MUTTS is, to put it simply, the best comic strip produced in North America today." -The Infodad Page's five-star review

Giant events, earth-shaking themes, complex issues...all of these can make for captivating cartoons. But it's the artist who can take the simple, keep it simple, and still tell a story that really stands apart from the crowd. Patrick McDonnell, creator of MUTT's Mooch the cat and Earl the dog, is such a cartoonist.

The quickest way to absorb McDonnell's mastery of his art is to pick up this third MUTTS treasury, in which frame after frame and strip after strip he consistently displays his wit, cleverness, and ability with a pen. Mutts is the perfect way to escape into what appears to be an easygoing, carefree world. But just beneath the characters' banter and endearing mannerisms are the universal concerns of animals and people alike. The cartoonist's sparing style and gentle humor invites readers to fill out the frames with their own imaginations.

Nationally, McDonnell has received awards ranging from Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year to Newspaper Comic Strip of the Year. He has also received such worldwide praise as being named the Swedish Academy of Comic Art's Best International Comic Strip Artist. This strip's a winner the world around!

No one walks away from a Close to Home cartoon unscathed. John McPherson's lumpy characters and bizarre situations are tailor-made for gut-splitting laughs. And then there are the cartoons that leave readers shaking their heads, sputtering, "Oh my gosh" as a guilty smile passes across their faces. The Scourge of Vinyl Car Seats delivers what fans expect from McPherson: jokes about everything from parenting to dating to car repairs. McPherson takes his readers on a journey that's very Close to Home.

As always, the more of Bill Amend's work you can get in one place, the merrier. And there's plenty to be merry about here. FoxTrot remains one of the best family strips around, filled with character comedy that becomes funnier the more time you spend with it." -Infodad.com: Family-focused reviews of books, software, music, and more.

Bill Amend does it better than anybody else. His ability to present middle-class family life in a way that's consistently fresh, irreverent, and downright wacky is unsurpassed.

In Who's Up for Some Bonding?, Amend's antics with the Fox family include the artist's invitingly skewed views of "normal" life: children who are light-years ahead of their parents when it comes to computers, siblings who could teach the CIA a thing or two about covert and "get-even" ops, and parents who stumble around in a slight daze as they deal with all the "amenities" of the modern world.

Jason, Peter, Paige, and their parents, Roger and Andy, deliver the laughs. They all bring their unique personalities and perspectives to the FoxTrot world, whether the subject is technology, tofu recipes . . . or a son convinced he could be the next zillionaire Martha Stewart. FoxTrot surprises. FoxTrot charms. FoxTrot always satisfies.Universal Press Syndicate newspaper feature:

*FoxTrot

Author's web site: www.foxtrot.com/

Patrick McDonnell possesses an elegance of line and narrative that both transcends and defines his medium. His artistry is in his Zen-like clarity, his simple direct address, and his unique understanding of the essential animal-human continuum. When one experiences MUTTS, one experiences genius." -Alice Sebold, author of The Lovely Bones

"Dog-Eared"is exactly what this latest collection from cartoonist Patrick McDonnell is destined to become. The brilliant assortment of simple-yet-complex strips will have readers turning its pages again and again, eager to revisit the charm, truth, and humor found within.

McDonnell's strip, highlights the adventures of Earl the dog and Mooch the cat, best buddies who regularly come in contact with Shtinky Puddin', Sourpuss, Guard Dog, and Crabby-as well as an assortment of whimsically rendered humans. This cast is capable of endless antics, interspersed with poignant views on both the animal and human condition. And whether they're raiding garbage cans or basking in full-frontal belly rubs, Mooch and Earl always have a comment to clinch the scene.

MUTTS is the kind of strip that comic readers find irresistible. "Dog-Eared" is the same kind of collection. One strip leads to another, and before you know it you've turned page after dog-eared page to satisfy a growing MUTTS addiction.