Andrews McMeel Publishing

"Can we really lose something that's already lost?" Inside Patrick McDonnell's "A Shtinky Little Christmas," Earl the dog and Mooch the cat celebrate the season by taking in a wayside waif, who they promptly name Shtinky Puddin'. Shtinky is a tiger-striped trash-can forager, frequent purrer, and lover of shpagetti, potpie, and shpagetti. As Christmas approaches, Shtinky Puddin' grows ever more homesick and decides to depart the comfort and safety of Earl and Mooch's protection in hopes of finding home. With uncommunicative snowmen and zero luck, Shtinky Puddin' gets lost in a blizzard, only to be found by Earl and Mooch, who then get lost themselves. Just in the Nick of time, a jolly rotund, red suit-wearing, white-bearded human approaches and delivers the traveling trio straight to their peoples' doorstep--only to learn that Shtinky Puddin's peoples have come to claim their lost tiger-striped kitty named Jules.With caviar rewards, Christmas naps, and New Year's resolutions to "do less," this emotive "Mutts" gift book reminds us that there is indeed a reason for the season with themes of friendship, thankfulness, family, home, and hearth.

This fifth collection from the newspaper strip Cul de Sac continues the adventures of four-year-old Alice Otterloop as she copes with preschool, her grandma’s dog Big Shirley, the threat of volcanoes, and her neurotic older brother Petey. Especially playing against Petey’s glum inertia, Alice’s creative imagination sometimes makes things more intimidating than they are but also always much more cheerfully weird than anyone would have guessed—as when she and her friends speculate on what lives in the mountains of dirty snow in the back of a supermarket parking lot. Closer in spirit to Calvin and Hobbes than Peanuts, the strips actually work better here than in the daily paper, since it’s easier for readers to appreciate Alice’s zigzag, grandiose thinking as it moves through a week’s story arc. The results are both mind-boggling and laugh-out-loud funny. Thompson won the Reuben Award as cartoonist of the year in 2011, and he continues to be an insightful poet of the comics page.

"I hope you enjoy Cul de Sac as much as I do. I think you're in for a real treat." --Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes, 2008 "One of the five best features in any newspaper, period." --The Comics Reporter "One of the few strips around where nearly every individual panel is stand-alone delight." --The Onion ..".it really seems like the inheritor of 'Calvin and Hobbes.'" --Art Spiegelman "I can't say enough in his favor, so much is my admiration for his work." --Pat Oliphant More than half of our nation's population resides in the 'burbs. Knowingly, Richard Thompson's Cul de Sac follows the antics of four-year-old Alice Otterloop as she navigates her way through life at Blisshaven Preschool, "the scene of [her] daily toil." Suburbanites across the nation will easily recognize the quirks and conundrums associated with house-lined streets, sidewalk canvases, and magnetified refrigerator art. Instructed by the proper Miss Bliss, Alice regularly has issues with taking a nap, speaking out of turn, and remembering what a triangle looks like. Helping her through life's ups and downs are her eight-year-old brother Petey, Dad (a.k.a. Peter), and Mom (a.k.a. Madeline), as well as Mr

Richard Thompsona (TM)s wonderful watercolor and fun, imaginative drawings have garnered the attention of highly-acclaimed illustrators all over the world, including Bill Waterson and Mo Willems, who have each written the forewords for his first two collections. Richard Thompson's "Cul de Sac" follows the antics of four-year-old Alice Otterloop as she navigates her way through her suburban town and life's ups and downs at Blisshaven Preschool. More than half of our nation's population resides in the burbs, and suburbanites everywhere will easily recognize "Cul de Sac"'s tree-lined streets, big-box retail stores, and kiddy crunchy cereals, along with the revealing backseat conversations between Alice and her brother. Thompson's paintbrush captures humorously poignant and reflectively thoughtful watercolor scenes that offer commentary on life and how we choose to live it. Appearing in more than 100 newspapers, "Cul de Sac" has garnered Thompson critical praise from both the National Cartoonists Society and the Society of Illustrators.

