A story about scientists having sex with aliens for the glory of mankind—and money.
Money Shot is a 2019 comic book series written by Tim Seeley and Sarah Beattie, penciled by Rebekah Isaacs and colored by Kurt Michael Russell. It is published by Vault Comics.
In 2027, aliens made contact with Earth and humans discovered that they were not alone. They offered humans the chance to join a more civilized universe.
And then they realized how much of a shitshow Earth was.
From there, humans gave up on space travel, deeming it too expensive and not worth the time. But scientist Dr. Christine Ocampo isn't giving up. In order to fund her projects, she and her team of scientists ("XXX-plorers") take to the stars on a new venture - discovering new worlds and finding aliens species to have sex with and film - creating pornography like no one on Earth has even seen.
From issue #11 on Caroline Leigh Layne took over as the main artist. The series took a break after 15 issues, but in 2023 a sequel miniseries, Money Shot Comes Again!, appeared, now with art by Gisèle Lagacé of Ménage à 3 fame and a guest appearance by long-established Underground Comics porn character Cherry Poptart.
If the description didn't tip you off, this series is very adult and for is mature readers only. You Have Been Warned.
If you're looking for the trope, see Money-Making Shot.
This comic has the following tropes
- 20 Minutes into the Future: The comic was released in 2019, the events of the comic take place in 2032. Even with the discovery of aliens, Earth hasn't changed that much outside of better tech.
- Achievements in Ignorance: After Luke botches the XXX-Plorer's good relations with Cockaigne, they unwittingly lead Dr. Gnon and Sinch to a Planet Destroyer pointed right at The Covalence's home planet.Dr. Gnon: ...you Earth people have un-purposely revealed the greatest conspiracy in all existence.
- Ambiguously Bi: Luke Kirk is proven to be an out and proud homophobe, but when Science Magistrate Dien Pide voices interest in him for how exotic his boorish personality is to him, Kirk is ready to jump his bones. It's left vague whether or not he's Armoured Closet Gay or if he just didn't want to be picked second to Koch, but considering he nearly gets everyone killed by being too into Pide's seductions, it's likely the former.Kirk: See, I went in there, totally planning on kicking his ass, right? Figured tat'd be the moment that locked me in with all the Red States forever. But then, y'know, he started touching me. Real slow at first. It was just a hug, honestly.
- The Atoner: Mercenary and criminal Skuloch Prohn, after encountering a group of refugees makes them admit that friendship and altruism exist.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: Despite making sure they find alien species with compatible genitalia, this occasionally comes up. Particularly the fish aliens that can generate energy with sex.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Cockaigne are a planet of hedonists that practice non-marital sex with wanted abandon, yet they find the actual idea of natural reproduction to be repulsive.
- Boldly Coming: What the series is about. Christine and her team find aliens to have sex with and make porn.
- Breaking the Fellowship: Bree leaves at the end of issue #10 due to the emotional stress of the triangular relationship between her, Christina and Omar.
- But We Used a Condom!: Christina starts displaying symptoms of an STI, which leads to much angsting about her putting herself, her team and other alien races are risk, despite using a condom. Annie has to remind her that condoms don't protect against everything. Fortunately, it just turned out to be a UTI.
- The Caligula: Science Magistrate Dien Pide is the ruler of Cockaigne. Since the entire planet he rules over is composed of hedonists that indulge in base desires and he has plans to commit genocide on an intergalactic scale over perceived superiority, he certainly qualifies.
- Came Back Wrong: Inverted. After dying and coming back to life, President Kirk becomes much nicer and more easygoing, and as a result loses his base's support.
- Casanova Wannabe: Luke Kirk seems overconfident in his abilities as a lover, the alien women he has sex with appearing unsatisfied when he's done with them.
- Commitment Issues: Christine broke it off with Omar because the relationship was getting too serious and was afraid of maintaining it. Omar gives this advice to Bree (who's seeing Christine) that Christine's constantly looking for distractions to avoid commitment.
- Cute Machines: Little Shot is a small floating robot that is basically an eyeball that can record the team's actions and livestream it from distant planets to Earth in realtime. It is also has a built in translator that can learn and translate a language after a short time hearing it using micro-expressions in speech.
- Deus Sex Machina: The Fish People are led by Warlord Priest Daughir who killed the Podna Megra monks and imprisoned the last Bokai Elder, the only living master of the Podna Megra technique, an orgasm that can generate the energy release on the level of nuclear fission. She pulled the technique from his mind before he became impotent and plans to use it to further control the planet by making herself be the only one to able blast through the earth to get the water buried underneath as well as destroy her enemies. But she needed Christine and Omar to have sex with since everyone else on the planet sees sex as purely functional.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: After XXX-Plorers grows in popularity, a growing movement of protestors begin flocking the college where they operate to protest their actions, citing Leviticus 18:23note . This is reflective of various anti-relations movements radical traditionalists have waged over the years, including anti-interracial Segregationists and Anti-LGBT "traditional marriage" proponents.
