You Can’t Go Back

This week’s new Dustinland comic is about childhood fading. Definitely a bit ore melancholy then my usually strips, but it’s something I want to touch on. This really did happen to me, exactly like it was in the comic. There’s a weird children’s museum in Connecticut that my son used to love when he was a little one… say 3 to 6 years old. And then I remember going back when he was getting a little bit older, and he was so excited, but when he got there… the magic was just gone. It was honestly a bit soul-crushing. Just sad.

Like the title of the comic says… you can’t go back. There is a time in life for certain things, and when that time is over, it’s over, whether you’re talking about toddler activities or a 40-year-old trying to recapture the nightlife of their 20s. Life moves on, and that’s both beautiful and sad at the same time.

The Point

This week’s new Dustinland comic is about the point of life, more or less. I think when you’re a parent, these sort of things take on a new urgency, because it’s one thing to stumble through life believing whatever you believe, doing what you can to stay sane, but it’s another thing to teach a new human what to believe and what ideas should guide their life.

As I say in the comic, I don’t really know what the point of it all is, obviously. I’m not religious, so I don’t have that to guide me. And I try to be a good person and all that, I try to live in the moment. It’s just hard. These days, the more information I receive, the more depressed I get. And yet a life of blissful ignorance also feels irresponsible. So I’m really not sure what to do or think these days, and that certainly makes it hard to be responsible for someone else’s life. But kids grow up and figure things out and adopt their own beliefs. The best I think we can do is make sure they turn out to be good people, kind, nice, grateful, insert positive adjective here, you get the picture.

Man, now I’m bumming myself out as usual. Sorry! Next week I’ll go back to wacky zany honk honk clown horn.

Bad Spell

This week’s new Dustinland comic is about how dumb spelling can be in the English language. This is nothing new, many people have written and spoken about it, but it is something that comes to light if you have kids. As an adult, you just accept how illogical some of our spellings are, but when you constantly have to teach your child these ridiculous letter concoctions without being able to ever explain why, it really comes back hard.

Also new this week — Birdy. Three new Shakespearean strips. Because there’s such a huge crossover with Birdy readers and Shakespeare fans.

Like Son

This week’s new Dustinland comic is about bad jokes. Or dad jokes. Or son jokes. But you know… for someone like me, well… let’s just say there are cliche proud dad moments, like when your kid hits a home run in Little League. For me, my son making the joke he makes in this new comic… that’s my home run moment.

6 Disappointing Things To Do With Your Kids

I think the title of this week’s new Dustinland comic speaks for itself. Not to say there aren’t fun things to do with kids, or that these things in the comic can’t actually be fun. It’s just that so much of being a parent is trying to make your kid happy, only to have it blow up in your face. On the other hand, sometimes the most fun you’ll ever have as a family is just around the house, when doing nothing turns into doing something super unexpectedly amazing or hilarious. But that’s a way less funny comic. No one wants to read “6 Amazingly Fun Times I Had With My Family”. I mean…. I guess some people want to read that, but some people also collect Precious Moments Figurines.

La Parenteria

This week’s new Dustinland comic features meal time at my home, reimagined as if it were a restaurant. Yes, I am the waiter, and my demanding, picky child is the customer. I would imagine we all feel like this at some point, and even my parents probably did so many years ago, despite me being the perfect child.

But yeah, kids don’t eat anything and it’s maddening. Fun times.

2020 Bad

This week’s new Dustinland comic is my final strip for 2020, so you can imagine what it’s about. But more than just a strip about how bad this year was, it’s also about how everyone is talking about what a bad year was, and how that in itself is annoying. I also do my best to keep it positive, but even that is a commentary on how a lot of people are also trying to put that spin on it.

Basically, no matter how you spin it, everything is dumb and pointless about this horrible year. But hopefully next year will be the start of something much better. Probably not, but it can’t hurt to think positive.

Happy new year everyone and thanks for your support!

Home Grueling

Ahhh this new Dustinland comic is NOT about politics for a change. Really nice to take a break from that. Not that I am suggesting it’s time to take a break from caring, but after election season, we all deserve a break.

This week’s strip is about home schooling during quarantine. But it’s not like, super stressful or serious. It’s just good clean fun at the expense of frustrated parents, who would be frustrated anyway by something else, but now it’s this, or that, or the other thing your kid is doing when you’re home together all day. And all winter. Oh boy it’s gonna be a lonngggggg winter.

Cup Scouts

This new Dustinland comic is about cup stacking AKA speed stacking AKA the “sport” where kids stack and unstack cups as quickly as possible. I won’t say anything else here, since I pretty much say it all in the comic, but I will also leave you with this insane clip of the world speed stacking record:

Fast Times

I know this latest Dustinland comic is going to be seen as depressing for most people, especially parents. That’s okay. Sometimes we have to publicly talk about these things. You know, I spend most of my time entertaining people with my comics, making them feel better, distracting them. But the world is full of distractions. And social media is full of people saying “look at me, look what I did, look how great my life is, yay.” But that’s not reality. And that’s not looking at the hard truths that affect our lives. So yes, sorry if I bummed you out, but I do think it’s good to acknowledge some of the darker thoughts we all have from time to time, and maybe that will make us feel a little less alone.