Erika Moen

@erikamoen

Queer cartoonist publishing TMI comics online since 1999. Member of Helioscope. Co-created Oh Joy Sex Toy. she/her Free Patreon: Graphic Novel:

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Erika Moen@erikamoen· 17d

Wish you could come to one of my @helioscopepdx.bsky.social comics lectures? Well, you can't. Sorry, man. BUT you CAN see my same presentation on making info-heavy comics via this two-parter post on my Patreon! Part 1: www.patreon.com/ErikaMoen/po... Part 2: www.patreon.com/ErikaMoen/po...

Text: Making Info-Heavy Comics
Image: A stick figure is drawn with an open mouth and a giant word balloon coming out of it, quoting Wikipedia's entry on refrigerators.

Screenshot of Wikipedia's entry on refrigerators, with commentary added in purple at the top asking, "What obvious images are already here?"
A number of nouns are now highlighted, such as refrigerator, food, bacteria, freezing point of water, spoilage, icebox, and more.

Simple icons illustrate the highlighted words from the previous slide, including a rotting apple, a bowl of food, a refrigerator, etc.

Erika Moen@erikamoen· 21d

Yesterday I shared my homegrown lettuce with my @helioscopepdx.bsky.social studiomates who were making sandwiches at lunch and I felt VERY SELF-SATISFIED about it.

Screenshot of post by drewtoothpaste, "every gardener i follow is going absolutely hogwild flexing that they eat lettuce from behind their house. i've never seen gardeners act like this in my life. this is our super bowl. this is our olympics. gold medal in shitting normally"

Photo from June 21, 2026 (before the diarrhea lettuce outbreak) of Erika holding up a handful of her homegrown lettuce and absolutely freaking out about it.

Erika Moen@erikamoen· 21d

Erika standing on a step ladder to reach plums in the canopy of her tree.

Erika Moen@erikamoen· 21d

Backyard Gardeners get it. www.patreon.com/ErikaMoen/po...

Quality Assurance by Erika Moen is a two-panel comic strip illustrated in a cartoon-y style with a watercolor texture and a color palette of greens, purples, and rusty browns.

Caption: In my grocery store

"Hm..." Erika, a white middle age woman inspects a plum in the grocery store closely with a magnifying glass while giving it a squeeze in her other hand. "Too soft. Too hard. Too asymmetrical. God! They expect us to eat like animals!"

Title: VS. In my garden

Underneath a fruit tree, Erika stoops down to pick up and present a plum that had fallen to the ground. She holds it out towards her husband, Matthew.

"Hey, this plum is still good!" Just gotta rinse away the dirt and cut off the busted squishy part!" She exclaims.

Recoiling, Matt replies, "Erika, the bugs."

"Bonus protein!" She counters enthusiastically.

Erika Moen@erikamoen· 24d

Illustration by drawmliz of a peach and a plum next to each other with Time key from the tv show "The Magicians", with a banner unspooling across them reading "Peaches and Plums, Motherfucker"

https://www.redbubble.com/i/art-print/Peaches-and-plums-queliot-the-magicians-by-drawmliz/88199922/wqnt

Erika Moen@erikamoen· 24d

Forgive me I turned them into a pastry.

A square of an Oatmeal Plum Bar sitting on a plate.
https://beanleafcup.com/oatmeal-plum-bars

Erika Moen@erikamoen· 24d

You are entering... The Plum Vortex.

Looking up into the underside of a tree’s canopy, plums hang throughout the branches like stars in the sky

Erika Moen@erikamoen· 27d

It's plum season in my backyard! My patrons get to read this comic right now, but normies gotta wait till it goes public later. www.patreon.com/ErikaMoen/po...

Text: Quality Assurance
Image: A cartoon-y illustration of a woman holding up a plum to a man who recoils from it. They stand under a fruit tree.

Erika Moen@erikamoen· Jul 10

Free members of my Patreon get my newsletter delivered straight to their digital door as soon as it comes out, so what are you waiting for? Sign up! For free! www.patreon.com/erikamoen

Text: A Whole Lot More Bullshit
Image: Ten small previews of various photos that Erika has taken of her garden, her cat, her life, and herself.

Erika Moen@erikamoen· Jul 10

Comics! Art! Mending! Writing! Gardening! Volunteering! Having my book banned! Photo journaling! Cooking unripe green plums! Check out all the bullshit I got up to in my monthly newsletter that sometimes comes out tri-monthly so it’s extra packed! www.patreon.com/ErikaMoen/po...

