Mutts: Looks like you gained a little weight this summer, Mooch.

It might seem to the outside observer that Mutts is a comic I should probably hate. It does, after all, consist of overly cute characters telling generally terrible jokes.

The thing of it is, though, I actually really like Mutts. But I'm not sure I can say just why the hell that is.

I think it has something to do with the sense of melancholy it sometimes displays and the traditional drawing style. Even the overly cute characters and terrible jokes are overly cute and terrible in old-fashioned ways. It just has a feel to it that no other contemporary comic strip has. And maybe that's enough.