- The Dreaded: Skuloch Prohn, vicious mercenary, criminal and slave trader.
- Eagleland: Luke Kirk pretty much embodies the "Boorish" side of America wherever he goes. He's a narcissistic Capitalist who swings his dick around (literally and figuratively) wherever he goes, says and does bigoted things every chance he gets and only ever makes things worse wherever he goes. He ruins Earth's chances of become a Utopia under The Covalence, nearly gets the XXX-Plorers killed more than once during their adventures and threatens to shoot him when their attempts at saving the galaxy make him look bad.
- Eldritch Abomination: The bulbs are a trio of giant, sentient jellyfish with galaxy-like visuals that run The Covalence.
- Fantastic Arousal: On Dryreef the XXX-plorers encounter a Crystalline Creature that derives pleasure from feeling and emitting vibrations. It takes a liking to Doug and his baritone humming, with Daughir noting the species is usually belligerent.
- Fish People: The aliens that the XXX-plorers first encounter are aliens of this variety, aliens that live on a desolate world where the oceans have been buried under tons of rock.
- Gag Penis: In this case, a Gag Scrotum. The Bokai Elder's balls are each bigger than his head, and can be swung as a weapon. When he does get aroused again he turns out to be a grower with a proportionate erection.
- Geeky Turn-On: When Doug and Annie have sex to test their compatibility, she explains the STD test she invented, only to realize this is his version of foreplay.Annie: Wait a second. Asking me to dive into my area of expertise and letting me talk about it without getting grossed out or bored. This... this was your foreplay, wasn't it?
- Head-Turning Beauty: Dr. Yazaman Blanco, a biologist with a beautiful face and massive bosom, who Christine recruits to replace Bree as soon as she sees her on TV. Unfortunately, she turns out to be absolutely indifferent to and terrible at sex.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: The gladiator creature Bweedt looks like an orca with the body of a giant tiger.
- Nerds Are Sexy: It's revealed that the rather frumpy Dr. Gnon has a crush on his coworker Bode Sosh'u Sinch, a crush that she reciprocates. When the XXX-Plorers need Sinch to have sex with President Kirk to power their wormhole (It Makes Sense in Context), she is more than willing to do it as long as it is with Dr. Gnon using holographic technology to take on his form.
- No Biochemical Barriers: Omar defeats an alien trying to kill them in gladiatorial combat by spitting on it, transferring an Earth fungus that Annie had transferred to him through a kiss. It's harmless to humans, only affecting fish, but since the planet's native species is Fish People...
- Non-Mammal Mammaries: Despite being Fish People — including the squid-like Warlord Priest Daughir — the native females of Dry Reef all have anatomical parts similar to breasts.
- Our Centaurs Are Different: Bode Sosh'u Sinch is a member of a centaur-like race of aliens that works for The Covalence as an ambassador. She originally tried opening relations with Earth to help further their development, only to cancel it when President Kirk ruins everything being his obnoxious self.
- Panspermia: According to Leong, she had found evidence that the common cold originated in Hell. Or more accurately, an alien planet with a suspicious similarity to what humans pictured Hell was like.
- Phallic Weapon: Dien Pide's Powered Armor comes with a molecular chainsaw armed on his crotch.
- Planet Heck: There is apparently a "Planet of Punitive Discomforts" populated by demon-like aliens with a penchant for BDSM. In spite of the fact that they use "the resonant psychic energy of long-term agony" (i.e. tortured souls) as a power source, they are fairly affable.
- Porn Names: Many of them also count as a
Genius Bonus and Punny Name, such as Constance Planck
, Tesla Coyle, and Kneels Bore. - Porn with Plot: The series isn't just about sex with aliens, but it's focused on exploring sex as well as being character-focused. The art doesn't raise the level of explicitness above the "R" rating (there's no penetration actually being shown), but there's bare breasts, complete with nipples and Male Frontal Nudity.
- Pragmatic Pansexuality: In order to eliminate any hang-ups with each other, build chemistry and find out what works and what doesn't, Christine and the XXX-plorers all sleep with other, no exceptions. Despite some hesitation, especially in regard to same-sex parings, the team becomes more intimate and friendly with each other. Though the only truly queer characters are Christine and Bree who start seeing each outside "work."
