28. Wild Card: Money Shot, Vol. 1 by Tim Seeley and Sarah Beattie, illustrated by Rebekah Isaacs

List Progress: 13/30

In the not-too-distant future, humankind has withered. After being contacted by, and then rejected by, intelligent life from across the universe, humanity has turned away from the stars and given up any sense of exploration or curiosity. Even carnal pleasures have lost their intrigue. So when a group of scientists need to get attention and funding for their cutting edge stargate, they come up with the one thing that could entice a planet-wide audience: sex with aliens. Money Shot, Vol. 1 by Tim Seeley and Sarah Beattie follows the intrepid XXX-plorers, scientists determined to fund their research with intergalactic pornography broadcast back to Earth. But for a premise where the skies are the limit, the results are often pretty mundane.

Volume 1 of Money Shot finds the explorers already on the distant planet Dry Reef, with flashbacks to show how they concocted their porn plans. Their adventures have a very Star Trek-feel, with humanoid aliens and very human-like cultures, and it works well enough as a broad sex comedy. But the story’s aspirations seem so modest, especially when it claims to be trying to shake up all of humanity. All of the scientists are conventionally attractive, and even the aliens involved in sex scenes are shaped like attractive humans with one or two cosmetic differences. And the sex scenes are trying so hard to be sexy that they cycle around and become sterile. There’s no vulnerability, no flaws, no weirdness even when humans are copulating with fish-people, just conventional sex and screaming orgasms. The aliens even have human-style genders and sexual characteristics, which is just the most boring route to take. Among the five scientists, the three women and two men, there are at least plenty of same-sex match-ups, but they interact like naked dolls being knocked together. The most interesting pairing is between the two female scientists who dislike each other, as it forces tension into their dynamic, but by the end of the volume, even their edges have been softened too much to have much spark.

If Money Shot didn’t purport to be such wild, weird sex, it would be a lot easier to forgive the comic’s shortcomings. For a broad planet-hopping comedy, it’s a fun idea with some interesting points and very polished, professional art. But it lacks heart and heat, and falls short of what should have been a galaxy’s worth of possibilities.

Would I Recommend It: Not really.