Santos Sisters

Greg and Fake debut with a self-aware pastiche that blends an entire Saturday morning cartoon lineup into a fitfully entertaining sugar rush. Granted powers by the mysterious Madame Sosostris, trash-talking teens Ambar and Alana transform into superheroines in luchador masks when they shout, “It’s Santos Sisters time!” Between partying, bickering, and trading expletive-laden quips, they take on threats ranging from carjackers to a monster cinnamon bun to Snowscrotch, a penis-shaped yeti. The Santoses’ world is a streetwise mash-up of 1980s and ’90s kiddie cartoons, incorporating nods to Archie, Scooby-Doo, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Marvel’s Star Comics; one chapter is an extended parody of the classic nightmare-fuel “Purple Smurf” episode of The Smurfs. Greg and Fake nail the retro look, especially the Archie-style designs of the main characters, and the mostly short, silly plots mix M-rated material with the stilted sincerity of classic children’s comics. The whole package floats along like an LSD-laced soap bubble, but canny Gen X and millennial readers will appreciate the trippy nostalgia. (Mar.)