Are we ready for thirsty thirds?
Creative Staff:
Story: Tim Seeley, Sara Beattie
Art: Rebekah Isaacs
Colors: Kurt Michael Russell
Letterer: Crank!
What They Say:
The XXX-plorers must protect the supreme authority of the universe from some really decadent space knights. Are they ready to become heralds of the gods–and is that a sexual position? Emotions flare and chainsaw genitalia roar in this epic conclusion to the second arc!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The second arc of the series draws to a close here and we’ve given something that changes the status of things but still manages to keep a chunk of it as the status quo. Tim Seeley and Sara Beattie go big for the finale of this arc in a delightful and referential way and it delivers the goods on what’s come before, wrapping up several storylines. Rebekah Isaacs again has a great time on the artwork as I really love their take on these characters, just wishing they had more opportunities to get more down and dirty with it instead of playing it like they have to. It’s a great concept but sometimes you gotta go for the full money shot, especially with a great cast of characters like this.
With Pied and his people coming to take down the Covalence, we get to see Chris and the rest of the gang meet the leaders which are basically galaxy brains with tendrils that help keep them floating in place. It’s the kind of amusing visual that works well and it really does to be something completely different. What they’ve realized, upon believing Chris’ story of what Pied and his people are up to, is that the Covalence has basically become complacent after so much time and really need to deal with this. And they do, quite honestly, in a pretty good way by knowing the need to put him down hard and those that follow him. Which means gifting the Money Shot crew with incredible powers through sex that essentially evolves them in a big way into space-faring comet-like begins with group telepathy.
I love that we get a lot of really good action sequences in space here to deal with things and that we see how problematic it is in small ways that they really are completely open to each other’s thoughts and understanding of who they are. But they’re also super-brains with space powers that can save the day, so it’s all of the map in the right way as it deals with the threat before shifting to epilogue mode. As I’ve said before, I really disliked Kirk from start to finish here and even this minor humanizing of him just doesn’t work. Too much real world allusions keep it from actually working. That most things reset to how it was before this arc got underway is a little problematic because I’d like to see the Money Shot crew having a real plan moving forward, but the group dynamic is certainly going to be different – if we get more Money Shot.
In Summary:
Money Shot deals with big galactic issues and small personal issues within the space of a fight sequence pretty well. Seeley and Beattie clearly have a lot of fun with all of this but we also end up in an issue like this where the cast doesn’t get a lot of time for personal shine as they fight against the bad guys. It is fun and I do like where things end up and I do hope for a lot more to come. But I also hope that they take more risks in the future or work out a way to do some kind of specials that are clearly in the 18+ market. It’s a great concept overall and this storyline was a lot of fun when looked at in full – if you subtract the Kirk element.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Vault Comics
Release Date: November 4th, 2020
MSRP: $3.99
