SIDE PROJECT | THE ADVENTURES OF BRONZEGOLD, BARBARIAN ROGUE

Here is my contribution for the upcoming issue of Smoke Signal, the local, Brooklyn, comic newspaper, published by Gabe Fowler of Desert Island Comics (which is an awesome publication). My page illustrates an early, brief adventure starring my Manowar-style, Heavy-Metal Barbarian character, BRONZEGOLD! He's named after his bronze skin and golden locks of hair.

NIGHT BUSINESS AND GANGSTA RAP POSSE REVIEWED BY ROCTOBER

Robert Dayton gives a very thorough and complete review of NIGHT BUSINESS, ISSUES 1 TO 3 and briefly touches on GANGSTA RAP POSSE. Robert nails many of my influences on NIGHT BUSINESS and makes some observations about NIGHT BUSINESS' relationship to the Black-&-White comic boom that surrounded Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It never really occurred to me when I was making NIGHT BUSINESS that it would echo the comics that first appealed to me, specifically Darick Robertson's SPACE BEAVER. But more and more I realize it may have been an unconscious decision, to make a comic that reflected that time as it was an era that had profound effect on me during some formative years.

Here's some of Robert's words from the review:

... [I]t is certainly accomplished. There is a deceptive stiffness that works for it giving the comic a crackle of intensity/removal play. The grid form gives the panels a voyeuristic quality. Yet these panels have a rhythmic staccato flow. They occasionally open up for wide shots, such as the sequence of one of the strippers in the ballet studio. All through each of her sweeping movements she looks like a hood ornament. All of the characters themselves seem to be composed of taut, molded clay with faces that look like grinning skulls.

Thanks very much for the review Robert.

TIMOTHY CALLAHAN DIGS ON TRADITIONAL COMICS

Over at Comic Book Resources, my favorite source for comic-book news of the mainstream variety, Timothy Callahan mentions his appreciation of the TRADITIONAL COMICS titles in his recent "When Words Collide" column. Tim runs down his experience at both the MoCCA fest and Boston Comic Con which occurred during the same weekend. (I don't know how he did it. I get tired standing in one place during a con, but Tim's walking all over two cons in two cities. Zow). You can check out the full article here. Tim wrote some kind words. I share:

I bought all the comics of Benjamin Marra - those were my first big purchases. You may know Marra from his unforgettable video promo for Traditional Comics (actually called "American Tradition Comics" according to the covers of his books), or maybe you've never heard of him at all, but know this: I spent plenty of money on comics over the weekend, and "Gangsta Rap Posse" #1 was the issue I enjoyed the most. And "Night Business" was a delight as well. Hilariously garish and excessively exploitative, Marra's comics are the kind of things Mark Millar aspires to be.

Ha! Take that Mark Millar! It is indeed TRADITIONAL COMICS, Tim. I abandoned American Tradition Comics as not to be confused with Jeff Katz's American Original company. Plus, TRADITIONAL COMICS sounds more generic and I love generic.

Thank you, Tim, for the awesome mention in your column. The appreciation is mutual. Check out more of Tim's columns here. And check out his blog here.

MoCCA 2010

MoCCA 2010 is happening this Saturday and Sunday, April 10th and 11th. TRADITIONAL COMICS will be spending it with our brothers at the Mammal Magazine table (see map image). You'll be able to get all four TRADITIONAL COMICS comic books for just $10. I'll also be available to sign any copies upon request. Details from MoCCA about the show can be found here.

INTERVIEW WITH INKSTUDS

Robin McConnell interviews me over at Inkstuds.com. We talk about comics - naturally - but also, illustration and Boris Vallejo. In addition to the interview you get to hear some musical stylings of N.W.A., Loverboy and Pantera. Check it out here.

INTERVIEW WITH THE COMICS JOURNAL

I did an interview with Jason Leivian of Floating World Comics (the great comic book store in Portland, OR) for The Comics Journal. Check it out here. We talk about self-publishing, process, VHS and technological leaps among other things.

TRADITIONAL COMICS NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH PICTUREBOX

You can find all three issues of NIGHT BUSINESS, the first issue of GANGSTA RAP POSSE and the TRADITIONAL COMICS BUNDLE for sale on the Picturebox website, right here. And that's not all! Every issue is signed by yours truly, Benjamin Marra. Picturebox sells a lot of great stuff, so make sure you thoroughly peruse what they have to offer.

