Best of the Year | Night Business 1 & 2

From across the pond Night Business received a nod from prominent UK indie comic creator, Rob Jackson, on the Forbidden Planet International blog. Rob listed Night Biz as one of his favorite comics of 2009. Check it out here.

Night Business review on Rob Jackson's blog

A very nice review from Rob Jackson over at his blog, saying the issues of NIGHT BUSINESS "may well be my favourite comic of the year." Thanks, Rob. Check out the review here.

TRADITIONAL COMICS

TRADITIONAL COMICS, my comic book publishing company, officially exists now. Go check out the website here, WWW.TRADITIONALCOMICS.COM. You can also find us on facebook and Twitter and Flickr. In addition, there is also a blog for T.C. news.

Night Business | Fan Art

My friend Emily Ambruso, who plays bass for the kick-ass band known as Grooms (or The Grooms), did this drawing of me, based on the author photo in the back of Night Business, Issue 2. It's amazing. Actually, Emily and I are starting work on a web comic very soon. Stay tuned ...

Night Business | In the hands of Jim Lee

At the NYC Comic Con I handed out Night Business issues to several creators (Rob Liefeld!). One of which was Jim Lee. My friend Jevaun Howell took a photo of Jim looking at the Night Biz covers (that's me to the left with my chin). He was signing at the DC booth and I just happened by as he was leaving. Jim was the reason why I stopped reading B&W, anthropomorphic, indy, TMNT-rip-off comics back when I was a kid and started reading Marvel books. He had just started his run on Uncanny X-Men, the story with Psychloche getting captured by The Hand and getting turned into the next Elektra. He's done mighty well for himself since those days. Even though I don't really dig his work any more, he's a hero to me.

NY Comic Con

Above is a map of the NY Comic Con occurring this weekend, Feb 6th to 8th, and where I'll be with the Nerdcore dudes and Mammal bros, doing business at our booth.

Night Business | Johnny Timothy T-Shirt

We're now taking orders for Johnny Timothy T-Shirts. Each one is hand-painted by airbrush. The amazingly talented airbrush fashion artist, Jennifer Ginchereau, makes each one as we get orders. It may take a few weeks for you to receive yours but it's well worth it. They're a little pricey as a result of the care and attention given to each shirt. Go to the shop section of the website to order yours today!

Night Business | Issue 2 | FOR SALE!

Night Business, Issue 2, is now on sale! Go to the shop section of my website to buy your copy today!

Night Business | Sammy Harkham & Family

Sammy Harkham, responsible for the heartbreakingly incredible Kramers Ergot anthologies, the D&Q comic book Crickets and the curated LA bookstore "Family," wrote a post about Night Business (which Family carries) several weeks back. It's here on the Family blog. He has some kind words for the Night Biz issue (thanks, Sammy). I learned today today his book Crickets has an undetermined future because of the recent Diamond raise in minimums. This is something I'm sorry to hear about. Check out Crickets here, Family here, and Kramers Ergot here.

Night Business | T-Shirt Design

Look for Night Business T-Shirts coming soon ...

Night Business Makes Eric Reynolds' Best of 2008 List

Eric Reynolds — who, amongst other things, writes for the Fantagraphics Blog, a.k.a. Flog! — included Night Business in his Best of 2008 list. Obviously Eric doesn't really know what he's talking about. All those others on the list — Gary Panter, Los Bros. Hernandez, Daniel Clowes, C.F., Dash Shaw, Jonathan Lethem, etc. — make high-quality, literary comics worthy of a place in a historical context. Night Business is exploitive, degenerative, irresponsible, anonymous trash! It is the best of nothing and represents the worst of humanity! ... I am only joking of course. Thank you, Eric, you absolutely have full knowledge of what you're talking about.

Night Business | Issue 1 | RELEASE PARTY

Hey, I'm throwing a release party for the first issue of Night Business and you are all invited (you being whoever may read or stumble upon this blog). Here's the details:

What: Night Business | Issue 1 | RELEASE PARTY
When: Saturday, January 10th, 2009, 8 P.M.
Where: Soundfix Lounge, 110 Bedford Ave (Bedford and N. 11th St), Brooklyn, NY. (Soundfix Lounge is located in the back of the Soundfix music store, or you can find the separate entrance around the corner on N. 11th St.).

Hope to see you there ...

Amercian Tradition Comics | Redesign

American Tradition Comics unveils their new, radical brand redesign.

Night Business | Issue 1 | FOR SALE!

Order your copy today! Right here!
http://benjaminmarra.com/pages/shop.html
(or see the list below of local NYC shops where copies are also available)

Discover a world where vigilante justice takes the form of one man's fists furiously hammering down on the faces of his enemies with righteous vengeance on the neon-slime-covered streets of the city. A world where sin, sex and hedonistic desire are hot commodities and true, pure love is in short supply. A world of violence and murder running wild, where civil institutions of authority are as morally corrupt as the city's criminal element. This is a world that has given up on hope, but not on revenge, money or power. This ... is Night Business ...

... And if you live in New York City, Night Business, Issue 1, can be found at these fine establishments:

· Cosmic Comics
· Desert Island Comics
· Forbidden Planet
· Jim Hanley's Universe
· Soundfix
· Spoonbill & Sugartown
· St. Marks Comics
· Time Machine Nostalgia

Night Business | Issue 2 | Preview

Night Business | Character Sketches

Here are some preliminary sketches I made years ago when I was just beginning the first ish of Night Business and then when developing it into an animated series.

Night Business | Review on Comics Comics

The fine folks over at the PictureBox blog, Comics Comics, which is also a comic book review newspaper and is dope, did a review of the promotional book of Night Business I handed out at MoCCA.

From the review:

The story of a stripper who won't be bought and a killer on the loose, Night Business trucks in noirish genre tropes but renders them with such detail and conviction that the woody dialogue and relentlessly stark lighting go down smoothly and enjoyably. I like the overall feeling of the comic and feel as though Marra is trying to single-handedly restore some "order" to comics. Marra's layouts do most of the work, providing a structure for his detailed scenes — murder, XXX dancing, fights with a capital 'F' — and it sports one of the coolest covers I've seen in awhile. It's totally over the top and worth checking out.

Check out the full review here. PictureBox publishes and their blog (as well as newspaper), Comics Comics, reviews high-end, smart, intellectual comics marketed toward the literary, educated and cultured corner of the comic book readership. So it's weird that they dig Night Biz. Har! Thanks so much to Frank Santoro, Tim Hodler and Comics Comics.

Night Business | Update

I'm hard at work on the next issue of Night Business. I'm about to start lettering all the pages and I anticipate the process moving a lot more quickly than the last issue. Having one ish under my belt is a big help in my psychological approach to the comic book creating process. Anyway, the guys over at Nerdcore, who are planning on publishing Night Biz, and I agree the best way to move is to have a few issues in the can before we start the printing and distributing the comics. I'll let you know when that'll be and also have a preview of issue two up once some of the pages are inked. - Benjamin

Night Business | Issue 1 | Preview

Here's a 5-page preview of the first ish of Night Business.