OH JOY SEX TOY
Written by Erika Moen (@ErikaMoen)
Art by Erika Moen
Original Release Date: April 2013
New Strips: Tuesdays
What’s the Pitch?:
Oh Joy Sex Toy is a sex-positive educational comic that runs the gamut from reviews of sex toys, sex education, birth control, and relationships. Erika Moen’s latest work is as informative as it is lighthearted, delivering frank evaluations and offering a personal touch. In case you couldn’t tell, the comic (and this column) are most definitely NSFW.
From the Reader’s Perspective:
I have loved every single one of Erika Moen’s comic projects I’ve been able to get my hands on. While I intend to talk about each of them in greater depth in future columns, let me just tell you that its worth your time to check them out. They’re about as different from each other as you could get though. DAR is a deeply personal autobiographical piece that traces Erika’s evolution as a person and Bucko is collaboration with notable comics writer Jeff Parker about a hapless wierdo just trying to talk to a cute girl and land a job but stumbles into a murder mystery instead. Oh Joy Sex Toy is perhaps her most interesting yet, boldly going to bat for her readers by trying out stuff designed for orgasms.
The art in OJST is quite possibly perfect. Moen’s style strikes the perfect balance of detail and simplicity, allowing her the range to have detailed drawings of various dongs and mechanical happy-makers next to cartoony expressions and exclamations. The detail informs the reader while the simplicity and cartooniness keeps the mood relaxed and relatable. I love her color choices too. Deciding to do the comics in shades of pink with black accent work gives the images really great definition without distracting you. Or at least not distracting you any more than various naked cartoons having sexytimes together would otherwise. I also really appreciate her careful attention to using a variety of races, genders, and body types for the characters she has demonstrating the weekly topics (The Masturbateers!). You can tell that she is passionate about diversity and representation so that anybody who could potentially be in the audience can find some aspect to identify with the experiences in the comic.
If you are curious about adding toys to your solo routine, or couples experience (and beyond…) but don’t know where to start or what to look for, then give this comic a look. That alone is worth checking this one out, but there’s so much more to see here, from ‘Ask a Porn Star’ to guest comics on rope bondage, there’s something for everyone. Come for the vibrators, stay for the content.
Start reading Oh Joy Sex Toy here.
