PATRICK MCDONNELL's MUTTS share THE GIFT OF EVERYTHING
- Andrew Irvin
- Oct 1
- 10 min read
Interviews Editor, Andrew Irvin, sits down with Patrick McDonnell, creator of syndicated daily cartoon, MUTTS, to discuss The Gift of Everything, on sale Oct. 7th, and much more.
COMIC BOOK YETI: Patrick, it is an honor to have you stop by to chat. Welcome to the Yeti Cave! How is everything going over in New Jersey?
PATRICK MCDONNELL: Happy to chat with you. Here the leaves are starting to change color, and there’s a little chill in the air. Things are cool in New Jersey.
CBY: Glad to hear it - spring is just starting on this side of the planet, and it's been delightful. It’s also a particular delight to have you here, given your dedication as an animal rights and environmental advocate rivals your repute as a cartoonist, and the intersection of these two spheres is crucially important in my own career. I’ve gone through the interviews you’ve shared going back 20 years to The Gift of Nothing’s release, so hopefully I’m not re-treading trodden territory. You cartoonists “spend a lot of our lifetime at play” - how do you feel this fascination with the illustrated image converges with your joy of exploring what nature has to offer us?
PM: Because my character Earl was inspired by my own Jack Russell terrier, from the very start of MUTTS I wanted my animal characters to stay animal-like. I try to see the world from their perspective. That’s why nature plays a big part in MUTTS. The changing seasons, rain, snow, sunrises and sunsets, moon phases, the flora and fauna, the birds and the insects - these are all catalysts for storylines. They’re the type of things I believe my dog and cat are in tune with. It gives the strip a Zen quality, which ties into my belief that all artmaking is a form of meditation.
CBY: I'd agree; the process of creation is at least as valuable as the product that results. MUTTS has been running over thirty years; I first remember my grandmother introducing me to it when I visited her, seeing its appearance in The Cincinnati Enquirer. Ohio is no stranger to your work, with your “Side Effects” exhibition debuting at the Urban Art Space in 2021 at the Ohio State University, which also houses the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. I understand your fondness for the Jersey Shore exceeds my dedication to Ohio (seeing as you’re still in Jersey and I’m on the other side of the planet); what led you to exhibiting in Columbus instead of at Princeton or one of the many galleries in the New York City area?
PM: The exhibit at Ohio State was initiated because Jenny Robb, the head curator at Ohio State’s Billy Ireland Museum, kindly invited me. Some background: the COVID shutdown gave me the opportunity to create large-scale paintings, something I’ve been doing to a lesser degree for quite some time. (You can see many of them at www.PatrickMcDonnellArt.com.) While on an east coast trip, Jenny visited my studio and thought my paintings would make for an interesting exhibit. We ended up displaying 57 of them. It was a thrill to see that comprehensive body of work hanging together in such a beautiful space. Later, I had a show of my Marvel superhero paintings at The Arts Council of Princeton and contributed a piece to my friend Joe Coleman’s Carnival exhibit at the Jeffrey Deitch Gallery in New York City.
CBY: It must have been a refreshing change of scale to see your work beyond their daily rendition on the page in newsprint. Publishing MUTTS collections through Andrews McMeel – fellow home to the Calvin and Hobbes archives – you also published Krazy Kat: The Comic Art of George Herriman with your wife, Karen O’Connell, and Georgia Riley de Havenon in 1986, and you developed a friendship with Charles Schulz, having supported his estate as a board member of his museum. These last few years of interviews, I’ve come to realize the strength of linkages across the comics and cartoon community; having built upon the legacy of your respected predecessors, have you mentored any younger cartoonists or had any protégé of your own you’d like to take note of here?
PM: I hope MUTTS has influenced a young cartoonist or two. I’m especially proud of my nephew, Dan Misdea, who left his job to pursue cartooning. In a year’s time, he had a cartoon published in The New Yorker and is now semi-regular. When he was nine years old and in a rented tuxedo, he watched me win the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award in New York City. That turned out to be inspirational for him. Dan is very talented, and very, very funny. It’s in the genes I suppose. I also feel simpatico with my friend Todd Webb, who does a quiet, Zen strip called The Poet. We both come from the “less is more” school.
