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A double interview: Jack C. Harris traces Simonson's full career from his college art-school senior thesis (The Star Slammers) through his DC and Marvel work (Manhunter, Alien, X-Men/Teen Titans), to his current revitalization of Thor, on which he has been given complete carte blanche as writer and artist. Simonson explains how he's drawing on Viking imagery and Norse mythology rather than the Kirby template, is rehabilitating neglected characters like Balder, and has ideas for the run dating back to 1967. Steve Ringgenberg's bonus interview focuses on the Star Slammers graphic novel, Walt's literary and artistic influences (Heinlein, Gordion Dickson's Dorsai books, Jim Holdaway, Frank Bellamy, European artists like Moebius), and his detailed plot-to-thumbnails-to-script working method.

Simonson discusses drawing the four-issue RoboCop vs. Terminator series for Dark Horse, scripted Marvel-style by Frank Miller, detailing how the two collaborated and praising Miller's careful story structure. He covers his wide range of concurrent freelance projects and reflects on his career-long approach to page design, panel composition, inking technique, and the tradeoffs between regular monthly assignments and the freedom of freelancing.

The husband-and-wife team discuss their collaboration on X-Factor and the logistics of coordinating the sprawling Mutant Massacre crossover with Claremont, Nocenti, and others. Louise explains her plans to reveal that the original X-Men are dangerously underpowered relative to modern threats, detailing the deliberate destruction of Angel's wings and wealth as a character-study exercise, and previews Apocalypse and the Four Horsemen as upcoming antagonists. Walt announces he is stepping down as Thor writer after nearly four years and intends to take a break before embarking on a graphic novel based on Russian folk and fairy tales.

Addresses reader requests for more alternative and independent publisher coverage, noting that the magazine has always aimed for breadth across the field but has been constrained by space. Promotes issue #8's alternative-leaning content and previews issue #9 as a giant-size special with a Walt Simonson Thor cover.

Joint interview about the creation of Marvel's upcoming Power Pack, a series featuring four super-powered children. Brigman, a newcomer who had previously done only scattered fill-in work, describes how she met Louise Jones (Simonson) at Marvel and won the assignment with character sketches; she discusses deadline pressures, her admiration for Walt Simonson's design approach, and the challenge of drawing convincing children. Louise Simonson explains the origins of the concept (a long-held idea for a younger group than the New Mutants), introduces the four Power children and their powers, and talks about the emotional complexities of children gaining super-abilities — particularly the "loss of innocence" theme — while expressing enthusiasm for her first solo writing project after years as an editor.

Now transitioning from editor to writer, "Weezie" Simonson looks back on editing Marvel's most successful titles — including X-Men, New Mutants, and Star Wars — and shares data-rich insights into the comics market: X-Men sells equally well on the newsstand and through direct sales and has confounded predictions of decline for four consecutive years, while Star Wars sells primarily to a newsstand (younger, non-specialist) audience. She discusses the breakout sales phenomenon of Walt Simonson's Thor run, which quadrupled its readership in just four issues, and reflects on what makes the X-Men appealing: Claremont's deep investment in characterization over any single creative team. On her writing career, she talks about Power Pack, the inspirations behind the characters (including naming Julie Power after her own daughter), and her theory — elaborated memorably with Ann Nocenti present — that a Catholic education uniquely prepares one for comic-book writing by instilling a strong sense of myth, moral duality, and magnificent villainy.

In his first major interview, the Marvel veteran talks about his long career trajectory from advertising work to joining Marvel in 1968, sharing candid opinions including his view that Stan Lee's Silver Surfer characterization made the hero too "wimpy" and that he prefers loose plot-style scripts over full scripts for the creative freedom they allow. Buscema discusses leaving the Hulk and ROM after nine and five years respectively to avoid creative ruts, praises Walt Simonson and John Romita as underappreciated comics talents, and expresses strong views that comics should reflect Judeo-Christian values and avoid graphic violence and sexuality. He is currently working on a twelve-issue Eternals limited series (written by Peter Gillis, inked by Al Gordon) which he considers the best work of his career, plus a Balder & Karnilla mini-series written by Walt Simonson.

The co-owner and import manager of the Paris-based Album Shops discuss the structure of French comics distribution (publisher-direct vs. national press distributors), pricing laws under the Socialist government, and the contraction of the French comics market due to publisher overproduction. Bruno offers observations on American comics from a French retail perspective — noting that superheroes are a hard sell in France, that John Byrne and Frank Miller are the most popular American creators, and that Chaykin's Shadow was perceived as anti-communist by French readers. Both discuss their rapid receipt of new American comics, shop signings with creators including Walt Simonson and Bill Sienkiewicz, and the challenges of shoplifting.

Reis describes his extensive private collection of original Batman artwork, acquired over roughly fifteen years by trading handmade multi-layer 3-D paper shadow-boxes with artists including Berni Wrightson, Jack Kirby, John Byrne, Bill Sienkiewicz, Walt Simonson, George Pérez, and many others. He explains the mechanics and artistry of the 3-D shadow-box medium, offers advice for new collectors on acquiring original art at conventions and through trades, and reflects on how creating the 3-Ds deepened his appreciation for comic art as a craft.

Wide-ranging conversation covering Miller's just-completed Sin City — a solo 200-page graphic novel he describes as a lifelong dream project — as well as RoboCop vs. Terminator (scripted for Walt Simonson to illustrate) and his RoboCop 3 screenplay. Miller discusses the "fascist" accusations leveled at The Dark Knight Returns, his philosophy of heroic fiction informed by Ayn Rand's The Romantic Manifesto, the writer-versus-artist debate in comics, and how Hollywood and comics have inversely traded their respective senses of heroism.

Pratt and Pertierra explain CompuServe's Comics Forum: Pratt as sysop describes how the forum operates (message boards, data libraries, real-time conference rooms), its half-million subscribers, and the roster of comics professionals who participate, including Chris Claremont, Walt and Louise Simonson, Peter Laird, and Mark Evanier. Pertierra describes his own path back into comics fandom and how he became an assistant sysop, and both discuss the community atmosphere and topics — censorship, art quality, Japanese animation — that drive discussion.