Dar: A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary, Volume One

Dar! #1

by Erika Moen

As seen online at DarComic.com, DAR! chronicles the six year long autobiographical story of Erika Moen, a lost 20-year-old lesbian artist-wannabe in college who falls in love with a boy in England and the evolution that her sexual identity undergoes before winding up marrying him as a queer 26-year-old full-time cartoonist. Along the way there are many vignettes about sex, farts, the queer community, the Brits, vibrators and figuring out sexual identity.

The first DAR volume, collecting re-toned strips from 2006-2009 of the award-winning weekly webcomic —PLUS bonus, behind-the-scenes material!


DAR Volume 1 (A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary)
ASIN: 0982343701
Title: DAR Volume 1
Binding: Paperback
Publication date: 2009

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Queer, Nonfiction, LGBT, Webcomic, Humor

104 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2009

About the author

Erika Moen is a freelance cartoonist born June 25, 1983 and graduated with an Illustrated Storytelling self-designed degree from Pitzer College in 2006. She lives in Portland, Oregon where she has been a member of Periscope Studio since 2008. Having created comics for well over a decade, her work has been published by Dark Horse, Image, Villard and Scholastic, among many others. In addition to creating comics, she also regularly teaches classes and guest lectures on the subject in high schools and colleges around the country. She has been happily married to Matthew Nolan since October 2008.

Reviews

[Sarra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Page 87 features an ugly "special ed" joke. What is with indie comics & cartoonists and ableism? It's practically a cliche at this point, and I'm beyond tired of it. Special Ed jokes are particularly nasty because it's children they're taking aim at - and dehumanizing.

[The Bibliopossum · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried, and I just couldn't get through this one.
It's a collection of jokes I don't find funny, sexcapades that cause me to cringe--

Ok seriously, don't make glorping sounds when you play with a guy's foreskin, Erica. You made the choice to bed this guy and record it in your art journal to share online. It's not funny, it's unfunny. This was the point when I stopped reading.

I didn't even get to the pages that have been deemed "problematic."

[Green · Rating 2 out of 5]

this girl is gross, annoying, repetitive, and over the top. Not for me, i suppose.

[Julia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stylistically, Erika Moen's first volume of her collection of web comics are enjoyable, but content wise there's too much to be desired. I appreciate weirdness and quirkiness and honesty but these strips are gratingly gross and pointless, lacking any strong narrative or insight other than "sexuality is strange."

[Antonomasia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have I read this or am I still Currently Reading? Not clear where vol. 1 ends, and I'm reading it on the website.

I loved Bucko, on which Moen collaborated with Jeff Parker - that was hilarious - but I don't really click with this. I wanted it to be funnier, or to like the art more. I wanted prettier words and/ or pictures. Hmm, I think the only time I really enjoyed a simply drawn, serious autobiographical comic was because I was acquainted with the writer. Probably these aren't my sort of thing as a rule.

Even though one of my Goodreads friends is in this...
Was thinking: Same first name, looks like him, right city, he recommended Bucko to me - is it? ... Scroll down, same surname!

How embarrassing to have given 3 stars to an author from whom, it turns out, I'm only two degrees of separation. Dilemma. Maybe the awkwardness of this post is in the spirit of the comic...

[Audacia Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Moen's approach to gender and sexuality is light and cute, and I definitely enjoyed the read.

I'm not a regular reader of her comics though, and this piece on the Bitch Magazine blog was pointed out to me, about a strip in which Erica fetishizes trans men http://www.bitchmagazine.org/post/rad...

Complex stuff, but basically - just because it's light and cute doesn't mean it isn't also transphobic and damaging.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and I did like the drawing style. Some of the strips seemed to be inside jokes so I wasn't quite sure how to take them. But overall I did enjoy this series and it was fun to follow Erika through her evolution.

[Olavia Kite · Rating 1 out of 5]

Autobiography or just a bunch of inside jokes? Amid the sex positive discourse, which I think Moen goes on to explore further and better on her later work, the whole thing just feels like "cute (i.e., boring) adventures of a couple—with an EDGE!"

[Joey Gremillion · Rating 1 out of 5]

DREADFUL!

[Lizzy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, this sucked.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I purchased this collection in the midst of reading Erika’s “Oh Joy Sex Toy”. As much as I loved her style (art, design layouts, and written delivery) the main content of that collection (sex toy reviews) wasn’t really my interest, but included sporadically throughout that book were some unsextoy comics that were autobiographical tales. So I was very excited to acquire and read this collection.

This book is exactly what I hoped it was. An enjoyable collection of autobiographical comics. Do all strips appeal to my personal sense of humor,no,but I find Erika to be very likable that I still enjoy reading strips that are not my taste (gross out humor).

Also, the collection is pretty brief as I was able to enjoyably read it in one sitting. The only time I got up was to flip the record (Petal “Magic Gone”) I was playing in the background.

I plan on checking out book two!

[Mo Irma · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED it!!! Related to her story on so many levels. Can't get enough of her content. MORE ERIKA MOEN! :-D Was sorry to see it end, but am loving her new books on Sex Ed and the reviews with her husband. The Sex Ed especially is super helpful and empowering since I have my own issues and am not that knowledgeable so it's really great to have such frank discussion and non-judmental information. It's been so important to me in my work to try to overcome some things. Sex Ed related and mental health too.

