Template:Short description Template:Infobox comics creator Mark Alan Stamaty is an American cartoonist and children's writer and illustrator. During the 1980s and 1990s, Stamaty's work appeared regularly in the Village Voice.[1] He is the creator of the long-running comic strip Washingtoon – on which a short-lived (12-episode) 1985 Showtime Network television series was based[2] – as well as the earlier comic strip MacDoodle Street,[3] and the online strip Doodlennium for Slate magazine[4] He is also a spot illustrator for Slate.[1] He produced a monthly comic strip in the New York Times Book Review called "Boox" in 2001–2004 that made fun of publishing trends.[5] Stamaty graduated with a degree in art from the Cooper Union in New York.[6]
Stamaty has published several books, including collections of his strips and graphic novels for children, notably Alia's Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq (2004),[7] Yellow Yellow (1971, with author Frank Asch; reissued in 2019 by Drawn & Quarterly),[8] Minnie Maloney & Macaroni (1976) and the cult classic Who Needs Donuts? (originally published in 1973 and reprinted by Random House in 2003)[9]
In 2012, Jeffrey Brown told USA Today about how Stamaty's Small in the Saddle had influenced his own career and about subsequently meeting the author.[10]
Stamaty was commissioned to provide an illustration for the interior of retailer Sonos's new store in New York City's SoHo district, which opened in July 2016.[11]
In 2018, Stamaty drew the cover for "Delancey St. Station", the debut album by NYC rock band, Pinc Louds.
His late father, Stanley Stamaty, was a professional gag cartoonist, and his mother, Clara Gee Stamaty, is a commercial illustrator and fine artist. Stanley and Clara both attended the Art Academy of Cincinnati.[12]
Children's books
- Yellow Yellow (1971) (Illustrator)
- Who Needs Donuts? (1973)
- Small in the Saddle (1975)
- Minnie Maloney & Macaroni (1976)
- Where's My Hippopotamus? (1977)
- Alia's Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq (2004)