TCAF 2013

This weekend, May 11th and 12th, I'll be at the Toronto Comics Arts Festival (TCAF). I'll be at table 155 (see the floor map above) along with the immortal Ryan Sands and his books from YOUTH IN DECLINE, including the brand new FRONTIER, by the immeasurable Uno Moralez. I'll have the usual catalog of TRADITIONAL COMICS comic books as well as a few other ancillary items.

THE MARRA METHOD: TRADITIONAL COMICS TECHNIQUES FOR VISUAL STORYTELLING | 2. IF YOU INTRODUCE A GUN ...

A series collecting my thoughts on the craft of telling stories through comic books. These posts do not document rules; these are the thoughts that go through my mind when I'm making comic books.

2. If You Introduce a Gun ...

• "One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it." - Anton Chekhov
• "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there." - Anton Chekhov
• "If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there." - Anton Chekhov
• Writing fiction is about posing questions within the narrative, then answering them or resolving them later.
• After you think of a beginning to a story, think of the ending. If you don't have an ending there's no purpose for anything to happen in the middle. Events in the story should move the narrative toward the ending.
• Everything—events, character, description, dialog—in the story must have a reason in advancing the story.
• I read Stephen King's book "On Writing" recently. In it he discusses his process. King doesn't plot out his stories, rather he discovers them as he goes along, like he's uncovering a dinosaur fossil from the earth. I disagree with is approach and it's why his work ultimately fails me as a reader. I believe in plotting out a story—making the connections between the narrative questions, problems and conflicts and their later answers, solutions and resolutions counterparts in advance of the execution.

STUMPTOWN COMICS FESTIVAL 2013

I'll be at the Stumptown Comics Festival this weekend, April 27th and 28th. I'll be at the booth P09. All of the standard comics from the TRADITIONAL COMICS catalog will be available, plus a few surprise extras. Swing by if your in the Pacific Northwest area.

THE MARRA METHOD: TRADITIONAL COMICS TECHNIQUES FOR VISUAL STORYTELLING | 1. STORY IS YOUR GOD

A series collecting my thoughts on the craft of telling stories through comic books. These posts do not document rules; these are the thoughts that go through my mind when I'm making comic books.

1. Story is your GOD

• Everything serves the story. Your choices, the tone, all decisions, structure, formal aspects, the drawing, all words, page layout, panel composition, every narrative event, everything must serve the story. It rules over everything.

• Deliver the narrative information clearly above all else to serve the story. In the introduction to "Elements of Style" White quotes Strunk. Strunk says the reader is drowning in confusion and it's the writer's responsibility to save them with clarity.

• Anything not needed to advance the narrative should be cut.

INTERVIEW | TINTA A BOCAJARRO

The Spanish podcast Tinta a Bocajarro recently did a mini-interview with me. I believe they talk about TRADITIONAL COMICS on their podcast. Because it's all in Spanish I'm not sure. Check out the post here. And if you can speak Spanish, listen to the podcast.

MoCCA 2013

I'll be at the MoCCA Festival this weekend, Saturday April 6th and Sunday the 7th, being held at the 69th Armory, 68 Lexington Ave. in New York City. I'll be at table A26 with a few of my Mammal Magazine Bretheren. All of the TRADITIONAL COMICS catalog—that hasn't yet sold out—will be available with a few extra surprises.

NEW COMIC! | RIPPER & FRIENDS, ISSUE 1

Here's the new comic from TRADITIONAL COMICS, RIPPER & FRIENDS, ISSUE 1! Check out some preview pages below. Here's a description:

Meet the dogs of the Jericho Railyard! there is Dirt Bag the dirty dog, Francis the saddest dog of all, the sexy Sabrina, Puddin' and the brains and leader of the group, Ripper! Follow their adventures in friendship as they prank the property manager, Ol Manager McDougal, evade the terrifying Dog Catcher and tangle with college-dropout meth heads. So pass the weed, sink your teeth into a juicy pigeon leg, relax and enjoy the show!!

Click here to order your copy today!

THE INCREDIBLY FANTASTIC ADVENTURES OF MAUREEN DOWD | BEST AMERICAN COMICS 2012

THE INCREDIBLY FANTASTIC ADVENTURES OF MAUREEN DOWD selected to the "Notable" list over at the Best American Comics of 2012. Check out the whole list here.

INTERVIEW | THE COMICS JOURNAL

Matt Seneca and I conduct an extensive, in-depth interview for The Comics Journal. We cover a wide range of topics from my journey into comics, influences, Giotto, Jim Shooter, Francesco Clemente and Howard Chaykin. We talk about comic book philosophies and sexy violence.

REVIEW | MANDORLA BLOG

Santiago Garcia over at his blog Mandorla gives a good survey review of my books from a European perspective of the current American underground comic book movement. Check it out here.

Here's a particularly choice passage (using Google Translator from Spanish) comparing my work to Gilbert Hernandez, whom I consider a hero and who I'm going to try to emulate as far as book production goes (I want to put out a graphic novel a year the same way Béto does it) and Frank Miller and Fletcher Hanks:

But of course, if Marra was interesting conceptual grounds alone, it would not be as great as is. His comics are full of originality and ideas, and are devilishly entertaining read. As entertaining to read as it should be any comic, but especially commercial comics. Its formula of exploitation with breeching is what Gilbert Hernandez brings more than a decade vacuuming without even remotely close to the success that gets Marra in this handful of comics. Reading Night Business one can even reecontrarse with Frank Miller as an icon of the eighties, as a child of the age of the heaters, and realize that while we wanted to ignore it for thirty years, the soundtrack of Daredevil and Elektra was a muscular sax touched by a bodybuilder blurred by smoke in the distance. Yes, exactly what Lost Boys. And the feat of being so vicious and yet maintain a comic naivete of Fletcher Hanks, is that how it is achieved? With a singular talent only.

SANTORO CON 2012, (PART 4)

(from left to right) Matt Seneca, Darryl Ayo, Jonny Negron, Michael DeForge, Frank Santoro, Benjamin Marra, Lala Albert, Aidan Koch.

GANGSTA RAP POSSE GRAFFITI

Here is some graffiti fan art my Flickr friend Chad Choice and his buddy Mopes made inspired by my comic GANGSTA RAP POSSE.