‘Mutts,’ ‘Doonesbury’ and ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ cartoons lead auction bids for hurricane relief

Patrick McDonnell's comic strip 'Mutts” often offers poignant moments for a good cause, such as the 'Shelter Stories” strips that benefit the Humane Society. So, he told The Washington Post, it was quite organic for him to draw in support of hurricane relief.

Now comics fans are agreeing as they vote with their wallets.

Last Thursday, McDonnell published a 'Mutts” strip featuring a quote from Al Green: 'I'm thankful for every moment.” The comic directed readers to the auction campaign Thanks + Giving, by which fans can bid on the art with proceeds going to victims of recent disasters, including in Puerto Rico, via the humanitarian charity Direct Relief.

With the Heritage Auction closing this Thursday, and with the donated work of more than 125 cartoonists on the block, the top original-art bid so far is $2,200, for the Al Green 'Mutts” strip.

Leading all bids is a signed print of the final 'Calvin and Hobbes” strip by Bill Watterson (current bid: $6,500). Another four-digit bid is for a 1989 'Doonesbury” strip by Garry Trudeau ($1,000).

Also receiving high bids are a President Donald Trump editorial cartoon by The Washington Post's Ann Telnaes and works by Mad magazine's Al Jaffee, children's author Mo Willems, New Yorker cartoonist George Booth and such comic-strip creators as Jim Borgman ('Zits”), Dan Piraro ('Bizarro”), Lincoln Peirce ('Big Nate”), Rick Kirkman ('Baby Blues”), Wiley Miller ('Non Sequitur”), and Carlos Castellanos and Hector Cantu ('Baldo”).

The Thanks + Giving campaign includes such syndicates as King Features, The Washington Post News Service, Andrews McMeel and Creators Syndicate, as well as the National Cartoonists Society Foundation, which is the charitable arm of the National Cartoonists Society.