Four issues into a five-issue story, Ted McKeever's "Pencil Head" sprinkles surrealist happenings on top of a barely disguised look at McKeever's journey through the mainstream American comics industry from 1990 to 2004(ish). Names are fudged to placate the lawyers, but you don't need a crystal ball to see the obvious on this one (Crank Filler? Schmal Plevitz?). But even so, picking out ALL the references can be tricky. But luckily, Greg's area of expertise is just that era of comics, so listen to he & Mike walk you through the ins & outs of this sharp-witted 'bande desinee a clef'. Afterwards, the focus shifts to over to manga, as Mike digs into a Japanese print copy of "Weekly Shonen Jump." How different is it from what we get digitally in the US? What cultural similarities and differences do the two comics bring to mind? All that, plus the name of the Silver Age artist banned from Marvel offices for nocturnal activities and much, much more on this episode!

Robots From Tomorrow is a weekly comics podcast recorded deep beneath the Earth's surface. You can subscribe to it via iTunes or through the RSS feed at RobotsFromTomorrow.com. You can also follow Mike and Greg on Twitter. This episode is brought to you by Third Eye Comics. Enjoy your funny books.