He Lost His Keys in Space

From Australian cartoonists Milton (Animals Rule This Land) and Lang comes a goofy space opera spoof that upturns the cliché of Earthlings as ambassadors of an enlightened culture. À la Spaceballs, explorer Vega Ulysses is an incompetent braggart and blowhard returning from a 12-year trek to strange new worlds having botched every single mission. Worse yet, he’s left his house keys behind. As Ulysses retraces his journey, he catalogs his misadventures: Weekend at Bernie–ing an alien tribal leader he assassinated, accidentally burning down the forest on a planet whose residents feel their trees’ pain, and being put on trial by robotic aliens for the “most heinous crime” of placing things inside their box-like heads (naturally, Ulysses cooks popcorn and dunks a basketball in them). By the time Ulysses returns to Earth after encountering a Jack Kirby–styled God, he’s learned nothing at all. The colorful cartoony art leans into the ridiculousness with sight gags playing on Milton and Lang’s outrageous alien worlds. Fans of lighthearted sci-fi like Futurama and Star Trek: Lower Decks will get a kick out of this. (Sept.)