The cover of 'Mutts Sunday Funnies Volume 2' features a light tan background. On the left, a black and white cat (Mooch) and a white dog (Earl) are napping on steps outside a house with blue curtains. On the right, the title 'Patrick McDonnell MUTTS SUNDAY FUNNIES Volume 2' is displayed, with a small blue dog (Earl) singing happily at the bottom right, and a thought bubble with a cat (Mooch) in the upper left.

MUTTS Sunday Funnies: Why Patrick McDonnell Belongs Among the Greats

The cover of 'Mutts Sunday Funnies Volume 2' features a light tan background. On the left, a black and white cat (Mooch) and a white dog (Earl) are napping on steps outside a house with blue curtains. On the right, the title 'Patrick McDonnell MUTTS SUNDAY FUNNIES Volume 2' is displayed, with a small blue dog (Earl) singing happily at the bottom right, and a thought bubble with a cat (Mooch) in the upper left.

I’m really excited about these books. I went to my local bookstore and picked up MUTTS Sunday Funnies Volumes 1 and 2, and the first thing that caught my attention was the format. I love the elongated design. At roughly 11¾ inches wide and 4⅝ inches high, these horizontal hardcovers give the Sunday strips a distinctive presentation that really stands out on a bookshelf.

Published by Abrams ComicArts, the first two volumes collect Patrick McDonnell’s Sunday pages from 1994 to 1998. The strips are reproduced in full colour, one page at a time and in chronological order, with the original title panels included. There’s also a new preface and a Title Panel Tribute Guide in which McDonnell shares some of the artists who inspired those opening illustrations. It’s a thoughtful package that treats the Sunday comic strip as an art form, not just something you read with your morning coffee.

The cover of 'Mutts Sunday Funnies Volume 2' features a light tan background. On the left, a black and white cat (Mooch) and a white dog (Earl) are napping on steps outside a house with blue curtains. On the right, the title 'Patrick McDonnell MUTTS SUNDAY FUNNIES Volume 2' is displayed, with a small blue dog (Earl) singing happily at the bottom right, and a thought bubble with a cat (Mooch) in the upper left.

What I particularly admire about McDonnell is how much he can do with so little. His clean, economical lines make MUTTS look deceptively simple, but there’s real thought behind the expressions, the page layouts and the way he uses colour. The Sunday format gives him more room to play, and these books let you slow down and appreciate the decisions that might be missed when a strip appears in a newspaper.

The cover of 'Mutts Sunday Funnies Volume 2' features a light tan background. On the left, a black and white cat (Mooch) and a white dog (Earl) are napping on steps outside a house with blue curtains. On the right, the title 'Patrick McDonnell MUTTS SUNDAY FUNNIES Volume 2' is displayed, with a small blue dog (Earl) singing happily at the bottom right, and a thought bubble with a cat (Mooch) in the upper left.

For me, Charles M. Schulz, Bill Watterson and Patrick McDonnell belong in a very special group of comic strip artists. They each have a distinctive style, but they also understand that a few drawings and carefully chosen words can say an awful lot. Schulz himself praised MUTTS as one of the best comic strips of all time, which is quite an endorsement.

These are the kinds of books I want on my shelves. I bought the first two volumes, and I’m already looking forward to what comes next. If you love newspaper comics and appreciate the craft behind them, MUTTS Sunday Funnies is more than a trip down memory lane. It’s a chance to enjoy Patrick McDonnell’s work the way these beautiful Sunday pages deserve to be seen, one at a time.

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