Keep up the good work!!! Thank you for all you do. :)

[Kathryn Hemmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three things I love about Dar:

(1) the way Erika Moen draws,
(2) the way Erika Moen writes, and
(3) the way Erika Moen tells jokes.

I wish I had discovered this comic earlier in my life, because it is fantastic.

[StrictlySequential · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second printing = Second edition = December 2009

It's very funny- she's great at "gag" pages but everything is dependent on her "wackiness" so I'd only recommend this for the laughs.

It's one of the "I NEED your attention" "here's my life with no filters" "I think I'm interesting enough to captivate readers on my antics alone" panel parades that spits in the face of editorial insight with all its might. I LOVE that sort of thing but it rarely works outside of comedy. You get to know what she's all about, what she enjoys/hates and the crossroads she encountered within two years of her mid-twenties.

I'll always give the females a chance because I'm not one of them and I can see them as interesting/magnetic/sexy/lovable/etc. (whatever applies) when they're showcasing such material but have no interest in reading about guys being guys since I too have rising size between my thighs and live the same lies.

I particularly enjoy the expressive nature of her art- the facial emotion with body language and her style in rendering characters in action poses allowed me to ignore the rest.

She hates drawing backgrounds and it REALLY shows so just ignore the scribble back there. How does she plan to do this for a living? Could she make it as a newspaper stripper?

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honest, vulgar, funny, candid, amazing.

[SA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, Erika Moen, you wonderful creature.

This and Volume Two are a mixed collection of Moen's autobio comics over a number of years. I never read Dar when it was active online, so it was fun to go back and read this for the first time. There were a couple in there that just made my heart squeeze; but knowing how happy she is now makes the darkness here all the more remarkable because you know what's happening next. (Moen and her husband reside in Portland and are regular figures on the comics scene.)

These are a great way to familiarize yourself with Moen as you look towards her current work.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I sat down with this as a much needed break from committee reading as it was a recent gift that had a lot of meaning behind it.

DAR is a honest and intimate look at a woman who is super funny, crass and finds herself in complete confusion when she gets a lady boner(omg, I could not write this without putting that in here) for a guy when she identifies as a lesbian. You know how people say how important it is to see self-representation in this life? I've felt that as a woman, I've felt that as a lesbian and now I search for it in this middle ground I find myself in. Very few really get it and it was nice to take some time and laugh with a woman that does.

[Raina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this. Moen wrote a regular webcomic for years and they are compiled in this book. I met her at a PLA gathering and we chatted for quite a while. So she signed my copy. It's a meandering story, which doesn't necessarily follow a set plot as it's just a regular autobio comic. However, she deals with being a lesbian who falls in love with a man, minutae of life, and other dramas of a young twentysomething coming to age. Great stuff, I can't wait for her next stuff.

[Jody · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up at TCAF without having read Erika Moen's stuff. I'm sort of glad I hadn't, because I would have made such an idiot fangirl out of myself had I read this first. Not to mention, within the first few pages I discovered we both had the same birthday and also studied in Aix-en-Provence. We should totally be friends!

I laughed out loud and was compelled to share these with friends. Can't wait to read volume 2.

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked it up at my library and started reading it before my class. It was a little uncomfortable to be reading in public, though, what with the graphic nature of several of the pictures. So I took it home and finished it. It put me in mind of Ariel Schrag with its unflinching honesty and nakedness. Interesting stuff.

[Jamie R · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore her work. It's funny, honest, and doesn't flinch away from talking about sex and gender.

Her explorations of her identity as a lesbian who fell in love with a man aren't exactly topics you come across often, even in the feminist community, and I appreciate Erika sharing her voice and story with us.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Autobiographical comic by a young woman who lives in Portland. She posts DAR on-line, and this is the collection of it from when it "stopped sucking" until recently. It's well drawn and very funny. She's at turns vulgar, sexy, and heartfelt.

[Abbey · Rating 4 out of 5]

autobiographical webcomic now released in book form. erika's grapples with her changing identity in a hilarious, honest way. not afraid to poke fun at herself, and others.

enjoyable. 3.5 stars, if possible.

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Semi-biographical comics from a 20-something who thought she was a lesbian until she fell in love with and married a dude. Funny, irreverent, sophomoric, insightful, offers some interesting and humorous insight into bisexuality and some challenges society imposes, in comic format.

[Christian Lipski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moen is very very honest and funny about what she likes, what she doesn't, and everything in between. You want to know how a lesbian falls in love with a man? How a cartoonist makes end meet? Here it is. Dar! is full of laughs and love and farts.

[Besha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t particularly like diary comics, but this was recommended to me. Amidst the O I AM SO WHIMSICAL! MY LIFE IS SO QUIRKY! LOOK AT THIS CUTE THING THAT HAPPENED! I found a few strips that I read and reread and reread again because they touched a nerve. So.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this a lot! It's a fun autobiographical story about a queer girl. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a more real-life, adult oriented comic. Please note however that it is intended for adults so it does have nudity and sexual situations in it.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Dar always makes me happy!

[Angela Boyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I literally laughed so hard I almost threw up. It took me about 5 minutes to calm down enough to set the book down. One of the funniest books I have read in a long time. If you like sex jokes. :)

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erika is hilarious. This is not at ALL a safe comic to read in public, and don't read the web version at work, unless your job is cool with sexybits.