers, citing Klaus Janson as the most innovative in the field, and his ongoing debate with Bill Sienkiewicz over the tension between expressionism and serving the source material. He defends Jim Shooter against industry criticism, describing Shooter's genuine care for quality and his personal role in negotiating favorable deals for creators. He also explains his decision to ink Don Newton's final DC job as an act of mourning, and talks about burnout, business pressures, and his assistant Kyle Baker's habit of hiding Bullwinkle in background panels.

Part two of a two-part interview with DC's Vice President and Managing Editor, focusing on his philosophy of inking and the state of DC's creative pipeline. Giordano argues that inking is primarily intellectual — "the work is done in your head before you sit down to a drawing board" — and that a good inker's contribution should be invisible to everyone except the penciler. Discusses training many of the industry's top inkers (Terry Austin, Bob Layton, Klaus Janson, Joe Rubinstein) through his assistant program, and his new talent development workshop at DC led by Sal Amendola. Reveals DC plans to revitalize their five core heroes (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash) in 1984, admits to a severe graphic novel bottleneck because top creators are overcommitted, and laments that the direct-sales fan market doesn't embrace illustrative styles like Stan Drake's, making it hard to diversify beyond superheroes.