Though hugely influential on characters including Vampirella, Jean-Claude Forest's Barbarella graphic novels haven't really made a huge dent in American comics culture. Many fans are likely familiar with the 1968 movie starring Jane Fonda, but Forest's French comics haven't been printed in English since appearing in Heavy Metal back in 1978.

That's about to change thanks to Humanoids Publishing and writer Kelly Sue DeConnick. A new translation of Forest's Barbarella, scripted by DeConnick, is set for release September 24, with the first-ever English reprint of the second book, The Wrath of the Minute-Eater, coming in January.

For those completely unfamiliar with the character, the genre that Barbarella belongs to could be characterized as "space sex adventures," with the protagonist traveling from planet to planet and getting into erotic entanglements. Here's Humanoids' description of the first book:

Barbarella’s spaceship breaks down, she finds herself trapped on the planet Lythion. There, she has a series of adventurous, and bawdy, encounters with a variety of strange beings, from robots to angels.

People who follow DeConnick on Tumblr and Twitter will know that she's a noted Barbarella fan, so odds are this will be a loving adaptation.

The coffee-table book, which also includes an introduction by comics historian Paul Gravett, will retail for $79.95. There's no word yet on whether Humanoids will publish reprints of the third and fourth Barbarella books, 1977's Le Semble-Lune [The False Moon] and 1982's Le Miroir aux Tempêtes [The Storm Mirror].

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