Exclusive Preview: Patrick McDonnell’s Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story

Abrams ComicsArts is releasing the story of Mutts’ beloved Guard Dog.

September 4, 2024, 6:33am

The folks over at Abrams ComicsArts have provided ComicBook with an exclusive look inside Patrick McDonnell’s new book, Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story. The new book tells the story of the fan-favorite Guard Dog from McDonnell’s acclamied comic strip Mutts, centering on the character’s quest for freedom from the chain that held him in place. Mutts has been running for decades and has fans as varied as Matt Groening and Jane Goodall, and Guard Dog’s story began in 1995. The strip more broadly centers on the misadventures of Mooch the cat and the “ever-trusting” dog Earl.

According to its logline, Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story begins when Guard Dog is abandoned by his owner, left alone and suffering. But he’s soon discovered by his animal friends Mooch and Earl, and Doozy, a kindly neighborhood girl, who work together to rescue their friend.

Videos by ComicBook.com

“This wasn’t a villain; this was a tragic character,” McDonnell explains in his introduction to Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story. “I thought of all the real dogs in this country and around the world who suffer the same unbearable fate. Maybe my dog could be their voice. He could represent the cruelty that animals endure at the hands of humans, and the cruelty we inflict upon ourselves by staying chained to our own unconscious ways of thinking.”

Mutts is a daily comic strip, which launched in 1994. In fact, per the strip’s Wikipedia entry, this release comes timed almost exactly to the release of the first Mutts strip, which happened on September 5, 1994 — thirty years ago tomorrow.

Here’s how Abrams describes the book, which is in stores now:

Over the years Guard Dog, one of the strip’s most beloved characters, has played an important role in raising awareness about the cruelty of tethering and has inspired countless readers to become involved in animal welfare

Brought to life with Patrick McDonnell’s warm and intimate art, and featuring the complete story, now in color for the first time, Breaking the Chain is an emotionally resonant vignette whose grounding in the real-life animal neglect issues that affect millions of chained dogs worldwide will move both long-time Mutts fans and first-time readers. The book features an introduction from Rob Thomas, the award-winning singer/songwriter and co-founder with Marisol Thomas of Sidewalk Angels Foundation.

You can check out the cover and our preview pages below.