CBY: I would certainly encourage our readers to take the opportunity to explore both of their creations following this interview. While MUTTS is your longest running publication, you’ve been illustrating professionally since the 1970s, having worked in weekly and monthly formats for The New York Times Sunday Magazine and Parents Magazine, respectively. How did shifting to a daily strip change your workflow, and what does your process look like over the course of a week, year after year? How do you find time to build other projects (such as fine art exhibitions or standalone books like The Gift of Everything) into your output?
PM: I was comfortable with deadlines for my magazine and advertising work, but nothing can prepare you for the intensity of creating a daily newspaper strip. It’s funny: as a kid I always dreamed of becoming a comic strip artist, but never once considered the reality of such a demanding job. The truth is, when you’re a daily cartoonist, you don’t have much of a personal life. That’s the curse of most working artists. The blessing is that we get to do what we love to do.
CBY: Inspiration isn't always the most consistent, so discipline to track your ideas and plot their deployment across the dailies must be critically important. You’ve made regular mention in prior press of your career-long collaboration with your wife, Karen. As someone who is continually navigating creative collaboration with my wife, I always appreciate the opportunity to ask creators who work alongside their spouses; in what ways do you partition your work process from your personal life? How do you resolve conflicts when they arise, and what do you both do to create breathing room, find space for holidays, and keep things engaging and exciting after decades of close cooperation?
PM: Karen is my Gift of Everything. She handles all the business, the website, and the emails, which frees me to do what I do best: drawing funny pictures. She’s also my sounding board and editor. I trust her instincts, humor, and storytelling sense. I’m grateful that we’ve shared this creative journey together.
As far as the day-to-day goes, yes, the work can be overwhelming and take up far too much time. But Karen always reminds me that this is what we’re here for, and that we should make the most of our productive years. It helps that we share similar outlooks and goals. We’re always asking how our work can do the most good. To answer your specific questions: After a while your work life and personal life blend together; a sense of humor helps with conflicts and being open to the opportunities the universe presents keeps things engaging and exciting.
CBY: You've given us words of wisdom built upon lived experience, which can widen perspective in conversations around healthy approaches to all-encompassing partnerships. On the topic of gifts, The Gift of Nothing was adapted to the stage, premiering at the Kennedy Center in 2014. Given the debacle forced upon the Kennedy Center as an indicator of the broader attack on the arts in the United States now underway, what sort of advice do you have for creators now, existing in a climate where public sector support has been gutted, and the process of creativity is being undermined by the products of the automated generative AI onslaught? How do young artists find motivation to keep creating when the societal value of new art is constantly being challenged?
PM: First, make art for yourself; something honest and real. Share it with family, friends, and the world. We need personal, handmade art now more than ever. Art reminds us of our higher selves. Good art promotes empathy and brings people together. It reveals our inner light, which is so needed in these dark times. Sometimes it may feel hopeless, like you’re in limbo against all the madness. But art is the answer. You can be the flower that blooms in the crack in the sidewalk.
CBY: In gracing audiences with The Gift of Everything, is there any update on whether your fans will eventually enjoy the long-discussed feature film adaptation of MUTTS under development? was under development with Blue Sky Studios before Disney shuttered it in 2021. I know anything stuck in the Mousetrap is usually hard to prise free, but are you able to share any details around the film’s potential future, or any other work you’re undertaking in theatrical or animated form?
PM: Hollywood is tough. Fox Entertainment had MUTTS under contract for more than 10 years. I fought to be the screenwriter, and after many years the script (centered on Earl and Mooch freeing Guard Dog) was greenlit. We were just starting pre-production when Disney acquired Fox. And, as often happens in a takeover, the MUTTS movie went into limbo until the contract ran out. So now I’m just beginning to explore other options. I’d still love to see MUTTS animated but only if it’s done with heart and authenticity.
