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.

TELL ME SOMETHING I DON'T KNOW | INTERVIEW

Jim Rugg and Jason Lex interview me for their podcast Tell Me Something I Don't Know. Check it out here.

LINCOLN WASHINGTON: FREE MAN! | ANALYSIS AND REVIEW

There's a very good, lengthy analysis and review from Alec Berry and Shawn Starr of my most recent comic book LINCOLN WASHINGTON: FREE MAN! as well as my other comic book work over at the blog alec reads comics, originally posted to Spandexless.com. Check out the full post here. They get into some interesting discussions about Spiegelman Intellectualism in comics as a result from Kurtzman and EC.

Here's a little of what Alec writes at the beginning of the piece:

I would place myself in that camp of the faithful. Like most of the industry, I too was unaware of Marra’s comics up until this year, but now after having spent time with them, I find his attitude and passion for creating engrossing, and I feel his comics represent a long forgotten aspect of the medium. Representing, of course, for the betterment of comics.Marra’s books, while lewd, grotesque and absurd, are keeping this funny book thing on the ground, balancing out the high reaching works of Craig Thompson, or whatever other clone there may be, celebrating some of the roots associated with comics while simply presenting an artist who doesn’t really give a fuck what you think. Marra’s making the shit he wants to see, and from this I feel it’s appropriate we discuss Marra’s work after our previous discussion which pertained to Rob Liefeld. Because Marra, like Liefeld, celebrates the trash entertainment value found in comics, but does so with an energy and charm that cannot be overridden. Yet, as an added bonus, Marra’s comics juxtapose the trash subject matter by presenting astounding craft and draftsmanship, making his books into these bombastic scraps slammed together with staples.

BROOKLYN RAIL INTERVIEW | ASHOK KONDABOLU

Here's an interview I did with Ashok Kondabolu, dapwell of the Hip-Hop group Das Racist, for The Brooklyn Rail. We talk about GANGSTA RAP POSSE.

LINOCOLN WASHINGTON: FREE MAN! | BEST COMICS OF THE YEAR (SO FAR)

Tim Callahan lists LINCOLN WASHINGTON: FREE MAN! as one of the best comics of the year (so far). Check out his full list over at his column, When Words Collide, on Comic Book Resources right here.