Escape

This week’s new Dustinland comic is about escaping. Literally and physically. Physically, leaving the city, or even your own cramped four walls you’ve been seeing over and over for so long. Mentally, escaping the same confines but in a different way… but also escaping what’s in your mind — Covid, Trump, all of it. But it seems that no matter what you do, something follows you. You can’t fully escape. You can’t just leave the world’s problems to everyone else. But how do you find the balance? How do you do what it takes to stay sane, but stay involved enough to make a difference?

Pandemicemonium

This week’s new Dustinland comic is about how we don’t really know anything about the pandemic. I mean, we know a lot, but compared to normal life, we don’t know anything. Never have I felt so at a loss for a plan. What happens next for how long? Don’t know. And I sort of always knew we didn’t know what was going on, but this really sheds light on to just what extent we are all making it up.

Unmasked

This week’s new Dustinland comic is about people who refuse to wear face masks in public. I’m sure it will piss plenty of people off, but you know what also pisses me off? When people spread a deadly virus because they are can’t accept the slightest inconvenience in their spoiled, ill-informed lives.

Blahrantine

This week’s new Dustinland comic is about how blah quarantine is. Just the same day, over and over again. I mean, when it’s nice out at least you can go for a walk or something, but when it’s cloudy or rainy it’s just… BLAH. Of course I can still suck it up and deal with it because it’s not like living in a hole for two years hiding from nazis like some people had to do during WWII. It’s not like I’m going to risk my life and the lives of my friends and family just so I can go to the gym or hair salon after I burn down a 5G tower. Oh man, we are so doomed in this planet of idiots. That’s a big part of the blah. It only gets more blah if you read the news.

Masked Emotions

This week’s new Dustinland comic is about how telling a face mask is. Yes, it is not fun to wear one, but not wearing one is quite the statement.

Lately I’ve felt the urge to write a comic about how stupid we are in our rush to open everything back up. And how spoiled we are as a nation — completely unwilling to sacrifice anything, and totally intolerant of the slightest suffering, ignorant due to failed systems of education and belief, etc.  But I don’t think people need this right now. They don’t need me telling them what they already know — that we will only learn from mistakes, and so more people will have to die before we suck it up and shut up and deal with this crappy situation without throwing a shit fit because we can’t go to the beach.

So yeah, that stuff is NOT in my comic this week, so enjoy. But it felt nice to leave it here.

It All Adds Up

This new Dustinand comicis about how hard it is to WFH while taking care of your kids. Or really, while home schooling your kids. And boy, second grade math sure has changed! You know, I went to a specialized math and science high school for the top nerds in NYC, I did pretty well on my SATs, and even I have to read my 8-year-old’s math questions multiple times before I can even try to explain how he should be answering them. I’m sure there is a science to all of this, but man, it ain’t easy. And I have a job.

Earth Day 2020

This new Dustinland comic highlights how much it sucks that the 50th anniversary of Earth Day is happening amid a crisis that is causing most of us to stay inside all day. I mean sure, we can go out a bit, but it’s not the same. And we really needed a solid Earth Day this year, since we are really at a tipping point here in how we are treating the planet. Oh well, I guess we’ll have to wait for the 100th anniversary to do it right.

These Days

This new Dustinand comic is a typical day of quarantine in a nutshell. No words. Just lots of eating, drinking and clicking. A friend asked why I didn’t throw in showering or getting dressed or bedtime with the kiddos… all good points but for some reason I feel like the day is best encapsulated by the things I included here. Food, drink, work, screen time. Repeat. With maybe a couple more months to go…  yikes.

Essential

This new Dustinland comic is about the people keeping our society functioning right now… or better yet, it’s about how it feels to not be one of them. I mean, in terms of the complexity of the way our economy works, everyone is “necessary” in the sense that all these parts keep the money moving, keep tax dollars flowing… basically us “unessential” white collar workers do help pay the essential workers. But it still feels weird working from home and having some person making minimum wage bring food to my house like a servant. I’m grateful of course. I have a great life. These are just weird times that make certain things about our civilization hit home.

The Chosen Ones

This week’s new Dustinland comic is about quarantine and groceries and people who have already caught the bug and waited two weeks and are now free, sort of…

Speaking of food, what staple are you currently missing? I need eggs. Also I read that baby chicks are selling out at farm supply stores. Who knew? You can’t buy eggs or the things that make them. I wonder which problem came first…