Convoluted but fun.
Creative Staff:
Story: Tim Seeley, Sara Beattie
Art: Caroline Leigh Layne
Colors: Kurt Michael Russell
Letterer: Crank!
What They Say:
The XXX-plorers need to rescue two of their own from a planet of human hunters. And that means teaming up with the makers of XXX-plorers XXX-parody, XXX-XXX-plorers. Yeah, we know it’s a lot of Xs. But, hey, maybe that’ll sell some comics!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Tim Seeley and Sara Beattie have been having a lot of fun with this current storyline and I’ve been glad that it hasn’t just been a rehash of what came before with some tists. That helps a lot and I like the slow but steady expansions that we’ve been getting as well as getting to know the characters more. I’ve also continued to enjoy the growth in watching artist Caroline Leigh Layne as she continues to deliver us the diverse cast in type and body here more than before, which works well. The aliens look good and the look at the new bogeyman here in Skulzoch only adds to the kind of wonky space silliness that I want from this series which can still be done seriously.
As the storylines have progressed, some of it has gotten a little more convoluted than it needs to be, making it a bit messy. The alien side of things with Doug and Annie is what plays out in a simpler form as their captor is all trying to figure out how to show up his wife that she needs to listen to him more as his capturing humans is a good thing. Annie’s encouraging it as a way to stay alive rather than be thrown into a pit of violent and hungry creatures, but Doug steps in to show his feminism in a way that impresses her. But all it does is set their captor to tossing them into the cage itself, which frustrates the hell out of Annie, and rightly so. They do luck out with some short-term rescue from an unexpected ally, which is comical for the moment, but it leads to the bigger rescue which in turn sets Earth into a big and messy target.
The earthbound side of this issue is what makes up most of the issue and it’s just a bit rough to get into. There’s a lot going on here in regards to Prohl and it just didn’t click for me. That Kirkwood and the rest are basically just a split version of Prohl that crashed here before sets up its own complications, mostly with the way that Bree may not be pleased since she’s not into sharing and Prohl is literally shared across four people, but that’s more something that Chris is trying to use to drive a wedge into things to get Bree back herself. We get a good bit of action with the “hunter Prohl” that shows up but that it’s own gimmick with who is under the helmet. The reveal didn’t really land for me or the way it kind of stumbles forward from there, but I was just glad that it reconnected with Little Shot finally being able to get help for the rest of the team.
In Summary:
Money Shot continues to be fun but some of the subplot material just doesn’t land for me all that well here. Which is fine because I continue to like the big picture approach of the series and the characters themselves. Watching Doug make their captivity even worse is hilarious and Annie’s reaction is just spot on to the point where you couldn’t blame her for pushing him into the pit if she did it. The whole Kirkwood thing and Prohl stuff just didn’t connect for me, though I’m curious to see where it finally reveals itself and how it reshapes the relationship dynamic. It’s a fun book all around that looks great but it just needed a bit more for me.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Vault Comics
Release Date: September 1st, 2021
MSRP: $3.99
