Item #900910 Mutts: The Comic Art of Patrick McDonnell (Signed). Patrick McDonnell, John Carlin, Essay.
Mutts: The Comic Art of Patrick McDonnell (Signed)
Mutts: The Comic Art of Patrick McDonnell (Signed)
Mutts: The Comic Art of Patrick McDonnell (Signed)
Mutts: The Comic Art of Patrick McDonnell (Signed)

Mutts: The Comic Art of Patrick McDonnell (Signed)

New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2003.
First Edition. Hardcover.

First Edition, First Printing. Signed on half-title by Patrick McDonnell. Essay by John Carlin.

Focuses on cartoonist Patrick McDonnell's work and includes a vast collection of his Mutts strips, sketches, artwork, sculpture and more. McDonnell's essay accompanies the illustrations, serving as autobiography, comic history, character explication and art history all rolled up into one.

From the artist’s preface:

“I’ve always wanted to be a cartoonist.

I love comics. I love black and white, pen and ink, words and pictures. I love their code. I love the rhythm in a line, the rhythm of dialogue, the rhythm of a gag. I love their simplicity, immediacy, intimacy, and absurdity. I love their pie-eyed optimism. I love their potential.

I’m most concerned with the feel of a comic strip – what lies behind the word balloons and funny drawings. A good comic has its own personality. Each day’s strip can evoke a different reaction, whether it is a belly laugh, an amusing observation, a playful surprise, or a poignant thought. And yet an overall tone permeates. In Mutts I aim for a type of quiet joy.

Mutts celebrates the simple. It remembers the familiar, friendly faces we see for maybe just a moment every day – the neighbor walking his dog, the bird on a branch, the shopkeeper behind the counter, the cat in the window.”

Item #900910
ISBN: 0810946165

11-5/8 x 10-7/8", pictorial boards, pictorial endpapers, 216pp, 330 illustrations, 180 in color.

Fine in near fine dust wrapper with crunching and short tear to head of spine, in protective mylar.

Price: $75.00