Baaaad Muthaz

A love letter to black American pop culture of the 1970s and ’80s, this rollicking comic is aimed squarely at readers who experienced that era (and will get its insider jokes). Fronted by vocalist/bionic supersoldier Afro Desia, the Baaaad Muthaz are a four-woman (and one genderless alien) James Brown revival band with a sentient snake as manager and pilot of their spacecraft. They’re also deep-space smugglers tasked with transporting valuable Karvgjian semen, a “super-sperm” prized for its role in its species’ reproduction—and as a delicious dessert topping. An attack by rival pirates maroons the band on a planet where they must headline at the natives’ annual reproductive ritual/music festival. The lunacy only escalates as a horned entity resembling Prince, communist mandrill guerrilla soldiers, and other oddball elements are thrown into the mix. It’s a booty-licious throwback, stuffed with references that will likely go over the heads of anyone who wasn’t immersed in black subculture during the Nixon-through-Reagan years. Much of the minimalist artwork evokes the look of psychedelic black light posters and album cover art of the post-hippie era, and is as funky as the music and movies from which it draws inspiration. Campbell and company’s retro groove is perfect for those who appreciate trippy exuberance. (Sept.)