[Mutts, January 19, 2015.]
I read only a handful of comic strips. Patrick McDonnell’s Mutts is the sweetest and most endearing. Fast friends (Mooch the cat, Earl the dog) who attempt to hibernate, squirrels who bonk pedestrians with acorns, a groundhog named Lamont (get it?): there’s something for everyone. And the strip is beautifully drawn, with strong George Herriman overtones.
The main page of McDonnell’s website has an observation from the painter Robert Genn: “Drawing is still the bottom line.” Read Mutts and you’ll see why.
I read Mutts via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Saturday, February 7, 2015
I bark for Mutts
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comments: 8
Today's post reminds me of when I'd read at night to my grandson, who demanded a story every time. I rarely ever got past the second or third page.
Worked like a charm, as here with Mooch.
Comics are what I miss most about not getting newspapers anymore. And the crosswords.
I used to someone fall asleep telling my children stories. They found it hilarious.
When I see comics in our local paper, I’m aghast at the poor layout, with strips blown up to occupy more space. I’d be happy to support a syndicate’s subscription model, with the strips of my choice delivered by e-mail every day. I wonder if that will ever happen. Do enough people care about comics to make it possible?
Your suggestion is a good one, worth proposing to the syndicates.
Is the King syndicate still around? I guess I could google, hunh? (Has Google become a verb? It will be an entry in my Dictionary of Cloud-age Usage, if I ever get it written. Another bucket-list item.)
I think I’ll leave them to work out their own business model. : ) My guess is that for many artists a main purpose of the daily strip is to lead the reader to the merch.
My family loves Mutts. So gentle and kind-hearted, but often very funny too.
I imagine it's fairly common for kids to copy pictures from the comics (especially boys, and I think I learned to draw from Mad), but I used to copy pictures from Mutts--in my 50s. My paper didn't publish it then, and my brother in Ohio cut it out everyday and mailed it to me. So yay, Robert Glenn: "Drawing is still the bottom line."
There are more and more online based cartoons worth reading. And some newspaper based ones have online sites, although they can be tricky to find. This is my list, along with the direct to Mutts link.
Rhymes with Orange
Doghouse Diaries
Mutts
Hark! A Vagrant.
Thanks for the list, Zhoen. The Seattle PI has the daily Mutts in color, but only the strip’s website has the Sunday title panels. The most recent Doghouse Diaries has my name written all over it. I wasn’t familiar with this strip or the other two.
And thanks Pete and George for sharing your affection for Mutts.
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