You might say this story is full of holes. That’s because it is about donuts. And the lil cowboy, Sam, who adores them. And the old hoarder, Mr. Bickferd, who collects them by the tons. And the city denizens who eat them along with a cast of donut-addled rapscallions. Who Needs Donuts? is the deliciously absurd 50-year-old classic children’s book by Mark Alan Stamaty, originally published in 1973—and republished this month by Drawn and Quarterly, to the delight of those of us who savored the original and those of you who are discovering it for the first time.
Stamaty (a former Elvis impersonator) is the creator of modern-day Hieronymous Bosch–like centerfold cartoons for the old Village Voice, which were were made into iconic posters. He created weekly comic strips for MacDoodle St. and, in 1981, he created the acclaimed political comic strip Washingtoon for the Voice and the editorial page of The Washington Post. From 2001–2003 his monthly strip, Boox, ran in The New York Times Book Review. But the opus for which he might best be remembered is Who Needs Donuts? with its unforgettable tagline: “Who needs donuts when you’ve got love?”
This is indeed a story about love and the power of obsession, complexity and absurdity. All are the ingredients that Stamaty generously mixes to make donut magic. I asked him to reflect on his donutus delectus.
What was your inspiration when you first conceived the book?
When I moved to New York to study art at Cooper Union, I lived in a boarding house on Gramercy Park for the first three years and often hung out late at night in the 24-hour Bickford’s Coffee Shop at 3rd Ave. and 23rd, sketchbook in hand, observing the goings-on of the various characters around the counter, drawing them, writing down things they’d say.
One night as I entered, there was an old woman slumped over the counter appearing to be asleep.
I took a seat a little ways away and did my usual.
After a while, a well-dressed man in a suit, tie and overcoat came in and ordered two cups of coffee to go.
“Would you like donuts with your coffee?” said the waitress.
“No, thank you,” said the man.
At that point the old woman sat up, pointed at the ceiling and said, “That’s right! Who needs donuts when you’ve got love?!”
Immediately, I wrote that down in my sketchbook. When I got back to my room and the boarding house, I wrote that line in big letters on a large sheet of paper and taped it to my wall. Whenever people came in my room, they’d read the sign, chuckle and comment.
A few years later, I was living on MacDougal Street trying to write a picture book. After a few misfires, I looked around my apartment, saw that sign and decided I wanted to make that old woman’s line famous. In a picture book. And that motivation spurred me.
The book is also inspired by how the city felt to me, with all of it’s infinite everything to see, hear and feel after moving there from Jersey shore suburbs. I wanted to capture all the energy, intensity and craziness of how the city felt to me.
Why did it go out of print? It was very popular. I still have a first edition.
I can’t tell you why it went out of print. It was in print with Dial Press from 1973–1983. After they remaindered it, I started hearing from fans of the book desperately trying to locate a copy. One of them was Nora Ephron. She and her sons would take it out of the East Hampton library every summer until one summer it wasn’t there anymore. So she and I traded books—two of hers for two of mine. Another time in the 1980s, a young man paid me $100 for a signed copy in an effort to win back his girlfriend, who loved the book. (FYI: A few years later, he contacted me to say he didn’t win her back, but he’d finally gotten over her.)
In 2002, I offered one copy on Amazon to see what would happen. I wrote “Who Needs Donuts?, first edition, signed by the author—$500.” A few weeks later, a man in California bought it for his wife, who was a fan.
In 2003, Janet Schulman, the legendary editor at Knopf Random House, brought it back in print for its 30th anniversary and it did quite well for the next 20 years. But, in 2023, it went out of print again.
Then, in 2024 when it was out of print, a reviewer of four new “search-and-find” books in The New York Times Book Review, wrote the last two paragraphs of the review praising WHO NEEDS DONUTS?
When that review appeared, all the used copies on Amazon sold out immediately. After that, booksellers started offering used copies for around $350 that sold right away. Then the prices got higher and higher till they reached $750 and they all disappeared quickly. After that all calmed down a few months later, a mother of a 3-year-old contacted me. She’d tried to buy one for $150 on eBay but someone beat her to it. She offered me $200 for a new, signed copy, and I sold it to her.
I also found out during that period, that the comic genius Bob Odenkirk (“Better Call Saul” and “Mr. Show”) was a fan. He contacted me and we had lunch. Another fan is Patty Jenkins, the very talented movie director (Monster and Wonder Woman), who’d loved the book since childhood.
How did the reprint and reissue come to pass?
One day in 2025, I got an email from Peggy Burns at Drawn & Quarterly publishers. She’d just learned that Who Needs Donuts? was out of print and asked if I’d like them to bring it back. I said yes, absolutely. Drawn & Quarterly is a wonderful publisher who’d previously reprinted the first book I ever illustrated, YELLOW YELLOW, story by Frank Asch. They are big fans of my work and I couldn’t be happier about it.
Is it a legacy thing for you?
Well, I don’t know exactly. I think legacy is something other people decide about someone and their work. I certainly am very happy about the long life it’s had and how it just keeps bouncing back on the support of its fans. It’s not everyone’s favorite, but people who love it, really love it! And I am very grateful for that!
Are other kids’ books you’ve done on the way?
I’m not working on any kids’ books now. There are a few people out there who’d like to see my kids’ book Small in the Saddle brought back, though it doesn’t seem to be a groundswell.
There are a few I’m aware of who love my Minnie Maloney & Macaroni, but they couldn’t fill a stadium (or maybe even a vestibule), as far as I know.
I love my book Shake, Rattle & Turn That Noise Down! about the impact of Elvis Presley on my childhood, but I don’t guess that will be revived.
What are you working on today?
Eight years ago, I met with a book agent who admired my work and showed her 60 pages in six chapters of a kind of comical, surreal graphic-novel-in-progress about a cowboy. She loved it and praised it highly.
Then she asked if there was a book I’d been thinking about that I’d really like to write but hadn’t. I told her I’ve kept voluminous diaries since my senior year of high school and, through the years, I’d made many notes for an autobiographical graphic novel. And she said: “I’d like to see a sample of that.” So I went home and started working on it. Six months later, I brought her the first two chapters, 30 pages in finished form.
She liked it a lot and said she wanted me to finish the autobiographical novel first and she would lead with that. She believed it would widen my appeal and readership. And then I could follow up with the cowboy novel.
So, that was eight years ago in July that I started working on the autobiographical book and, just recently, I finished writing all the words. I have to say here that I had many lengthy interruptions in the process. All sorts of life situations, medical stuff, moving out of the city, etc.
But I’ve got all the words the way I want them. I’m very pleased with what I’ve written. Now I’m working on the layout, lettering and artwork for the remaining 10 of the 12 chapters. It could take me two more years or so.
If I’ll have a legacy, I think this book will be a big part of it. It kind of goes through the core of me, through the core of my life and inner life. It matters a lot to me. It’s a kind of coming-of-age and a bildungsroman. It goes up to about age 32, and then Chapter 12 goes a bit further while looking back. It’s things I went through and how I found my way. It really is the story I’ve been trying to write all my life. So right now and going forward, this is my central focus.
