Okay, Dear Reader. I have gone on for a while about comics and comic strips and newspapers for a while. I had planned to have a “Comic Strip Week” in the Substack but life got in the way.
This little essay was the finale that I planned. This is about a great comic strip. It’s also about a great artist and a compassionate human being. And, since you are reading this online communication, it is something you can enjoy and share at no cost to you.
Mutts
I enjoy comic strips of all stripes; from Blondie to Non Sequetur and everything in between But if I was forced to select one and only one comic strip that I could see and read every day, it would be Mutts.
Patrick McDonnell, a New Jersey resident, has created a world inhabited by anthropomorphic animals—mostly but not entirely domestic pets—that brims with lively imagination and so much more.
Earl and Mooch are the stars of the show. Earl is a dog who shares every positive attribute of everyone’s favorite mutt. Mooch, a cat, brings the entire world into a feline perspective; which is to say, everything is created for his comfort and convenience.
<ASIDE> Mooch talks funny. Instead of saying “yes,” he says “Yesh.” Here is an image of the license plate on one of our cars.
The “animal-friendly” plates in NJ feature Earl and Mooch. I went the “vanity” route to get the “number” on our plate. <END ASIDE>
They are comic foils for each other and inseparable friends.
But Mutts is so much more than Mooch and Earl doing comic turns. Mutts has a mission. This is how the Mutts team describes in on the Mutts website.
The Supporting Cast
In an essay from a couple of weeks ago, I included images from my bulletin board of one of my favorite Mutts strips. They featured Shtinky Puddin’ / a.k.a. Jules
Shtinky is my hero.
Guard Dog played a leading role in a recent story arc. It brought to mind memories of a dog I knew when I was in my early teens. I don’t recall the dog's name, but I do recall the name of the family that “owned” him. The husband was a drinking buddy of my father’s.
They kept a dog chained to a doghouse in their backyard. And I recall a couple of occasions when the dog freed himself. His constant tugging against the chain would gradually wear down a link—thin it—like someone hitting it with a hammer against an anvil. And once in a while, it would break.
Not a happy memory.
Here is the “breaking the chain” story on the Mutts website. Scroll down a little bit and you will be able to click through the entire story.
<SPOILER ALERT> Sparky was the nickname of Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts. <END ALERT>
Here’s a link to an introduction to the regular Mutts cast.
A Heartfelt Recommendation
Maybe you don’t get a newspaper. Maybe you don’t have the patience to go to a website and look up today’s comics of choice. There are lots of reasons you’re not reading comic strips.
But there’s no reason you have to miss out on Mutts. You can get the comic every day at around 6 a.m. There’s no charge. The price you pay will be in the form of occasional newsletters or other missives alerting you to Mutts books and merchandise. And it’s entirely possible you’ll find things there that you like or you might want to give to a friend or relative. It’s all really good shtuff.
So go ahead. Subscribe.
Anon.
Ridge