I just received an e-mail from Robert Spina. It's dated January 1, 1970 and it reads as follows:
Just a note to let you know your new book came out yesterday. It was a great read and actually took my mind off the Beatles breakup.
Best,
Robert
This is getting scary. My book, Mad Art, contains an overview of everyone who has drawn for MAD in fifty years. If it's really coming out in '69 though, I should go back and cut out everyone who's worked for them in the last 32 years. That would be everyone from Angelo Torres on.
By the way: The book is out and, for those of you scoring at home…
- Barnes and Noble now says the book came out this month but that they're out of stock and won't have more for 1-2 weeks.
- AlphaCraze has it "currently on backorder," which means 2-4 weeks.
- Amazon.ca (their Canadian outlet) says, "Usually ships in 3 to 5 weeks."
- Booksamillion merely says, "Sorry: This title is not currently available."
- Chapters says it came out in November of 2002 but is "Temporarily unavailable to order."
- Amazon.uk (their British wing) says, "Usually dispatched within 4 to 6 weeks. Please note that titles occasionally go out of print or publishers run out of stock."
- And Powell's Books never even heard of the damn thing. Good for them.
In the meantime, we've jumped up another 1000+ places at Amazon in the U.S. and Mad Art is presently #54031. But Comic Books and Other Necessities of Life (the book you can order) has dropped to #92275. If only I could get them to list it as unavailable, I could maybe have two best-sellers…