I've always loved the gentle spirit of "Mutts," a comic strip by Patrick McDonnell which first popped up in the early 1990s and is still running to this day. It was an immediate popular hit. McDonnell himself was delighted when his childhood hero, Charles Schulz, publicly praised the strip, and thereafter, the two became close friends, one of the few that the notoriously agoraphobic Schulz had (along with Cathy Guisewite, the author of the "Cathy" strip, whom he adored).  In addition to his strip, McDonnall is well known for his animal rights advocacy , and the strip regularly addresses these issues. But for me, I treasure "Mutts" most for its powerfully minimalist design and its hushed tone, which seems to tap directly into a child's subconscious.  McDonnell's and Schulz' friendship extended into their own strips, as when "Earl," a character from "Mutts," appears in a painting admired by "Rerun" in "Peanu...