I’m New Here 5 & 6

Here are my two latest comic strips for The River Journal, an excellent local newspaper up here in Westchester. Homeowners, you will appreciate the newest one.

Stay Clean

This week’s Dustinland comic is about the cleaning frenzy that goes on before guests arrive. Of course I’m exaggerating a bit, but the general idea is correct. Your day-to-day life at home does not ever live up to the cleanliness that occurs when you host – even just a few friends. There’s always some cleanup in an attempt to generate an image of neatness+. In fact, one of the best things about having people over is that it forces you to clean up. Of course, this can backfire if the hosting leaves the house messier than it was to begin with, due to massive amounts of cooking, eating, and children playing with every toys and art supply they can find. Either way, drinking can help.

Livin The Dream?

This week’s Dustinland comic is basically a combination of all the discussions I’ve been having in the real world. I moved to the burbs about 5 months ago and so now everyone wants to hear my take on it. It’s like when you get married or have kids or get back from a big vacation. Everyone asks you the same things—for good reason. But it does get tiring having the same conversation over and over again. Although there are some subtle nuances that can be more interesting if you really dig into them. Like seeing skunks and fearing ticks. That’s when I enjoy the conversation more.

And man, I really did see a skunk this weekend, crossing the street in front of my house. A skunk! I live 40 minutes from NYC! Later I showed my kid a picture of a skunk and told him, hey, if you ever see this animal, STAY AWAY. And then a neighbor told me, oh boy, coming out in broad daylight, could be a rabid skunk. Man, that’s not cool. Skunks are bad enough. Now it’s a rabid skunk!

But yeah, I do like it out here.

Joining The Club

This week’s new Dustinland comic follows further into my homeownership voyage. Definitely more fun to write about than the election, that’s for sure. I wonder how people who don’t own homes will view this strip? Fear? Boredom? Excitement? Either way, the strips will continue as buying a house has consumed my existence, and all my inspiration is from this experience. Joining the club indeed.

Welcome To Homeownership

So the new house I refer to in this week’s new Dustinland comic is not quite as bad as I make it out to be in the strip, but it definitely needs more work than I thought it would. While I’m exaggerating for the strip, it really does feel that way. Anytime anyone does anything on the house, they uncover some new unlucky nightmare that costs thousands of dollars to repair. Man, I guess this is what grumpy dads across America have been complaining about on sitcoms forever. Here’s to joining the club.

Mi Casa es Mi Casa

I just bought a house. And that’s what this week’s latest Dustinland comic is about. Honestly, I could write an entire graphic novel just about this. The entire process. In some ways you could say it took years. Just closing on the house alone was many months. I could go on and on here and now, but I will save it for future comics.

If I have the time to draw comics, that is, since I will soon be so broke, in my spare time I’ll have to be one of those guys selling bottled water at stoplights.

Land Lord

Not a lot to say about this week’s Dustinland comic. I just think the word land lord is funny. There really are no more lords. There’s no office lord. There’s no zoo lord. I really think landlord is the only lord left.

Dustinland — Houses Are For Grown-Ups

In this week’s Dustinland I chronicle an argument between my lovely wife and I. Yes, I know most of you think that it would be impossible for any girl lucky enough to land a catch like me to ever argue about anything, but alas, there is always something. Really though, buying a house is pretty frightening. Just the idea of owing so much money, especially in these days of mortgage meltdowns and the plummeting dollar… I mean, if I can get stressed out now I can’t imagine what it would be like if I had mortgage payments to worry about. Well, looks like the future holds plenty of excitement!