Text: Art! Comics! Bullshit!
Image: Four preview images corresponding with the caption of "Art, Comic, Writing, Stuff"

Erika Moen@erikamoen· Jul 7

Go check out @benjamindewey.bsky.social's fancy new website showing off his fancy catalogue of art! (and then go hire him)

Cover of the book "The Complete Collection of The Tragedy Series" by Benjamin Dewey

Painted illustration of the characters from the animated movie The Iron giant

Digital illustration of characters from the movie Labyrinth

Erika Moen@erikamoen· Jun 26

Wildlife trail cam captures a couple cougars prowling through the Portland wilderness. ⚠️ Hikers, be cautious ⚠️ www.patreon.com/ErikaMoen/po...

Wide shot of an overgrown garden with Erika marching towards the camera while carrying Tig the tabby cat in her arms. Tig looks at the camera with big beautiful eyes, while Erika blinks and smiles. She (Erika, not Tig) wears a green t-shirt, bright orange shorty-shorts, and yellow rain boots

Crop of just Erika and Tig from the previous photo

Erika Moen@erikamoen· Jun 23

New Daily Photo post is up! It collects the week's worth of photos and journal entries. First entry is public and then the rest are rrrrrrreserved for patrons. www.patreon.com/ErikaMoen/po...

Text: Daily June 15 - 21
Erika, a white cis woman, stands in the middle of her overgrown backyard garden with rasberry bushes growing high over her head. She wears yellow rain boots, orange shorts, a black tank top, and a blue cloth headband that covers her ears (headphones are tucked in the fabric, they're designed to be worn while sleeping). She picks raspberries from a bush and puts them in the container she's holding.

Erika Moen@erikamoen· Jun 17

I live here. www.patreon.com/ErikaMoen/po...

A wiiiiiiide photo with panoramic distortion showing a jungle-y backyard garden with all kinds of green, leafy things growing at various heights and sizes in cock-eyed grow boxes. It’s is chaotic at first glance, but subliminally organized. It’s a Witch’s Garden

Erika Moen@erikamoen· Jun 16

pass it along - please let us see your pfp in its full sized glory I made this for @penny-arcade.com's Strip Search show, which needed it, like, life-size, I think?- to print out as a standee for the elimination stage. And then I just used it as my profile picture everywhere for the next 13 years!

A watercolor cartoon-y illustration of Erika- a white woman with an undercut and pink hair, a yellow turtleneck shirt with no sleeves, a mini skirt, pink-orange tights, and almost-knee-high brown boots.

Screenshot from Strip Search showing a black stage with Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins standing in the center in a spotlight. The background is lined with slightly larger than life size cutouts of the self-portraits of the 12 contestants.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NmgQxFZC40

Erika's slightly larger than life size self-portrait standee on stage, between the standees of Alex Hobbs and Mackenzie Schubert. A screen displays the title, "StripSearch" in the background.

Erika Moen@erikamoen· Jun 7

OMG, I am beyond honored that Repair PDX picked me as their spotlight volunteer for this month's newsletter! 🥹🥲🥰 repairpdx.org/so/ebPw4crEh...

Photo: Erika Moen holds up a garment that she is teaching a student how to repair in a mending class.

Text by Jennifer Brandlon:
Meet a Volunteer: Erika Moen

It was getting her hands on a beginner’s embroidery kit — the kind that does it all for you by pre-packaging a design and basic supplies — that launched Erika Moen into a fever of doing it all herself.

To be fair, as a child in Seattle she had already DIY’d her way through sewing by hand and creating her first comics projects. Even her college studies in Southern California were self-designed; too practical to bet on an art school diploma, she chose to combine general art and English into a unique Illustrated Storytelling degree. By her early 30s, after settling in Portland, she was “in the grip of an embroidery frenzy,” so Repair PDX’s invitation to become a repair sewist was exactly what she hoped to find.

“I wanted to get more involved in Portland, and Repair PDX stood out because they were looking for people who sew,” she said. “Now I rarely miss an event. I love the people I meet who bring things in to be repaired. I’ve heard their life stories and the things they get up to, and it’s fascinating.”

She especially likes the intimate nature of mending items that people bring to Repair Café events so they can keep them in use. “They’re going to leave wearing those clothes, and my repair is in them. Sometimes, it’s specific clothing they have to wear for work - if they can’t afford to replace it, I’m helping them to keep working at their job in that clothing.”

Erika is an active member of Helioscope, an influential collective of artists and other creators in Portland. And contrary to her initial expectations, she carved out her own place in the madly competitive comics industry. In addition to creating an acclaimed sex education and review website, she published “Let’s Talk About It,” a graphic novel co-authored with her husband Matthew Nolan that guides teens through relationships, emotions and a wide range of sexual topics. (It has appeared on multiple banned book lists; comedian John Oliver included it in his 2024 episode about challenges to public libraries.)

“I think this became my livelihood because I told myself it couldn’t be,” she said. And then she just went ahead and did it herself.

