A Note From Patrick: June 2019

Hi folks,

Last month I spoke at and attended the National Cartoonists Society’s NCS Fest in Huntington Beach, where I had a great time meeting MUTTS readers, animal lovers, and fellow comics enthusiasts. I was also part of a panel discussing my favorite classic comic strip, Krazy Kat. Thank you to everyone who made the trip out to attend the festival, which looks like it may became an annual event.

Like Mooch, I’ve been dreaming of Africa, and will be spending some time there this summer (where it will be winter). I’ll be bringing my sketchbook as I’m sure this adventure will inspire many MUTTS strips. I’m looking forward to sharing artwork and photos upon return.

Lastly, I’d like to give you another sneak peek from my forthcoming MUTTS anniversary book The Art of Nothing, which will be published this fall. In addition to looking back on MUTTS’ 25-year history in newspapers, the book also features a lot of artwork I’ve created for other media, such as books and magazines.

Sweden was one of the first countries to embrace MUTTS, and Serieparaden magazine published the MUTTS strip almost right from the start. Shown below is an exclusive poster and part of a comic book insert created for the publication. In The Art of Nothing these images will be reprinted with an English translation for the first time.

MUTTS insert for Serieparaden comic magazine — *Serieparaden poster. Pen, ink, and watercolor, circa 1995*

MUTTS comic pages for Serieparaden comic magazine — *Comic book insert for Serieparaden. Original art. Pen, ink, watercolor, and white paint, 1996*

Do you have any animal-related activities or vacations planned for the coming months? I’d love to hear how you’ll be spending the season.

Patrick

Comments (43)

Every morning I smile even before I open your daily email. Beside the awesome comic, I always stair for awhile at the puppy tail wagging in the chair as MR peeks around the door- they dream into each other’s eyes. LOVE!!! Nina
Nina Faulkner

From July 5 – 12 I am spending the week w/my 87 year old father who lives 3 and a half hours drive from me. A few months ago he adopted a 5 year old cat recently (they are inseparable, and apparently according to the shelter, she was very unfriendly and would hiss at people who came by, but when she saw my dad she ran right up to him and they saved each other.) He also takes care of 3 feral cats, not only feeding them twice a day (including treats..) but maintains a litterbox for them in his garage (near their “winter beds”.) Does this count as an “animal-related” vacation, lol? Thanks for all you do, Patrick. BTW one of your strips is hanging up in his house (Millie and Moochie, w/Moochie shnubbing the food and Frank saying at the end “every day it’s the same dance w/you two,” lol. We miss my stepmom who was quite a Millie w/her beloved Moochie (that was really the cat’s name.)
Dina B.

I met you, Patrick, at The Princeton Library (bookstore?). It was swell listening to you share with us your background and your current interests (Other than cartooning).
One of the things that was talked about that day was something called “anthropomorphism”. (Assigning human qualities to animals). Could it be that you are King?
“The shervice here is impeccable!” The other one was the opposite of the word above called “zoomorphism”. Assigning animal qualities to humans. I looked through my collection of Mutts comics and found it hard to find. But one very funny sight was Mooch playing one of the Super-Heroes which was Batman , I think.
So we have: An animal (Mooch) assigned human characteristics from a human (Batman) with animal characteristics. Yes, I have to get out more. Thanks for listening.
Jim Mc C

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