CBY: I hope a production that matches your vision and intent comes to fruition sooner rather than later. You’ve also had the opportunity to release other books, including publications with spiritual leaders such as Guardians of Being with Eckhart Tolle, which led to Heart to Heart in collaboration with the Dalai Lama. You’ve also worked on an early life biography of Jane Goodall and her toy chimp, Jubilee, called Me…Jane. My work at IUCN involved organizing the World Conservation Congress in Hawai’i in 2016, where I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Goodall (who had a different stuffed chimp, Mr. H, in tow at the time). With figures who have religious or scientific foundations structuring schedules, appearances, and priorities, how do you ensure these joint ventures come together successfully? What have you learned from working with figures who have spent their careers as moral leaders, scrutinized in the public eye?
PM: First, I’d like to thank you for all your good works. I’ve been blessed to meet and work with incredible, enlightened beings including Jane Goodall, Eckhart Tolle, Daniel Ladinsky, and the Dalai Lama. Collaborating with them (and their people) was easy, heartwarming and a joy. They’re all open, generous, and life-affirming, and deeply committed to helping the planet and all its creatures. In these dark and troubled times, I’m most struck by how each of them radiates positivity and hope. Their optimism keeps me sane. I recently saw Eckhart in upstate New York and Jane (with Mr. H) in New York City, and they both inspired me to do more. I’d like to mention that The International Campaign for Tibet has designed their 2026 calendar using art I created for Heart to Heart.
CBY: We certainly need more positivity, hope, and dedicated action to improve the state of the planet for all its creatures. I've received the devastating news this morning that Dr. Goodall has passed, and despite an emotional morning, I am hopeful this interview can help commemorate her legacy in some small way. Regarding the continued legacy of your work, The Gift of Everything provides a beautiful complementarity to The Gift of Nothing. It provides a message as expansive in its gratitude for the bountiful world around us as a counterpoint the meditative examination of removing attachment to the material world you explored previously. For stories so structurally and thematically similar in many ways, what has changed in your own perspective on the world around you in the twenty years between creating these two publications?
PM: The best work comes from a deep place, and the artist is just a conduit. This has been my experience throughout my career. The first book was about Mooch disengaging from the enticing world of form to discover inner peace and happiness (the real gift of nothing). In the new story, Mooch learns to see the world of form from a deeper place with new eyes, with wonder and gratitude. He sees that it’s all connected, that we’re all one (the gift of everything). I feel I live this with my art but am still working to achieve it in real life.
CBY: We usually close with an opportunity for creators to highlight work unrelated to the publications they’ve come to discuss, generally pertaining to other comics, films, literature, music, or various media. I’d like to extend the same invitation, with the addendum, if there are any animal rights or environmental causes you think people should be aware of, could you please include mention of anything we should all pay more attention to going forward?
PM: There are so many important charities in this world that need our help, especially in our current political climate. I have dedicated my life and career to helping animals and the environment and there are too many great charities in this space to single any out. But I urge everyone reading this to do something. As Dr. Jane Goodall has said, 'Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.' Each of us can all make an impact through our actions and choices.
CBY: Patrick, it has been an honor to have you here to speak about the breadth and depth of your career. If you have any other portfolio, publication, or social media links you’d like our readers to check out, now is the time and place to share!
PM: Thanks for the opportunity and your thoughtful questions. Here are some of my more recent books your readers might enjoy: Breaking the Chain, the graphic novel version of the MUTTS story that frees Guard Dog; The Super Hero’s Journey, my love letter to Jack Kirby and the Marvel comics of my youth; The Little Things, the latest MUTTS collection; and The Essential Peanuts, the definitive 75th anniversary tome for which I wrote the Introduction.
MUTTS can be found at www.mutts.com; Instagram @muttscomics ; FB /muttscomics
And please (if you can) foster or adopt a new best friend.
Like what you've just read? Help us keep the Yeti Cave warm! Comic Book Yeti has a Patreon page for anyone who wants to contribute: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookyeti
