Tucker Stone Names NIGHT BUSINESS, ISSUE 3, As One Of The Best Comics Of 2010

NIGHT BUSINESS, ISSUE 3, comes in at lucky number 13 on Tucker Stone's list for The Best Comics of 2010 over at his column, This Ship Is Totally Sinking, on Comixology's website. Says Tucker:

As great as his USAgent story in Strange Tales was (pretty great) and as trendsetting as that Maureen Dowd thing was (pretty trendsetting?), my heart will always belong to Night Business. A nakedly unrestrained id delivering a passionate meditation on all of the things that healthy boys love the most, Ben Marra's Night Business is a comic that's impossible to get tired of.

Thank you very much, Mr. Stone.

11 O'Clock Comics Reviews BENJAMIN MARRA'S INCREDIBLY FANTASTIC ADVENTURES OF MAUREEN DOWD (A WORK OF SATIRE AND FICTION)

The guys over at the 11 O'Clock Comics podcast say some positive things about BENJAMIN MARRA'S INCREDIBLY FANTASTIC ADVENTURES OF MAUREEN DOWD (A WORK OF SATIRE AND FICTION) in their 138th episode. Check it out here. They start talking about it at the 59:17 mark. They even mention my status as one of the Art Directors Club's Young Guns, which is pretty awesome. Check out the rest of their podcasts. They really know a lot about comics.

ROM The Space Knight Fundraiser

The SPACENITE AUCTION FUNDRAISER FOR BILL MANTLO was held recently at the amazing comic shop FLOATING WORLD COMICS in Portland. A print of my contribution can be found here on eBay. But a whole bunch of other artists also contributed awesome work for to help support Bill Mantlo, writer of all the ROM comics, who was paralyzed after a hit-and-run accident 20 years ago. 100% of all proceeds go to Bill. Here's a gallery of pics from the show.

Interview with Amber Unmasked

At the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest earlier this month I was interviewed by Amber Delaney over at her website Amber Unmasked. Check it out in the above YouTube video. The interview can be found in her report about the fest right here.

Mention From MTV Geek

Valerie D'Orazio, an accomplished comic book writer and editor, now running the show over at MTV Geek, talked with me for a bit at the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest earlier this month. I got a mention in her post over at the website about half-way down the page. Check it out here.

The 12 Days of Comic Book Christmas

I did the above illustration for the second day of The 12 Days of Comic Book Christmas over at the Comics Alliance. It's the first illustration I've done using my new Cintiq tablet. I'm making the move over to digitally creating my comics in an effort to increase my production, save time, expedite my process, etc. Still getting used to it, but I'm surprised at how much the digital drawings look like my traditional-medium drawings.

BENJAMIN MARRA'S THE INCREDIBLY FANTASTIC ADVENTURES OF MAUREEN DOWD (A WORK OF SATIRE AND FICTION) Reviewed At WEEKLY COMIC BOOK REVIEW

Dean Stell over at the WEEKLY COMIC BOOK REVIEW website reviews BENJAMIN MARRA'S THE INCREDIBLY FANTASTIC ADVENTURES OF MAUREEN DOWD (A WORK OF SATIRE AND FICTION) and gives it an A-. Check it out here.

Matt Seneca Writes About NIGHT BUSINESS Art

Matt Seneca wrote a beautiful analysis of my artwork in NIGHT BUSINESS, ISSUE 1, earlier this month over on his blog DEATH TO THE UNIVERSE. Go read it here. Specifically, Panel 3 on Page 13. Actually, Matt verbalizes my artistic goals with NIGHT BUSINESS and my other comics better than I ever could. I think my comic book art is about re-seeing or paying tribute to comic art traditions from the past, from Kirby, to Gulacy. To the anonymous, assembly-line artists from the '40s who unknowingly birthed the form, thinking themselves artistic failures and drowning their sorrows in alcohol. To the crime and horror comic artists who drew the flawed ire of Fredric Wertham and were eventually, unfairly targeted for political purposes by Sen. Joe McCarthy. Anyway, Matt writes brilliantly about comics and I feel humbled my stuff would be a subject for his words.

Maureen Dowd Reponds To BENJAMIN MARRA'S THE INCREDIBLY FANTASTIC ADVENTURES OF MAUREEN DOWD (A WORK OF SATIRE AND FICTION)

Close to the end of last Sunday's CNN's Reliable Sources, host Howard Kurtz got a brief quote from Ms. Dowd responding to the comic book, BENJAMIN MARRA'S THE INCREDIBLY FANTASTIC ADVENTURES OF MAUREEN DOWD (A WORK OF SATIRE AND FICTION) with a nice funny-book joke:

As an intrepid reporter myself, I asked Dowd for her reaction. "I never read anything about myself," she said. "It's debilitating, like Kryptonite."

Amazing. Check out the transcripts here (go to the end). And you can check out the Quicktime video of the show here, but it takes a little while to load. The brief segment is at the very end of the show.

Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest This Saturday

This Saturday – and this Saturday only – from 12PM to 9PM, the second Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest will be held at the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

I will be there debuting my new comic book, BENJAMIN MARRA'S THE INCREDIBLY FANTASTIC ADVENTURES OF MAUREEN DOWD (A WORK OF SATIRE AND FICTION), the comic everyone is talking about. I'll be at Table 4 (see diagram below). In addition there will be a sale specifically for the event:

$10 for all five TRADITIONAL COMICS comic books

NIGHT BUSINESS Gets A Nice Recommendation From USA Today's Pop Candy

Whitney Matheson, who writes the pop-culture blog Pop Candy for USA Today, includes NIGHT BUSINESS in her recommendations for comics. Check it out here.

BENJAMIN MARRA'S THE INCREDIBLY FANTASTIC ADVENTURES OF MAUREEN DOWD (A WORK OF SATIRE AND FICTION) Featured On Fox News

The Fox News late-night/early-morning show, Red Eye, (see above images) had a short mention of the new comic from TRADITIONAL COMICS, BENJAMIN MARRA'S THE INCREDIBLY FANTASTIC ADVENTURES OF MAUREEN DOWD (A WORK OF SATIRE AND FICTIONS). You can check out out here on the Fox News website. The comic has also gotten attention from several mainstream online news outlets Gawker, The Atlantic, New York Mag, Mediaite, and the Huffington Post. But it really started with the blog posts from the comics community: Robot 6, The Beat and Comics Alliance.

UPDATE: The New Yorker adds their post. So, does the Washington Post.