August 29, 2024 – For three decades, the multi-talented, internationally bestselling cartoonist and writer Patrick McDonnell has entertained readers around the world with his beloved syndicated comic strip Mutts. The adventures of Mooch, the curious cat, and Earl, the ever-trusting dog, have drawn praise from the likes of Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, and Jane Goodall. In 1995, McDonnell introduced a new character in Mutts: Guard Dog, a chained dog longing for his freedom.
Now, this September, Abrams ComicsArts will publish Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story, a celebration and history of Guard Dog with a full color version of his newsworthy story of long awaited freedom that captivated readers around the world. Over the years Guard Dog, one of the strip’s most beloved characters, has played an important role in raising awareness about the cruelty of tethering and has inspired countless readers to become involved in animal welfare.
Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story begins when Guard Dog is abandoned by his owner, left alone and suffering. But he’s soon discovered by his animal friends Mooch and Earl, and Doozy, a kindly neighborhood girl, who work together to rescue their friend.
“This wasn’t a villain; this was a tragic character,” says McDonnell in his introduction to Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story. “I thought of all the real dogs in this country and around the world who suffer the same unbearable fate. Maybe my dog could be their voice. He could represent the cruelty that animals endure at the hands of humans, and the cruelty we inflict upon ourselves by staying chained to our own unconscious ways of thinking.”
Brought to life with Patrick McDonnell’s warm and intimate art, and featuring the complete story, now in color for the first time, Breaking the Chain is an emotionally resonant vignette whose grounding in the real-life animal neglect issues that affect millions of chained dogs worldwide will move both long-time Mutts fans and first-time readers. The book features an introduction from Rob Thomas, the award-winning singer/songwriter and co-founder with Marisol Thomas of Sidewalk Angels Foundation.
Here’s what people are saying about Patrick McDonnell’s Mutts:
“One of the best comic strips of all time.”―Charles M. Schulz, Peanuts
“Patrick McDonnell is a compassionate champion for all animals, particularly dogs and cats, and through his comic strip, Mutts, he captures magically the personalities of some of our best friends.”―Jane Goodall
“Patrick McDonnell’s Mutts is up there with Peanuts, Pogo, Krazy Kat, and Calvin and Hobbes—cartoons that are smart, funny, brilliantly drawn, and full of heart.”
―Matt Groening, The Simpsons
“In his heart-rending Guard Dog story, Patrick McDonnell proves once again that he is the kindest, most passionate cartoonist on record. In Breaking the Chain, McDonnell kindly and gently breaks the reader’s heart over and over again, and does so with such gentleness and grace that the reader, by the end, is in a state of elevated bliss. Not since Little Nemo in Slumberland has the comics page been gifted with such a gentle, reverential spirit. I don’t envy my friend Patrick having to deal with the fury of his fellow cartoonists, who haven’t realized that plain, simple humanity works on the comics page.”―Jules Feiffer
“To me, Mutts is much more than a comic strip. It’s an expression of the best parts of life—a mirror that reflects our love for the people and animals we share it with.”
―Rob Thomas (award-winning singer/songwriter)
“Mutts is elegant,
simple, deep, yet funny
Like a good haiku.”
―Pete Docter, the writer/ director of Inside Out and Up
Featuring the complete Guard Dog story, early Mutts comic strips, and other supplementary materials – Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story will be published on Tuesday, September 3. Abrams will donate a portion of the proceeds for pre-orders of Breaking the Chain to the Sidewalk Angels Foundation. To subscribe to the Daily Mutts, visit MUTTS.COM or follow Mutts on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
ABOUT THE CARTOONIST: Patrick McDonnell is the creator of the animal-friendly comic strip MUTTS, which debuted on September 5, 1994, and has appeared in more than 700 newspapers in over twenty countries. With a print readership in the millions, MUTTS has garnered international recognition for its gentle humor and powerful themes of kindness, compassion, and friendship. In 1999, just five years after MUTTS began, Patrick received the highest honor awarded to a cartoonist: The Reuben for Cartoonist of the Year. Charles M. Schulz called MUTTS “one of the best comic strips of all time.”
Through MUTTS, Patrick advocates for the environment and all animals. He has received both the HSUS Voice for the Animals Award and PETA’s Humanitarian Award. Dog Fancy included Patrick in its top 25 “People Who Changed the Dog World.” The MUTTS characters appear on New Jersey Animal Friendly license plates and in public service announcements for the Shelter Pet Project. His book MUTTS Shelter Stories—Love. Guaranteed. is a collection of his shelter-themed MUTTS strips, along with stories of real-life shelter adoption successes.
Patrick has produced twelve picture books, including New York Times bestsellers The Gift of Nothing and Me . . . Jane (a Caldecott Honor biography of Jane Goodall). Both were adapted as musicals for the Kennedy Center. He has collaborated on books with author Eckhart Tolle (Guardians of Being), poet Daniel Ladinsky (Darling, I Love You), and His Holiness the Dalai Lama (Heart to Heart). Most recently, in collaboration with Marvel Comics and Abrams ComicArts, Patrick published the graphic novel The Super Hero’s Journey, which the Washington Post named one of the “top 10 graphic novels of 2023.” In 2019, he published The Art of Nothing: 25 Years of Mutts and the Art of Patrick McDonnell, also with Abrams ComicArts.
Patrick was a member of the Board of Directors of the Humane Society of the United States for eighteen years and currently serves on the boards of the Fund for Animals, the Charles M. Schulz Museum, and D&R Greenway Land Trust.