MICHEL FIFFE TALKS NIGHT BUSINESS

Over on his blog, Michel Fiffe wrote a bit about some comics he recently purchased, which included Night Business, Issue 3. You can read what he had to say here. Below is an brief exerpt:

Equal parts old school Paul Gulacy and Faust’s Tim Vigil, Marra’s making his comics on his own terms with a dedication that’s pretty admirable. Thank God he’s not waiting around, hoping for a publisher’s permission to start his comic. And thank God he’s using newsprint.

Thanks, Michel.

NIGHT BUSINESS AND GANGSTA RAP POSSE ON 11 O'CLOCK COMICS

In episode 96 of the 11 O'Clock Comics podcast the guys talk about my comic books, NIGHT BUSINESS and GANGSTA RAP POSSE. You can check it out here. It's about two-thirds of the way into the program that they start talking about TRADITIONAL COMICS. Pretty awesome to hear these guys try to make sense of the books. Thanks, guys, for devoting some time on your podcast to discuss my stuff. Word up ... And the bad foreshortening in NIGHT BUSINESS is intentional. Haha.

TUCKER STONE ON NIGHT BUSINESS, GANGSTA RAP POSSE AND ME

Tucker Stone interviewed me for his column, This Ship Is Totally Sinking, over on Comixology. Check it out here. Tucker and I really delved into the earth from which grows Night Business and Gangsta Rap Posse. We had a really deep convo about comics, art, process, Rambo, superheroes, art comix and other stupid stuff, and he represented it well in the piece and somehow made a lot of my ranting make some sense. Here's one of his astute observations:

The mistake with Night Business--if there is one--might be in Benjamin's commitment to telling the truth. (He admits that his few attempts to "play the role" depicted in his author photos has never really panned out.) But after finding out how much thought has gone into its creation, there's a temptation to want to praise Night Business with caveats, to focus one's attention on how much work has been put in to create an end result that's so base, so raw. Because it can't just be an exploitation comic, right? It's got to have a bigger point, it's got to be a critical take on art comics, a rebuke to independent angst, a reclamation of sleazy action, or else it's just a comic about dead strippers and badasses who wear pleated pants. It's got to be faked, or it doesn't count.

Or:

So what is this, then? Another chunk of writing fired out in praise of low art, another "you should really watch Gamer" missive to add to the Kael/Klosterman school of trash worship? Maybe it is. But it's worth questioning whether anybody really does trash anymore without winking, it's worth asking if, in comics' obsessive desire to spend the last decade moving towards a mainstream audience, they've left behind the immediate pleasures that used to be their stock and trade. Comics seem to be selling in more places. They've gotten more attention. But are they dangerous? Are they still taking chances? Or has the ground--the same ground that once gave former unknowns like Ware, Seth, Spiegelman something to create against, to innovate and attack--become fallow?

Thanks to Tucker.

TRADITIONAL COMICS COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR'S COMMENTARY ON MISTER

My good buddy Patrick Hosmer, who's a real whiz with all things motion graphics, video production, directing and video editing, is the guy I strong-armed into helping me achieve my dream of having a low-budg, grainy internets commercial for my comic-book publishing company, TRADITIONAL COMICS. You should absolutely check out Patrick's blog, Mister, and his blog post which is a behind-the-scenes director's commentary on the production of the commercial. It also includes my storyboard sketches, behind-the-scenes photos, and a photo of our Woman Hand and Woman Voice actress, the lovely Angie Sullivan. Check it out here.

TRADITIONAL COMICS ON VICE

VICE gives TRADITIONAL COMICS and the recent TC Internets Commercial on their website. Check it out here. Nick Gazin gives NIGHT BUSINESS an apt and wonderful description:

There are hyper-detailed torture sequences and serial killings, and everyone’s anatomy is kinda stiff and way overrendered with all kinds of awesome shading. All the guy characters look like action figures you would have killed to have owned when you were little, and all the girl characters/strippers look like drawings of sexy ladies you would have made to impress your friends and convince your enemies that you’re not gay.