- Psycho for Hire: Skuloch Prohn is implied to have worked as this.
- Rhetorical Question Blunder: When Christine asks who would be into the weird porn that replaced her favorite porn site, her home AI analyzes and answers the question.
- Rule 34: By the 2030s, deepfake technology has made it so everything that could be pornified has been.Christine: Literally everything has been done.
- Sex Comedy: Space Opera drama aside, the series is a light-hearted Porn with Plot.
- Sex Is Good: Sex-positivity is the big theme with this book, though it does go into how sex and relationships can be messy. Further demonstrated by the end of the first arc, where the XXX-plorers give a live sex show to the fish people planet in order to free them from the Warlord Priest and reclaim their sexuality.
- Sex with the Ex: Christine and Omar have sex, but afterwards Christine realizes that it was a mistake.
- Shout-Out:
- Annie says she expected the warlord Daughir to be bigger and scarier, and wearing an Infinity Gauntlet.
- Bree says Christine and Omar have been drinking "sexy Jedi juice".
- Doug hums "Let It Go" to the crystal alien.
- Single-Biome Planet: In their efforts to escape Dien Pide, the XXX-Plorers manage to open a portal to a random planet. Unfortunately, they wind up stranded on a miniscule island on Epsilon Erudite 9, a planet that is mostly ocean.
- Skewed Priorities: When Bode Sosh'u Sinch makes First Contact with Earth and starts sharing The Convalence's plans to help rid it of all of its problems (war, disease, inequality, etc), Luke Kirk calls it a "liberal wet dream" before insulting her for her gender and mindlessly spouts bigoted talking points he calls "Good American Morals". She gets so annoyed with him, she tases him and leaves.
- Skull for a Head: Skuloch Prohn's helmet makes them look like this, although it's implied that the skull is a hologram.
- Space Romans: The planet Cockaigne is one of the few planets that refuses to join The Covalence. Their dominant species are a race of Space Elves that live as one big Decadent Court with fashion and architecture of Renaissance-Europe. They are later revealed to be Space Fascists that practice a eugenics and hoard their own personal technological achievements, intending on destroying The Covalence with a Superweapon.
- Take That!: Kirk-Supporters are a clear jab at Trump-Supporters; a group of intolerant bigots who are willing to protest anything that offends their personal sensibilities (including scientific-intellectuals, religious and racial minorities) and use the Bible to try and justify it, only to immediately switch gears the moment their figure-head (Luke Kirk) openly contradicts them.
- Telepathy: Warlord Priest Daughir and the Bokai Elder are both capable of speaking with the humans telepathically, removing the language barrier that Little Shot was built for. The XXX-plorers become telepathic too after the Highest Authority give them superpowers.
- Title Drop: Christine's space teleporter the Star Shot goes by the derisive nickname "Money Shot," because it "blows the load like a pro" due to what an expensive waste it was.
- Touched by Vorlons: To defend the capital of the Covalence from the Cockaignians, the Highest Authority give the XXX-plorers superpowers.
- Trumplica: President Luke Kirk is as vitriolic a Stock Parody of Donald Trump you can find. He is a towheaded capitalist who became President of the United States entirely on his fame and the support of regressive fundamentalists (who are willing to contradict themselves at the drop of a hat for his convenience). He makes various derisive comments towards women, socialists, Mexicans, gay people, experts and intellectuals, he makes impulsive legislation based on the whims of his fragile ego (confiscates Money Shot and forbids off-world travel after his own bad manners gets him electrocuted in the nuts by Bode Sosh'u Sinch), has severe Daddy Issues and has a bad habit of going in blind and cocksure, only to make the situation worse. However, he doesn't look much like Trump, being closer to the young William Shatner (an allusion to James T Kirk's popular (severely Flanderized) image as a macho thug deeply committed to Boldly Coming).
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Despite the advancement in technology and confirmation that there is life on other planets, humanity quickly lost interest shortly thereafter. It really says something that the reason why our space-exploring protagonists took up making pornography is because they didn't have enough funding to keep their stargate running.
- Weird Currency: Cockaigne seems to use "concepts" as currency. This can be anything from a smoothie recipe to an orgy invite.
- Working with the Ex: Christine and Omar used to be in a relationship, and so far they've been cordial but the Money Shot initiative, it's gotten more complicated especially with Christine and Bree starting to see each other.
- Your Normal Is Our Taboo: Luke Kirk nearly gets the "Money Shot" crew killed by addressing Dien Pide as "Daddy" in a moment of ecstasy (which for the heavily eugenics-obsessed and artificially-reproducing Cockaignians is an unspeakably vile insult).
