A Note From Patrick: October 2022

Welcome to the MUTTS October Newshletter. The days are starting to get shorter during these crisp days of early fall when the leaves turn golden. Shweater weather. My favorite time of year.

MUTTS might look a little different to you this week and in the future. If so, it’s because I’ve loosened up my art style, using very little preliminary pencils (in some cases none) and going straight to drawing in ink. It gives the strip more of the power and intimacy of a preliminary sketch, which I love. I’m also freehand lettering the dialogue.

With COVID lifting, last weekend the Princeton Library held its annual Children’s Book Festival. I had the honor of being the featured author, doing a book reading and ‘chalk’ talk, and creating the illustrations for event. So many people came out for it. Thanks to everyone who attended. One MUTTS reader, Faith Ann, came all the way from Reading, Pennsylvania. She told me that she and her daughter regularly share the goings-on in the daily MUTTS.

October 25th is the release date for my latest MUTTS collection, Walking Home. It contains some favorite strips, including Butchie converting the Fatty Snax deli to a plant-based establishment.

Next month I will be travelling to the Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, California, for a panel celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Charles Schulz, joining Al Roker, Cathy Guisewite, Robb Armstrong and Stephan Pastis on November 12th.

Heart To Heart, my collaboration with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, is scheduled to be released on January 24, 2023. The publisher should be releasing the cover shortly, and we will then update the landing page with all the details of the project and book tour. It's been a long, intense, fun journey, and I can’t wait to share it all with you soon.

And I’ve been obsessed with my next project, a graphic novel. That publisher is keeping the details a secret for now, but as soon as they allow, I'll tell you more.

Wishing you all a joyful, Happy Halloween. Stay safe and be kind to our fellow creatures.

Patrick

Comments (19)

Please let Guard Dog be chain free this holiday!
chiweenie mom

I love reading Mutts. Thank you for giving us such a joyous cartoon strip. Delia Rightmier
Delia Rightmier

This is a poem I wrote for Charley my miniature schnauzer upon his recent birthday.

Today is Charley’s birthday
Not Charlie my dear friend
But Charley man’s best friend
Two years old and light years
Ahead of us all when it comes to love.
When we arrive we have no way of knowing
What love is but we are determined to find out.
So we spend a life time searching for the answers
When all along the greatest example
Is in the backyard
Wagging his tail.
Edwin Summey

I love Mutts and your compassionate message for animals. Our newspaper, the St Louis Post Dispatch owned by Lee Enterprises, recently blew up the comics page and Mutts was one of the victims. Most all comics are gone except a few that I suspect they don’t have to pay for….or cost little. We have protested the removal of comics and puzzles, to no avail. So, I am happy that I can still see Mutts daily on your page here! Your art is such a feel-good feeling every day! Also please let Guard Dog off his chain, he makes me sad being chained up.💗
Peace, Dalelee
Dale Ackerman

You have no idea how your “Mutts” has made an old bedbound lady fall in Love with Mooch and Earl! They make me happy….or touch my Heart….or find wistfulness.
I have two cats. One is a super-senior. The other a foundling, now into adulthood. Both adopted, of course.
Anyway, just wanted to say, “Thanks” and Cheers!
Brenda Sigsbee

Love Mutts looking forward to the release of the upcoming books. Thankful for kitchen towels ( I recommend them when it was once asked what would you like to see) I have another suggestion. My 84 year old mom is a big lover of Mutts! It’s what she looks forward to every morning. She has dementia and one thing she does that brings her pleasure is coloring but she has a hard time finding something she really wants to color except Mutts comic! I have been getting her the daily calendar for the past few years and she saved them so she colors those and of course looks forward to coloring the next day of her 2022 calendar but a coloring book would be awesome for her. She has about 10 of your books she has not colored in them…yet!
Kelly Sueksdorf

Returning to hand-lettered dialog is a major improvement to the “feel” of the strip. I’m sure that the computer font reduced the amount of effort involved, but the static line placement and the over-reliance on bold to emphasize arbitrary words lent an artificial, stilted feel to the text. I actually quit buying the annual collections precisely because I didn’t like the typesetting. Thanks very much for re-joining the “hand lettered” club: there are very few comic strips that still cherish this sort of craftsmanship.
Atanwat

Thank you for addressing the style change! I’d noticed it recently and was concerned you’d had a health event. Glad to read it’s a choice!
AJ Townley

It such a joy to be greeted by Mutts each morning!
I was delighted to see that you will be at the Charles Schultz Museum in Santa Rosa in November, right when my husband and I plan to be there, and look forward to attending the 100th Birthday celebration!
Nancy Pistone

Thank you for your creative gifts to the world, speaking up for all animals and upgrading the Fatty Snax deli to a plant-based establishment! 🌱❤️
Sharon

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