MacDoodle St.

by Mark Alan Stamaty, Jules Feiffer (Introduction)

A collection of legendary absurdist comic strips about life in 1970s New York City, now available in print for the first time in over thirty years.

Every week, from 1978 to 1980, The Village Voice brought a new installment of Mark Alan Stamaty's uproarious, endlessly inventive strip MacDoodle St. Centering more or less on Malcolm Frazzle, a blocked poet struggling to complete his latest lyric for Dishwasher Monthly , Stamaty's creation encompassed a dizzying array of characters, stories, jokes, and digressions. One week might feature the ongoing battle between irate businessmen and bearded beatniks for control of a Greenwich Village coffee shop, the next might reveal a dastardly plot involving a genetically engineered dishwashing monkey, or the frustrated dreams of an irascible, over-caffeinated painter, or the mysterious visions of a duffle-coated soothsayer on the bus. Not to mention the variable moods and longings of the comic strip itself....

And somehow, in the end, it all fits together. MacDoodle St. is more than just a hilarious weekly strip; it is a great comic novel, a thrilling, surprising, unexpectedly moving ode to art, life, and New York City. This new edition features a brand-new, twenty-page autobiographical comic by Stamaty explaining what happened next and why MacDoodle St. never returned, in a unique, funny, and poignant look at the struggles and joys of being an artist.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

A self-conscious, self-referencing comic strip blending Mad-magazine-like marginalia with deadpan humor and surrealist imagery in the telling of a shaggy dog story. A story told with the energy of an obsessive-compulsive outsider artist: the absurdly minute details, obsessively repeated, but each unique—dozens of characters, buildings, and settings, yet no two alike: the art of the snowflake, exhaustively traced in its infinite permutations. . . No wonder Stamaty was burned out after completing this story.

[Prima Seadiva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Library book.
This was a fun visit to the past. Stamaty's cartoons in the Village Voice were enjoyed by our whole group household, many of them posted to the bathroom wall.
As a person who loves the surreal, the absurd and mass quantities of tiny detail I have always liked Stamaty's work.
I laughed quite a few times. Some of the references might be a bit dated or obscure to those who weren't around but the essence of the satire especially the political still holds up today for me. I'm sure there are additional levels of meaning to those who have spent more time in New York .
The Addendum was new to me enjoyable as well
I really enjoyed the larger format all the better to see even more detail with my old eyes.

It made me want to revisit "Who Needs Donuts" which was and still is one of our family favorite kid books.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

[Mateen Mahboubi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of Stamaty's late-70s weekly series that ran in the Village Voice. We get a big absurdist storyline featuring the Conservative Liberation Front, rabid Wayne Newton fans and our dishwashing poet hero. Ultimately somewhat a product of its time, there are still moments which resonate and a enjoyable moments. Stamaty's simple art is accented with borders that include fun sketches and additional dialog.

In addition to the main series, this book also contains a great 20 page autobiographical comic at the end that explains what happened to MacDoodle St. and why it ended.

[Johanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

theres a lot of reading/looking to do on every page, too much for some readers. (i grew up on stamaty's picture books, his anarchic pages hooked me on books, so it suits me down to the ground.)
what struck me most was the snapshot of 1970s new york as surreal playground.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rarely is a comic so artistically impressive and so funny and enjoyable. The silly-smart humor from the one children’s book of his that I knew previously is fully present here, and I love the detours and deliriously overflowing panels and margins are such a treat.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best comics I've read in recent years. Stamaty's creativity is an inspiration!

[Christian Lipski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book when I was 14 - I think its frenetic art style appealed to me at the time. It contributed to my love of the absurd, I will guarantee.

[Bec Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 70s were a simpler time

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great art and story.

[Story · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wildly inventive and funny.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

SO enjoyable - physically crammed with drawings, things related and unrelated inside the panels and out, self-referential in fun ways and also a bit bizarre - so fun

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

MACDOODLE ST!

[Mac Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

love Stamaty from his days at the Voice. the side comics are as entertaining as the main comic.

[Al McCarty · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first edition from 1980, which I think had been with me for 35 years, at least, is falling apart.
During this latest re-read, so many pages were striking out on their own that I closing the cover and decided to buy the hardcover reprint that I only recently heard about.
Once that arrives in the mail, I'll review that edition.
Short review: one of the greatest comic strips ever, despite it's short life.