Money Shot #1
by Tim Seeley, Sarah Beattie, Rebekah Isaacs(Artist), Kurt Michael Russel(Colorist)
My rating: 3.25 of 5 stars
WARNING: This comic is unequivocally explicit and not meant for the uptight, puckered and of course, underage. So watch yourself!
This is one of those books that is just to be read to be believed and you have to judge for yourself. I’ll just put the opening summation here and you can see what I mean:
“In 2027, an advanced alien civilisation made contact, and the people of Earth discovered they were not alone. An offer to join the civilised universe was made. But then the aliens saw what a total shitshow Earth was. Engaged in hundreds of wars, led by greedy politicians, and fumbling to advance technologically, humanity was deemed not worth the effort. The offer was withdrawn. Unable to build space ships capable of efficient interstellar travel, and distracted by petty bickering and pop entertainment, humans eventually lost interest in the stars. Now in 2032 amid an anti-science presidential administration and public apathy, scientists in an economically crippled America struggle to fund innovative projects”
So that’s the setup… and the comic itself has a throughline that is that a teeny tiny group of scientists (XXX-plorers!) find that there is indeed no future or hope trying to do science on Earth and dependant on Earth sources, so they manage to build an interstellar jumping system and proceed to become the live-streaming cam-performing Earth maniacs with scientifically themed porn-names and attempt to raise money by boldy boinking where/what no human has boinked before!
Yeah, I know… It’s crazy but yet somehow as I read it, there was a sense of a future that was not entirely unbelievable despite it’s ludicrous nature. The story in this first issue is pretty brisk and easy, it moves along well, introduces us to a group of core characters, has them doing ridiculous things (that are oddly real because take away the space element and in a way it’s quite real!) and sets us up for bigger things hinted at that even our “heroes” have no idea might be around a corner. It’s surreal and yet oddly real and it’s definitely a fun and well paced start to the story – if the concept works for you, it’s definitely an attention grabbing and smartly put together first chapter. And what’s more, the artwork is not obscene or gross and somehow retains the fun vibe that the story is clearly going for – I almost got and Amanda Conner-ish feel from some of it.
All the above of course, should sound familiar to anyone who has read the work of Mirka Andolfo who seems to be having one hell of a successful run as a creator recently and it’s definitely got the somewhat quirky and cheeky yet not vapid nature of all her creations – she’s one of the biggest rising stars from Euro comics and her other works like Unnatural, Mercy and Sweet Paprika were a big part of why I elected to give this series a shot when it sounded like it could have just as easily been a graphic but hollow story.
Will I be reading the rest of the series? I’m going to say yes, because it’s definitely got my attention – but will it hold that interest? Only time will tell.
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