Richard Thompson reminds us that being a 40-year-old isn't hard, but being a four-year-old is. His warm, welcoming reminders are wonderfully lighthearted and funny as he brings home Alice's life in a fun, new Cul de Sac collection. Alice and her Blisshaven Preschool classmates charm fans of all ages. Their adventures ring alarmingly true to parents of little ones, too. From doing projects in a whirlwind of crayons and markers to their nonstop chatter to trying to comprehend a completely incomprehensible world, Thompson's characters make Children at Play a must-read. The little boxes crammed together, the shopping malls, and the insane traffic systems set the scene for the storylines and adventures that only suburban life can provide. Thompson's witty dialogue meets comically unique drawings to make Cul de Sac a place worthy of visiting on a daily basis. "I thought the best newspaper comic strips were long gone, and I've never been happier to be wrong. Richard Thompson's Cul de Sac has it all--intelligence, gentle humor, a delightful way with words, and, most surprising of all, wonderful, wonderful drawings." --Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes

Pearls is the hottest comic in the newspaper business these days." -Raleigh News and Observer * It's a hit! * In The Sopratos: A Pearls Before Swine Collection, the sixth collection of the award-winning comic strip Pearls Before Swine, Stephan Pastis knocks them dead with sharp wit and cutting humor, earning the respect of readers from coast to coast. More About The Sopratos Made in America, Pearls Before Swine stars Rat, the boss of this outfit-arrogant, self-centered, and quick-tempered. Pig is the conscience. Zebra is a survivor (with Crocodile next-door-neighbors), and Goat is the brains. Duck is Pig's loyal but violent and unstable guard duck. The dark, twisted adventures of this bunch of goodfellas have made Pearls the fastest-growing comic strip of the decade. Join the family and get in on the action. It's whacked.

Some believe that the key to humor is timing. Others think it lies in a slightly distorted presentation of the familiar. E. B. White thought that humor ceased to exist upon close examination. But if anyone has humor figured out, it's Stephan Pastis. His philosophy is written in black felt pen on the bulletin board in his home office. It reads: 'When in doubt, kill cute things.'" Lock up your valuables. Stockpile your ammunition. Sandbag your bunker. The familiar foursome of Rat, Pig, Goat, and Zebra-joined now by the fraternity of Zeeba Zeeba Eata crocodiles are here to storm the ramparts of humor in The Ratvolution Will Not Be Televised . In this fourth collection from the award-winning comic strip Pearls Before Swine , Stephan Pastis deploys all the weapons of his comic arsenal in an all-out attack on the animal (and human) imperfections he sees around him. The result is a collection jam-packed with the sharp-edged humor that has made Pearls Before Swine one of the most successful comic strips running in newspapers today. Just remember: As The Ratvolution Will Not Be Televised makes clear, Pearls Before Swine takes no prisoners. We warned you.

MUTTS is impossibly large. Its subject is the world, all living beings in it, and their relationship with each other. . . . Its touch is incredibly light and gentle, which explains how it alights in your mind and rests there. . . . The way that McDonnell's stories oscillate between gentle comedy and understated pathos is the strip's greatest strength.""-Christopher Brayshaw, Vancouver Review Animal lovers everywhere adore Patrick McDonnell's charming but pointed MUTTS. The strip strikes a delicate balance between lighthearted fun and social commentary-on the human condition as well as the animal world. The deceptively simple comic follows the adventures of Earl the dog and Mooch the cat, an unlikely best-friend team, and Shtinky Puddin', Sourpuss, Guard Dog, and Crabby. Patrick's distinctive cartooning style effectively relays the all-too-real concerns of his characters with entertaining, clever, laugh-out-loud banter. Infodad.com describes MUTTS as ""humane and funny and gentle and caring and heartfelt and-did we mention funny?"" The site goes on to say that the strip ""includes enough hijinks and outstanding art (yes, art!) to please anyone with a taste for animals and amusemen

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 col