The Magazine of Comics News and Criticism. This issue, Brian K. Vaughan, writer of Y: The Last Man, takes readers behind the scenes of the upcoming Y film, TV's Lost, his award-winning comic Pride of Baghdad and the politics that infuse his WildStorm series Ex Machina, as well as his upcoming comics projects. Plus: Paul Karasik chats with Italian cartoonist Gipi about his Santa Maria video and animation studio, They Found the Car, Garage Band and Notes for a War Story. Also: John Kerschbaum of The Wiggly Reader talks brutality; Noah Van Sciver conducts a cartoon interview with Liz Prince; and should superheroes come out of the closet? Plus: Reviews of Zot!, Kirby: King of Comics, Chester Gould's biography, Terry Moore's Echo, The Herbie Archives, and the Independents documentary. Cover by Niko Henrichon.

News
Michael Dean, "Best Foot Forward" (p. 6)
Eric Millikin and staff, Journal Datebook (p. 18)
Interviews
Sean T. Collins, The Brian K. Vaughan Interview (p. 32)
Paul Karasik, The Gipi Interview (p. 72)
Rob Clough, The John Kerschbaum Interview (p. 78)
Essays
Noah Berlatsky, "Comics in the Closet" (p. 100)
R.C. Harvey, "Voight's Theorist, A Nerd Before Its Time" (p. 139)
Reviews
Kent Worcester, Kirby: King of Comics (p. 110)
William W. Savage Jr., Chester Gould: A Daughter's Biography of the Creator of Dick Tracy (p. 113)
Noah Berlatsky, Zot! 1987-1991 (p. 116)
Kent Worcester, Jews and American Comics (p. 119)
Noah Berlatsky, The Art of Ill Will (p. 121)
Rich Kreiner, Edison Steelhead's Lost Portfolio (p. 123)
Leonard Rifas, As the World Burns (p. 127)
Kristian Williams, After 9/11 (p. 131)
Mini-reviews of "Echo 1-6", "Good-Bye", "Herbie Archives Vol. 1", "Hieronymus B.", "Independents", "The Klassic Komics Klub", "Jessica Farm Vol. 1", "Arab In America and Flock of Angels Vol. 1" (p. 133)
Columns
R.C. Harvey, Comicopia: "Alex Raymond at Last" (p. 161)
Bill Randall, Lost in Translation: The Way We Were: Dousei Jidai" (p. 174)
Tom Crippen, Post Human Review: "Unitards" (p. 180)
Rich Kreiner, Meet the Comics Press: "Driven to Abstraction" (p. 183)
Frank Santoro, "Minimalism" (p. 189)
Donald Phelps, The Observer: "Love in Bloom: Jackson in Wonderland" (p. 193)
Kenneth Smith, Time Out of Joint: "The Crypto-Revolution of Our Age" (p. 197)
Coming Comics (p. 205)
Illustration
Noah Van Sciver, A Cartoon Interview with Liz Prince (p. 29)
Preview: "Mr. Mendoza's Paintbrush" by Luis Alberto Urrea, adapted to a graphic novel by Christopher Cardinale (p. 105)