(courtesy Abrams Books)
From its launch on 5 September 1994, the comic strips Mutts by Patrick McDonnell, has always worn its heart very much on its sleeve.
Far from being just four panels and a gag – though that is not a bad thing; whimsical escapism in and of itself is its own kind of perfect joy – Mutts, centred on a dog named Earl and a cat named Mooch, who endearingly but honestly explore the world from perspectives very much in making with their respective species, has always had a fierce beating heart and a social conscience that refused to believe that cruelty and mistreatment of animals is something we just have to accept in this often shitty world of ours.
Described by the great Charles M. Schulz of Peanuts fame as “one of the best comic strips of all time”, Mutts has, as part of its love letter to the deep bonds possible between people and the animals in their lives, long advocated for pet rescue, for the places that make this possible in its Shelter Stories series, and even through Farm Awareness Week, for the rights of animals we usually see as just another meal.
The comic strip has also taken on wider environmental issues to great effect, but at its heart, it is about the animals very close to us, and in the case of Guard Dog, now renamed Sparky (after Schulz’s nickname; McDonnell and Schulz were close friends), about those that get mistreated for a whole host of quite terrible reasons.
(courtesy Abrams Books)
The longest-running series in Mutts was about Guard Dog, now beautifully detailed in Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story, who for almost 30 years was chained up in a yard, ostensibly to keep the property safe, but who was neglected by his owner, who subsequently moved away and abandoned it, and whose only source of love was a brave and persistently compassionate young girl called Doozy.
She cared for Guard Dog where no one else would, and her love for her chained up friend highlighted a huge issue in many countries of animals imprisoned and cruelly treated for the most spurious of reasons, and while McDonnell always aimed to “liberate him” one day, he felt that Guard Dog’s plight was potently powerful in drawing attention to a major issue affecting far too many dogs, and animals generally.
However, it finally felt right to give Guard Dog the happy ending he had long deserved, and so, on 1 November 2023, Mutts began the seven-week story of now Sparky’s release and his adoption into Doozy’s family where he’s finally inside, warm and loved and cared for and able to be the dog he’s always longed to be.
Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story does an exceptionally beautiful job of detailing the history of Sparky, of his role in Mutts – all through a wondrously detailed and thoughtful intro piece by McDonnell himself – and how he finally came to be free.
The story of his release sees each panel occupying an entire page, all in colour and reading as the heartrendingly lovely story it is, and it’s a treat to lose yourself in this story, to see what happens when compassion wins out over cruelty and thoughtless neglect.
The book also features introductions by Marisol Thomas and heart husband Rob Thomas (Matchbox Twenty), who, through their Sidewalk Angels Foundation, have long advocated for animal rights, and also includes responses by many people to one of the most powerful series to occupy the buoyantly whimsical panels of Mutts.
At one point, McDonnell refers to the fact that Charles M. Schulz once told him he regretted never allowing Charlie Brown to finally kick the football that Lucy always held for him before whisking it away at the last minute, and he sees Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story as his way of honouring Schulz’s regretful wish (“Together we kicked the football!”) and to giving Sparky, and by extension us, and I suspect McDonnell too, the chance to have a happy ending and point to the fact that in a world manifestly short of them, that this is one we can make happen for so many animals around us.