Giant events, earth-shaking themes, complex issues . . . all of these can make for captivating cartoons. But it's the artist who can take the simple, keep it simple, and still tell a story who really stands apart from the crowd. Patrick McDonnell, creator of Mutt's Mooch the cat and Earl the dog, is such a cartoonist.The quickest way to absorb McDonnell's mastery of his art is to pick up this third Mutts treasury, in which frame after frame and strip after strip he consistently displays his wit, cleverness, and ability with a pen. Mutts is the perfect way to escape into what appears to be an easygoing, carefree world. But just beneath the character's banter and endearing mannerisms are the universal concerns of animals and people alike. The cartoonist's spare style and gentle humor invite readers to fill out the frames with their own imaginations.Mutts, syndicated by King Features since 1994, enjoys a circulation of more than 500 daily newspapers. Nationally McDonnell has received awards ranging from Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year to Newspaper Comic Strip of the Year, and worldwide he has received such praise as being named the Swedish Academy of Comic Art's Best International Comic Strip Artist. This strip's a winner the world around.