Cringer

Today’s new Dustinland comic is about a dad trying to relate to his kid and getting shot down multiple times. I think most dads can relate. Maybe moms too. You know, once they even approach those teenage years they just turn into little weasels. But I do think they may in some ways think you’re cool — they just won’t let you know it.

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.

Hey Kid

This week’s new Dustinland comic is about how I recently learned that my son is starting to realize the power of searching the internet. As in, you can search for ANYTHING — not just info about your favorite games and shows and movies, not just cool pics and videos. You can search people — not just famous ones. Anyone. Anything. And that… is going to bring up some interesting searches.

Hence this week’s strip. And you know, you can’t protect them from the horrors of the internet forever. You can only arm them with the understanding that even if you can see anything, maybe you don’t want to.

Also, I’ve thrown up a few more new Birdy strips – making 6 new ones in the last two weeks! Surprising I didn’t do any during the worst of quarantine but I think maybe I was too depressed. Also, I spent a shocking amount of time reformatting the archives. You really can’t imagine how long it took and how tedious it was. Of course it still looks pretty bad BUT it is more functional, and I deleted all of the comics I found to be subpar filler. So it’s solid now. 1,000 or so strips — all good. I think.

Modern Parenting

This week’s new Dustinland comic is about how hard parenting is. And actually beyond that — it’s not just that it’s hard to be a parent, it’s also hard being a parent in a time where you are always being told “the right way” to parent by a wide variety of professional parenting sources that get paid to help you / inform you that you’re wrong.

I do think these parenting guides are helpful — 100%. That being said, they definitely can also make you feel like your intuition is always wrong, and that the “right way” of parenting requires an impossible degree of emotionless calm focus. On the other hand, no one wants to turn into the grumpy old man who says “when I was your age they used to hit me in the mouth with a wrench!”

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.

Water You Doing?

This week’s new Dustinland comic is basically a video of my living room, just in comic form.

Man, it sure is hard to get kids to do stuff on their own, isn’t it? I guess I’m just not one of them strict parents. Boy, you’d think sarcasm would accomplish more.

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.

Won’t Take This Sitting Down

This week’s new Dustinland comic is about what it’s like to deal with remote learning and WFH at the same time. Either one on its own… not so bad. Both together…. prettttttttty frustrating.

Also, extra note here. I often portray my wife as being the sitcom foil to my dad dreams. It’s not really like that in real life, but it is a convenient and easy to understand mechanism that serves my purposes and lets the joke always be on me. Just like Chris Rock… I got my comic wife, and my real wife.

Guinea Pigs

This first Dustinland comic of 2021 is about how 2020 made me adopt two guinea pigs. I explain it all in the strip, but basically it was out of guilt due to quarantine boredom and my allergies. So yeah. Furballs. They’re okay. Meh. I kinda like them, but they are also pretty forgettable. I think any pet that stays hidden in a cage all day is just gonna be so-so good even at its best.

At least we have fish. They’re like living decorations.