Dustin (comic strip)

Dustin is a daily comic strip created by Steve Kelley, editorial cartoonist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Jeff Parker, editorial cartoonist for Florida Today. It is carried by King Features Syndicate and debuted on January 4, 2010. Dustin won the National Cartoonists Society Reuben Award for Best Newspaper Comic Strip in 2010, and again in 2017 . Focusing on the present boomerang generation and post-2008 recession period, it also deals with varying topics from everyday life and social commentary.

Dustin was initially planned as a collaboration between Kelley and Steve Breen, who was Kelley's successor as the staff editorial cartoonist of the San Diego Union Tribune after Kelley was fired from that position in 2001. Breen later decided not to proceed with Dustin, leading to a 2008 lawsuit by Kelley against the owners of the Union Tribune, alleging that Breen had been improperly pressured not to collaborate with Kelley; the case was dismissed in 2009, but reinstated in 2011.

At its outset Dustin was carried in more than 100 newspapers nationwide, and by October 2010 it had expanded to 300. In several papers, Dustin was the replacement strip for Cathy, which ended its run in papers on October 3, 2010.

Characters
Dustin Kudlick, the titular character of the comic strip. A 23-year-old college graduate who has failed to find regular employment - despite a booming economy - after graduating and thus moved back home to live with his parents. He is constantly rewarded with an unlimited number of temp jobs despite expressing hostility and disdain toward entry-level work, believing himself above the positions he is given. He is frequently shown asking his agent at the temp agency for middle or upper-level management positions, despite demonstrating no vocation whatsoever and frequently being let go from his temp positions for gross incompetence and/or laziness. In developing relationships with women, Dustin frequently finds himself in situations that contain thinly veiled incel rhetoric, the writers demonstrating that women and their reluctance to accept someone with no discernible personality or favorable trait are the primary reasons for Dustin's romantic failures. Despite his gross incompetence outside of the occasional sitcom-inspired put-down, Dustin is presented as a stoic, heroic everyman and inspiration to the reader, who purportedly endures and strives, trying to find financial stability, a sense of vocation, acceptance from his family, and even happiness itself.

Ed Kudlick, Dustin's father, is a successful, yet angry and bitter lawyer who despises Dustin's frequently depicted laziness. Ed ceaselessly mocks Dustin and puts him down for his incompetence and lack of drive to keep appropriate employment. He also begrudges Dustin's mooching nature, yet consistently gives in to his false promises of return favor. Thus, he is deservedly trapped in a situation of his own making. The only thing they consistently have in common is their love of golf. In 2023, Ed inexplicably took up pole vaulting as a hobby, despite having expressed no interest in the prior decade. Helen Kudlick, Dustin's mother, is a radio advice talk-show host of "Here's Helen," who occasionally endures one airheaded marijuana-advocate caller named Carl with some of his crazy questions. She always keeps faith that her son will do well eventually, even though she does have a shopaholic problem, especially over shoes. Contemporary story arcs also involve Helen exploring relationships with other men after Ed signed up for pole vaulting lessons.

Megan Kudlick, Dustin's teenaged sister, seven years younger than her brother, also resides in the house. A bit of an overachiever, she tends to follow their father's example in insulting and undercutting Dustin at every possible turn, showing how poor parenting can poison the next generation as well. But at times they do share moments of true sibling bonding, and she sometimes encourages him to keep trying.

Simone Fontenot, the owner of TurboTemps, a one-woman employment agency. Simone inexplicably provides Dustin with an unending stream of temporary job assignments, which he predictably squanders. She also supplies criticism and sarcasm that serves as a comically objective assessment of Dustin's historically poor work performance. She almost always mispronounces his last name and bears an unsettling resemblance to Ed in make-up and a wig.

Kevin Fitch, Dustin's best friend, who actually works but is less ambitious and intelligent than Dustin is.

Hayden, a precocious seven-year-old kid and next-door neighbor living with his single mother who balances between wisdom and antagonism for Dustin.