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 amusement.'' Mutts has been syndicated by King Features since 1994 and enjoys a circulation of more than 500 daily newspapers. Muttscomics.com, the strip's official Web site, has experienced great popularity since its launch in 2003.

Come one! Come all . . to the exciting world of Big Top! Rob Harrell's three-ring comic strip has already packed the house with fans eager for his hilarious take on the circus and those who bring it to life. The circus and its colorful cast-led by 10-year-old Pete and his happily reformed performing bear, Wink-are a perfect metaphor for life. It's not always what happens on the surface, Big Top reminds us, but what takes place backstage that delivers the lessons and the humor. Pete and Wink keep plenty of odd company, including Kingston, coolest king of the jungle; Stucco, a mute clown who still manages to make his point; Manfred, the bookish monkey; Dusty, the wisecracking tell-it-like-it-is trained poodle; Andrea, the new acrobat girl who's caught Pete's eye; and Hairy Mary the Bearded Lady, a mother figure to them all. Take this crew on the road and you get an endless array of situations and relationships, care and impatience, honesty and intolerance. It's like one big Big Top family . one that welcomes all readers for the mere price of a ticket.

Every once in a great while the glimmer of something different will twinkle from the stack of comic cordwood piled in the daily newspaper. In I Have Tampered with the Divine Plan, the second Agnes collection, that glimmer continues to shine brightly. Agnes, the round-nosed, elegantly footed little girl in the cute black shift, and her best friend, Trout, continue their mad scramble through youth's treacherous minefield. High adventure and mayhem are afoot as they share the odd conversations that cobble together all amazing relationships. And when all that imagination no longer fits in their heads, it spills out into some very messy puddles. And messy puddles are funny. Fans have been eagerly awaiting a second book of Agnes's wisdom and adventure. Agnes appears in many papers across the country, including the San Francisco Examiner, the Chicago Tribune, and the New York Daily News.

The Fab Four of the funny pages come together again-this time in their first book treasury. Rat, Pig, Zebra, and Goat, the central characters of Pearls Before Swine, are back in Sgt. Piggy's Lonely Hearts Club Comic, the first Pearls Before Swine treasury-supersized for your enjoyment. But this is no ordinary cartoon treasury. Like the influential Beatles album that inspired the book's title, Sgt. Piggy is full of surprises. In addition to collecting all of the Pearls cartoons that appeared in BLTs Taste So Darn Good and This Little Piggy Stayed Home, cartoonist Stephan Pastis takes readers on a VIP backstage tour of one of the most successful comic strips in newspapers today. In Sgt. Piggy, Pastis explains the genesis of Pearls (hint: it didn't begin at an artist's easel), why he was initially reluctant to show it to newspaper syndicates (and the surprising reason he changed his mind), the unexpected responses from readers to his work, and which Pearls strips worked and which ones didn't (and how he would have corrected the ones that didn't). The result is a rare and revealing glimpse into the world of Rat, Pig, Goat and Zebra. Full of humor and insight, sardonic asides and unexpected truths, Sgt. Piggy's Lonely Hearts Club Comic is a book that comics fans everywhere can enjoy anytime-even when they're 64!

Dogs and comic strips enjoy a long history together. But leave it to the highly creative mind of cartoonist Steve Watkins to come up with a "dawg" like no other. Watkins's pooch is none other than DJ Dog, a down-on-his-luck, ex-rap star canine forced by circumstances beyond his control to become a permanent houseguest in a suburban family household. Talk about culture shock!Watkins pulls off this unlikely scenario in his hot new comic strip, Housebroken, which captures fans everywhere it appears. Now Housebroken: There's a New Dawg in Town provides the perfect way for fans to find out what happens when hip-hop and suburban cultures clash under one roof. DJ continues to be a star-at least in his own mind-but he must share the stage with the Watson family, including neurotic attorney and father Thurgood, outspoken mother Leslie, nine-year-old businesswoman and daughter Mya, and seven-year-old son Malik, who likes cars and sports second only to his once-famous pit bull.Housebroken boasts all the elements of a hilarious comedy: city dog in the 'burbs, personal agendas galore, attitude and ineptitude, egos to match the extremes. Like the strip, this book holds multiracial appeal, reaching a broad audience with its universal themes of family, cooperation, and overcoming differences.

This latest collection of Doonesbury strips covers the War in Iraq, the California governor's race (won by Arnold the Gropenator Schwarzenegger), and Boopsie's short-lived career as football coach at Walden College.

What would road rage in Beverly Hills look like? From the whimsical perspective of The Other Coast creator Adrian Raeside, it would involve a prim-and-proper hurling of a jar of Grey Poupon at the offending driver.The Other Coast: Road Rage in Beverly Hills is the first collection of Adrian Raeside's strip featuring his off-kilter view of contemporary life. Raeside's lighthearted look at everything from culture, politics, fashion, society, and life in general is both insightful and hilarious. Whether it's taking a clever poke at our obsession with wireless phones, our inability to maintain a workout program, or the witty banter of married life, The Other Coast is a bastion of original thinking, wry wit, and out-loud laughs.Much of the humor comes at the expense of Toulose, the eccentric screenwriter, and his cause-seeking wife, Vicki. But the strip also features a colorful cast of repair people, kids, contractors, tech-support goons, agents, pets, and much more.Those enjoying strips that provide more than the "same 'ol schtick" are sure to relish a visit to The Other Coast, where folks aren't deep enough to be shallow.