Art Opening Reception | February 25th

More details to come ...

OBEY Interview

OBEY's Chris Ziegler interviews me over at their website. We talk about where my ideas come from, loving what you make, stoner-style doodling, photo-reference and other subjects. Here's a piece of the awesome introduction Chris wrote:

Does Marra simply just love drawing a motorcycle tire smearing some thug’s head into pulp on a sidewalk in Nowhere City, U.S.A., circa 1983? Turns out that ‘Fuck yes!’ doesn’t even do the sentiment justice. The adolescent passion unchained here is matched only in the most ridiculously enduring excesses of punk and heavy metal—the soundtrack to what Marra describes as the kind of artwork that spills out of a sullen stoner in the back of the class in high school. His characters and his plots and his worlds themselves are distorted and deformed beyond the laws of physics and society both, but make up for it with the kind of confident enthusiasm you get only when your sword is also a chainsaw, and you can fly, too.

Check out the full interview here.

The Werewolf Of London | Rubin Museum Introduction

This Friday at 9:30 I'll be introducing the timeless horror movie THE WEREWOLF IN LONDON at The Rubin Museum. Swing by, hear me talk about horror, have a cocktail and watch the movie.

Best of 2011 | GANGSTA RAP POSSE, ISSUE 2

GANGSTA RAP POSSE, ISSUE 2, comes in at number eight on Tucker Stones Best-of-2011 list over at Comixology. Here's what Tucker had to say:

While Benjamin Marra's reputation precedes him enough that the general tone of his work is unlikely to surprise, his experiments in how he exercises that work seem ever-developing. 2011 saw the guy showing up everywhere, but it was in the gray newsprint pages of Gangsta Rap Posse where the most hits landed. One of those long sought after "perfect comics", GRP #2 didn't hold back from a single transgresion, delivering page after page of shadowless violence. More celebration than revelation, Marra's brazen willingness to prize his own taste above all else bore fruit once again. If more cartoonists were as in touch with what their hands want to create, making these lists would be a whole lot harder.

GANGSTA RAP POSSE Rounds Out Timothy Callahan's Best Of 2011 List

Over at Comic Book Resources Timothy Callahan begins his Best of 2011 list in the latest installment of his column When Words Collide. GANGSTA RAP POSSE makes the list coming in at #30. This is what Tim said about the issue:

A couple of years after Marra's Traditional Comics published the first issue of this series in which an N.W.A-like rap group lives the life it rhymes about, he returns with issue #2, using a more streamlined pen-and-ink style to depict the violence and debauchery of his mythical "heroes."

The thrill of this book is not just in its witty satire of politics and hip-hop poses, but in the glee in which the story unfolds. A book like this makes all other macho action comics seem like soft-focus Lifetime movies in comparison.

Check out the list #11 to 30 here.

Matt Seneca On The Brooklyn Comics And Graphics Fest, Reviews Elf Booklets 1-4

Matt Seneca writes an impassioned report on this past weekend's Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest. He includes several reviews of books he found including my four Elf Booklets, zines of drawings I made, employing Raymond Pettibon's aesthetics, inspired by the movie "American Psycho." Here's a few highlights from the review:

Ben Marra has been the single most important artist of action comics going for a few years now, and the new issue of his slashers 'n' strippers series Night Business that came out at the Fest only strengthens his case as the modern era's heir to the comics-about-fighting throne. Much as his work outclasses Avatar and outguns Marvel, though, Marra has an equally strong affinity for the avant-garde, and his truly bizarre quasi-adaptation of everyone's favorite Christian Bale movie (what) shows off the more uncompromising side of what's already a rock hard aesthetic.

And:

But the real story here is Marra's art, which is far and away the best work of his career. Free of the demands placed on it by story, Marra's compositional sense runs absolutely wild, filtering everything from Kirby to classical painting to Black Flag gig flyers into a stark, streamlined, utterly arresting whole. These pictures seem almost mathematically calculated to haunt the eyes they meet: whether it's the sublimely balanced blacks and whites or the point-of-impact axe to neck shots, something here is bound to stick in the mind long after the 'zines are put away.

Here are some highlights from the 'zines:

Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Fest

This year's Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Fest is happening this Saturday, December 3rd, from noon to 9 PM at the Our Lady of Carmel Church. Entry is FREE. It's a great collection of comic books, art books, art prints and other random ephemera. It's possibly my favorite comic show of the year. This year I'll have the following comic books debuting and goods to offer:

NIGHT BUSINESS, ISSUE 4
OFFICIAL DEBUT
Check out the fourth installment to the epic, dramatic, saga of urban crime, violence, sex and street justice. Price: $3


GANGSTA RAP POSSE, ISSUE 1, SECOND PRINTING
OFFICIAL DEBUT
Due to popular demand and many requests, I've reprinted GANGSTA RAP POSSE, ISSUE 1, for a SECOND PRINTING. Price: $2


TRADITIONAL COMICS, ELF BOOKLETS
The first four booklets of my illustrations based on the movie AMERICAN PSYCHO are premiering at the Fest. They're small (~4" x 5.5") 'zine-type experiments on a Raymond Pettibon approach to drafting with brush and ink, or brush pen in this case. Limited to 24 editions each. Price: $1 EACH


SMOKE SIGNAL #10
Michael DeForge and I collaborate on a 6-page CyberPunk story, FAUNAMANCER DOMINATION: ASCENDANCY, for this issue. I may not have copies at my table but there will be plenty lying around the Fest I'm sure. Price: FREE


T-SHIRTS (HOPEFULLY)
They're supposed to arrive Friday so I'll have them for Saturday. One is of the NIGHT BUSINESS, ISSUE 1, cover art and the other is the TRADITIONAL COMICS logo. Both black ink on white t-shirts. Price: $15


THE REST OF THE TRADITIONAL COMICS COMIC BOOKS
The rest of the issues of NIGHT BUSINESS, GANGSTA RAP POSSE, THE INCREDIBLY FANTASTIC ADVENTURES OF MAUREEN DOWD and THE NAKED HEROES, will naturally be available as well. Price: $1-$3

LOCATION
I'll be at Table 24 in the Downstairs area. Here's where my table is on the map:


Hope to see you there!