Erika Moen@erikamoen· Jun 1

Today is not my birthday so I am wearing my most sequined 80s-style party dress and King Margo cosplay crown as I work in @helioscopepdx.bsky.social today. THANK YOU FOR @stevelieberart.bsky.social AND MY STUDIO FOR CELEBRATING THAT I AM STILL NOT YET 43 🎉🎂

Screenshots of a text exchange between Steve Lieber and Erika Moen.
Steve: Checking to see if you will be in the studio tomorrow.
Steve: For secret reasons.
Erika: Yes!
Erika: [pondering emoji]
Steve: [Gif of a little stick figure in a party hat blowing out candles on a cake]
Erika: You know my birthday isn't until June 25th, right?
Steve: No, I didn't. I thought it was tomorrow.
Erika: Oh Steve.
Erika: That is so incredibly sweet of you, you fool ❤️
Steve: I told a bunch of people at the mixer it's tomorrow and that I'd have cake and ice cream.
Erika: LOOOOOLLLLLLL
Erika: omg
Erika: WE CAN TOTALLY CELEBRATE MY BIRTHDAY TOMORROW

Photo of Steve Lieber gesturing at a really nice cake with the words "Happy birthday" written on it. Erika Moen holds the cake up while wearing a ridiculous black and teal sequined 80s party dress with a gold paper crown on her head.

Erika Moen@erikamoen· May 29

I bought this half-dead poppy off a garden center discount shelf a few* years ago and LOOK AT HER NOW. *My gut says it was “a few years ago” but lately every time I say that, it turns out to be at least a decade. www.patreon.com/posts/159584...

An indulgently chunky pink poppy with some strands of lavender leaning in.

Erika Moen@erikamoen· May 28

Do you live in the Portland, OR area and are hankering to learn how to mend your own clothes? Repair PDX is hosting a class on June 21 from 2 - 5 pm at the Leaven Community Center! Tickets are sold on a sliding scale. www.eventbrite.com/e/diy-mendin...

Text: The Patch

Image: A photo of a section of a very light blue fabric that is covered in a bright red poppy print. Another photo showing one of the poppy clusters cut out.

Erika Moen@erikamoen· May 27

Every time a baby laughs, a fairy is born, and every time a bisexual comes out, a patched jean jacket is manifested 🙌 (www.patreon.com/posts/from-t...)

Erika, a Hot Middle Age Bisexual, shows off her jean jacket with an enormous poppy patch on it]

Erika Moen@erikamoen· May 23

There, see! It's gone! It's gone. I won't poison myself tomorrow.

Erika Moen@erikamoen· May 23

C O N C L U S I O N (sort of)

Erika Moen@erikamoen· May 23

U P D A T E

Erika Moen@erikamoen· May 23

OMGGGGG I thought THIS section was the recipe!

How do you make plum jam?

Place the plums in a large preserving pan or saucepan and heat until the plums have completely broken down into a pulp.
Remove the plum stones which will be floating within the pulp.
Pour the sugar into the pan with the plums and bring up to a rolling boil, stirring occasionally.
Boil hard for 5 minutes and test for set using the wrinkle test. If it’s not quite there then boil for a further 2 minutes.

Erika Moen@erikamoen· May 23

H E L P . (this is the recipe fromthelarder.co.uk/green-plum-j... It did say to put them in whole!! That’s not me being an idiot!)

Erika Moen@erikamoen· May 22

January ⏳⌛ May www.patreon.com/posts/158889...

A backyard garden with grow boxes. It's all pretty dead and brown.

The exact same backyard, but now it is a jungle of green leafy things.

Erika Moen@erikamoen· May 22

TELL ME I'M WRONG. (out of date picture because I made this comparison shot in *2010* when my friends and I were casting who would play us in a movie. THAT'S HOW LONG THIS HAS BEEN TRUE)

Jason Bateman and Erika Moen, both in 2010. Jason looks like a masc version of Erika and Erika looks like a feminine version of Jason.

Erika Moen@erikamoen· May 21

Face reveal, wrong answers only

Erika Moen@erikamoen· May 20

I fixed a giant hole in my jacket!! Patrons get to see how I worked my magic now, while normies gotta wait till this post goes public later. www.patreon.com/posts/158646...

Two photos of Erika, a white woman with short hair, wearing a denim jacket. In the first photo, there is an enormous, ragged tear from just under her shoulder down to the top of her ribcage area. In the second picture, the hole has been covered with an enormous patch of red poppies printed on fabric.

Erika Moen@erikamoen· May 18

Shoutout to the Barnes and Noble in Clackamas, OR for surprising us with this Banned Books display that included... our book, LET'S TALK ABOUT IT! Our sex & relationship book for teens is banned for being too gay and acknowledging that sex exists :c www.patreon.com/posts/158509...