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Joint interview about launching DC's new direct-sales-only series The Omega Men. They discuss building alien cultures for the Vegan Star System, their realistic approach to violence freed from the Comics Code, and their collaborative Marvel-style working process. Giffen shares his rocky early career — getting into Marvel through a lucky portfolio drop-off, a period away from comics selling vacuum cleaners in New Jersey, and returning to DC through a conciliatory phone call to Joe Orlando. They also detail their plans for the series: treating it as a society of 100 characters rather than a traditional superhero team, with real casualties and shifting focus.

A "First Look" presented as a transcript of an actual editorial plotting session for World's Finest Comics #300, held over lunch at a Japanese restaurant in Manhattan. DAK, editor Slifer, and writer Barr hash out the logistics of a massive story involving Superman, Batman, the JLA, the Outsiders, and the new villain Zeta on the alien world of Olda — juggling a red-sun-depowered Superman leading the JLA, alien hordes invading Earth through a "Cosmic Tree" whose roots emerge in major cities, and time-field disruptions that allow cameos from Sgt. Rock and Jonah Hex. The freewheeling session captures the genuine collaborative energy of plotting, from serious structural debates about the overpopulation moral dilemma to gleeful tangents like "Let's kill them all! Big Death Issue!" The resolution they land on: Zeta, the god-level villain searching for purpose, will be left in charge of the alien world as a "God of Guidance."

Sprawling conversation (with Roger Slifer and D. Jon Zimmerman sitting in) that is essentially an oral history of his career and the comics industry. Shares extensive insider stories from his years as Jack Kirby's assistant at DC — how the New Gods saga was meant to be only 18 issues, how Carmine Infantino forced guest stars into the books, how DC had Superman's face redrawn over Kirby's pencils without telling him, and how DC's publisher once concluded that "the secret of Marvel's success was bad art." Gives a detailed account of the Stan Lee / Jack Kirby working relationship and the ambiguity of who "wrote" what. Reveals extensive behind-the-scenes work packaging Tarzan and Korak comics for overseas markets, the deliberate sabotage (or staggering incompetence) that put a Scooby-Doo issue's pages in wrong order at Marvel, and his theory that DC and Marvel acquire licensed properties primarily to keep them from competitors. Currently writing Blackhawk for DC, dialogue for Sergio Aragones' Groo at Pacific, and DNAgents with Will Meugniot for Eclipse.

The inker of The Omega Men since issue #1 discusses his decision to remain on the book despite Keith Giffen's departure and Roger Slifer's announced exit after issue #13, which had left him "disenchanted." He explains that his growing affinity with Tod Smith's pencils and his sense of obligation to a book he'd been with from the start convinced him to stay, after taking just two issues off. DeCarlo passionately advocates for the overlooked role of inkers, arguing that the final look of a comic is really the inker's responsibility, and cites his training under Frank McLaughlin and Dick Giordano. He reveals he has been hiding Marvel characters — the Hulk, the Thing, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and even Charlie Brown — as Easter eggs throughout The Omega Men, and expresses excitement about inking a Batman Annual pencilled by Michael Golden, which he calls the best work of his career.

In Part Two of his interview (continued from #10), Moench covers the full arc of his career since leaving Marvel in late 1982: his unexpected detour into Hollywood writing screenplays for Ralph Bakshi's Red Sonja film (produced by Dino De Laurentiis), brokered by Jim Steranko, which he found exhilarating but surreal and ultimately unproductive. He discusses SIX FROM SIRIUS, his 120-page science-fiction limited series with Paul Gulacy for Epic, born from a years-long passion project with no deadlines. On his DC work, he talks candidly about the complications of introducing Jason Todd as the new Robin, his ongoing Batman and Detective Comics run, and his upcoming assignment on Omega Men — diplomatically avoiding direct criticism of predecessor Roger Slifer while noting his intent to make the characters more sympathetic and optimistic. He closes with pointed opinions on the comics press's tendency toward extreme lionization and sudden dismissal, citing Frank Miller and Don McGregor as victims of this cycle, and dismissing the lavish praise for Love and Rockets as publisher-driven hype.

DAK recounts how he co-created the visual design for Marvel's Lunatik with Keith Giffen on The Defenders in the 1970s, and traces how Giffen's later work at DC on The Omega Men evolved that concept into Lobo, with Roger Slifer supplying the name.