Mark Alan Stamaty is an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

and

children's writer Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

and illustrator. During the 1980s and 1990s, Stamaty's work appeared regularly in the ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

''. He is the creator of the long-running

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...

''Washingtoon'' – on which a short-lived (12-episode) 1985 ''

Showtime Network Showtime is an American premium television network owned by Paramount Media Networks, and is the flagship property of the namesake parent company, Showtime Networks, a part of Paramount Media Networks. Showtime's programming primarily includes t ...

'' television series was based – as well as the earlier comic strip ''MacDoodle Street'', and the online strip ''Doodlennium'' for ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

'' magazine He is also a spot illustrator for ''Slate''. He produced a monthly comic strip in the ''

New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'' called "Boox" in 2001–2004 that made fun of publishing trends. Stamaty graduated with a degree in art from the

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique ...

in New York. Stamaty has published several books, including collections of his strips and

graphic novels A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

for children, notably ''Alia's Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq'' (2004), ''Yellow Yellow'' (1971, with author Frank Asch; reissued in 2019 by

Drawn & Quarterly Drawn & Quarterly is a publishing company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, specializing in comics. It publishes primarily comic books, graphic novels and comic strip collections. The books it publishes are noted for their artistic content, a ...

), ''Minnie Maloney & Macaroni'' (1976) and the

cult classic A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

''Who Needs Donuts?'' (originally published in 1973 and reprinted by

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

in 2003) In 2012, Jeffrey Brown told ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' about how Stamaty's ''Small in the Saddle'' had influenced his own career and about subsequently meeting the author. Stamaty was commissioned to provide an illustration for the interior of retailer

Sonos SONOS, short for "silicon–oxide–nitride–oxide–silicon", more precisely, " polycrystalline silicon"—"silicon dioxide"—" silicon nitride"—"silicon dioxide"—"silicon", is a cross sectional structure of MOSFET (metal-oxide-semicondu ...

's new store in New York City's SoHo district, which opened in July 2016. 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 The Art Academy of Cincinnati is a private college of art and design in Cincinnati, Ohio, accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. It was founded as the McMicken School of Design in 1869, and was a department of the ...

References

External links

Official website
American comic strip cartoonists Cooper Union alumni Living people 1947 births The Village Voice people {{US-cartoonist-stub