Dark because the moon was hiding. PATRICK MCDONNELL created the comic strip MUTTS in 1994. The Mutts characters now appear in over 500 newspapers, in 10 book collections and a new coffee-table book, MUTTS, THE COMIC ART OF PATRICK MCDONNELL, as well as on a New Jersey license plate (Patrick’s home state). He lives there with his wife, Karen; his dog, Earl; and his cat, Meemow.