Too much reality in my comics.
Creative Staff:
Story: Tim Seeley, Sara Beattie
Art: Rebekah Isaacs
Colors: Kurt Michael Russell
Letterer: Crank!
What They Say:
As the XXX-plorers plan for a new mission (to a planet full of hotties torn from the covers of romance novels), forces from the highest levels of both American and interstellar governments plot to stop their expansion into the universe!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Money Shot continues to be a lot of fun and I adore the concept, hoping it has a good run ahead of it still. Tim Seeley and Sara Beattie are having a blast with it and I do like that they’re exploring some fun things and interesting topics. And it’s put together with great artwork from Rebekah Isaacs where we’re getting something that’s being a bit more free and honest with its sexuality as it goes on, which makes it all the better. But this issue brings way too much reality into my comics and I’m really conflicted. I’m not abandoning the book by any measure but I totally could have done without a Trump knock-off character joining the team while being the President of the USA. So many of the mannerisms and elements of him are outlandish here but they’ve been so utterly exhausting in the real world that it lands with a thud here.
The premise for this sets up what this next larger arc is all about as we see how the larger organization that operates over our galaxy came to visit a few years back and offered up lots and lots of things to help heal the planet, humanity, and more. The problem was that President Kirk insisted it all be given to the US first and that everything be done through him and the bank his sister runs, because nothing is free and capitalism is what it’s all about. The whole thing goes badly and leads to where humanity has been since then, listless and bored, allowing for the Money Shot program to exist and capitalize on with its whole sex with aliens thing all while being cut off from the rest of the world. It brings it all full circle and we see at the very end that these trips being taken are now being noticed by those above and it’s going to cause problems.
While that sets up the arc, within this we get the team trying to figure out their next target and it slows focuses on Cockaigne, a world with tech they may be able to use to power their shots while also getting coin for the sexytimes. Chris has concerns over the people there being too humanoid but everything about it is ideal. What we see is when Bree spends time with her privately that there’s a self-sabotaging element to Chris that’s becoming clearer to Bree. I do like the intimate moments between the two but when Bree calls her out on how she sabotages things it gets intense in the right ways to try and get Chris to look at things better. Of course, it’s all too little too late because President Dickhead has decided to confiscate the whole project – unless he can join them on a mission for his own reasons. While surely some of it is for the whole alien sex fun there’s also a sense that he’s got a bigger plan percolating in the background here.
In Summary:
I hate Kirk with a passion and my hope is that he doesn’t throw the series off-balance. I can see where Seeley and Beattie are going with it but I’m not quite sure it was necessary for it to be like this because, well, this series is definitely escapism with some great conversations occurring within it about sex and identity. Throwing a Trump-clone into it and joining the team just drags the real-world headaches into it as well. There’s a lot of good stuff here to like, especially with Chris and Bree and the continually growing friction with Omar, but I hope that the Kirk material doesn’t detract from them and the rest of our strong cast. At least we got to hear that ringtone a half dozen times.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Vault Comics
Release Date: August 5th, 2020
MSRP: $3.99
