Lazy Train

This week’s new Dustinland comic is about when you make plans way in advance only to dread the idea of leaving the house when those plans finally come around. I don’t want to spoil it here because I kind of spell it out in the comic, but yes, this is a feeling I have often. I don’t know why the idea of leaving the house, particularly at night, has become so exhausting to me. Just the idea, mind you. Not the reality. And you could blame it on COVID but this predates that. Certainly didn’t help, but still. I just think getting older just drags you down. And having kids. You know, when you’re young and free, you can go out all night then sleep late the next day. As a parent, it doesn’t matter what you did Friday night. Saturday, you’re up at 7:00.

But yeah, doing stuff is fun. We should all do more stuff.

Health Bomber

This week’s new Dustinland comic is about how easy it is to slip back into bad habits. We’re all just looking for that excuse.

And to be honest, I find Dry January annoying. Of course it’s not a bad thing that people are drinking less, but I just find these mass “let’s all do X at once” things irritating. It makes me want to do the opposite pretty much every time.

Dry January

This week’s new Dustinland comic is about Dry January, which I think is boring and not fun. I spell it out in the comic, and I mean… I get it. People booze it up and get all fat and bloated and drunk all December, so then January is like “New Year’s Resolution Time!” Time to pretend we’ll be healthy and different for a month and yay, I did it! So again, it makes sense, and I’m sure plenty of people feel better and get something good out of it. I just hate January (and February) so much, I’d rather to Dry June. I mean, why punish ourselves? Let’s balance it out, nahmean?

In other news, there are also two new Birdy strips this week, and a few new Birdy NOFTs. I actually sold 6 of these suckers last week, so how bout them apples. And boy has it been a weird, funny experience, because each Birdy NOFT unlocks and experience or gift for the owner. So far I’ve had to draw original sketches for someone, clap 11 times, send people bad news for 6 days in a row, send an empty envelope to the UK, and draw someone in an original Birdy strip. It’s really been a fun time — largely thanks to my buddy DJ Fathead who is starring in the two new Birdy strips this week, and who introduced me to NFTs a year ago, before it was a big thing. No, I didn’t really get into them or make any money, but you know, that’s not my thing. Jokes and drawings — yes. Making money from comics and art — no.

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.

Two comics for the new year

I drew two comics for the new year.

A positive one. 

A negative one. 

Which did you click on first?

Single Malt Problems

This week’s Dustinland comic is a fast and cute first world problems sort of deal about something that happened to me late night in the office the other day. No big deal. Just a cute little one. I did draw it in colored pencil though, so that’s different. I’ve been doodling with my kid so I figured why not try his art supplies on my comic just to switch things up. Plus I was too lazy to go downstairs to get my felt-tip pen.

Pong Masters

In this week’s Dustinland comic I pretty much spell out my full opinion on the beer pong video game. this might be really old news that all the late night talk shows covered when they came out a year or two ago, but it’s new to me so hey, here’s a comic.

When I was in college and first started drawing Dustinland, I was pretty critical of Greek life. I bring this up because while beer pong is not exclusively a frat activity, it’s certainly close. Either way, I was known for being a sort of anti-frat/sorority voice on campus, which I guess was more or less true. Not that I wasn’t critical of many other things but I did enjoy using Greek life as a target, mostly for obvious reasons. But as I got older, I sort of slowed down on this sort of humor. I know some dudes who are ex frat boys and they’re pretty nice guys. Hey, I even dated a sorority girl once, although we dated before she pledged so that only half counts. I guess what I’m saying is that as you get older, you realize the world is just not so black and white. And like David Foster Wallace says, you start to give people the benefit of the doubt more. Or you just watch a lot of FOX News and get super angry. But yes, I chose the calmer path. So sorry frat friends and beer pongers if I offended you. I can see how this game could be fun, I guess. I just sort of hate it personally. But hey, to each his own. Except in my comics.

Babies Are Drunk, Toddlers Are High

I’ve had the idea that babies are drunk for quite some time. It’s pretty obvious. They waddle around clutching a bottle, they babble, drool, fall over. They’re wasted. But the stoner thing featured in this week’s Dustinland comic was a recent thought. I could honestly do a whole blog just dedicated to viewing toddlers are stoners. All their weird tastes, the things they say, the scenarios they imagine, their explanations for things, the questions they ask—it’s like hanging out with a bunch of college hippie bongo players. And hey, that’s pretty awesome because hippies are funny. Sure, you don’t want to count on one to not lose their boot at a Waffle House in the middle of Tennessee, causing you to drive around from exit to exit in the middle of the night on the way back from Bonnaroo (true story) but you wouldn’t want to count on a baby to drive you home either.

Here’s To Parenthood

Drinking and dadding (or momming). I don’t encourage it, but man, just a beer, just a glass of wine… sometimes you need it. Like I say in this week’s Dustinland comic, I never get wasted anymore—it’s just not possible these days. And that’s good, because as a parent, you probably shouldn’t be tanked around your kids. Anyway, I don’t think I can say more than I already did in the comic, and I feel like most parents are probably in the same situation I am. Oh how the days of partying are way behind us, only to be replaced by a tired one-beer Wednesday. Or maybe two.

Oh by the way, I relaunched an old Tumblr site I had going a while back as a Birdy side project. You know, since Tumblr is sort of the most important thing right now, figured I’d have some sort of presence beyond my four year old hipster comic.

Potty Mouth

This week’s Dustinland comic was based on very true events. Just last week I was having lunch at a bar/restaurant in NYC (Walker’s — great burgers), talking about potty training and other lame dad stuff, when this waitress overheard part of our conversation out of context and totally called us out—she even dropped an F bomb on us. She was a little more fun-loving and sarcastic than the waitress in the strip, but she really did make that exact comment. And the best part is that once we told her the truth, later she came back and made fun of us for that! I asked for the check and she asked me if it was nap time. Man, first I get it for being an asshole, then I get it for being a pussy.

At least the burger was good.

P.S. Really though, she was a good waitress. I like a little sass. It fits the old school character of an old school bar.