ELF BOOKLETS | AMERICAN PSYCHO BROADSHEET EDITION | NOW AVAILABLE!

Floating World has teamed with Traditional Comics to reprint Benjamin Marra’s sold out Elf Booklet series, Drawings Inspired by the Motion Picture “American Psycho”. The original artwork was rescanned and published as a 32 page broadsheet (15” x 22.75”) newspaper. Three new illustrations and brand new covers were created for this limited edition of 1500 copies.

"Employing Raymond Pettibon’s aesthetics and inspired by the movie “American Psycho”, these 28 illustrations “seem almost mathematically calculated to haunt the eyes they meet: whether it’s the sublimely balanced blacks and whites or the point-of-impact axe to neck shots… the real story here is Marra’s art, which is far and away the best work of his career.” – Matt Seneca, Comics Alliance

Now available to order

SHIA LEBEOUF COMIC BOOK SENSIBILITIES DRAW COMPARISON TO MY OWN

Sean T. Collins reviews Shia LeBeouf's comic book work over at The Comics Journal and draws the comparison between LeBeouf's sensibilities and my own:

So too is his footing upon the fine line between irony and sincerity. Cyclical winks at the melodramatic excess of its story yet does so with a straight face, if that makes any sense. Like, say, Benjamin Marra, LaBeouf understands that the ridiculousness of a period-’60s motel sign (“Pink” in Vegas-style quasi-cursive, “MOTEL” in big block letters, palm fronds swaying in the background) or a demonstrative sex scene between a man with an eightball back tattoo and a dreamlike blonde I can’t help but mentally refer to as “his girl” (“Oh fuck…Davey…Your [sic] the best there ever was baby…the best there ever was…Stay with me”) doesn’t cancel out its weirdly primal power.

This is awesome to me. I haven't read LeBeouf's comics yet, but I've seen is acting work and it's tremendous. I've been telling people he's the best actor of his generation for years. The Transformers trilogy he was in are some of my favorite films from recent years.

Collins also interviewed LeBeouf for Rolling Stone. Check that out here.

LINCOLN WASHINGTON: FREE MAN! | FLAVORPILL

LINCOLN WASHINGTON: FREE MAN!, ISSUE 1, is one of Flavorpill's Most Anticipated Comic Releases for April. Check it out here. Here's a portion of what Tucker Stone wrote about the book:

As with his Maureen Dowd comic, Marra provides the pleasures of pure entertainment so directly that it almost fools you into thinking that anyone can do it. They can’t, but that’s the way that genius is supposed to work: you walk away thinking “perfect” is just that easy.

DREAD PATHS TREAD: THE ART OF BENJAMIN MARRA | ART SHOW OPENING AND COMIC BOOK RELEASE PARTY

I have an art show opening and comic book release party, for LINCOLN WASHINGTON: FREE MAN!, ISSUE 1, at the incredible Floating World Comics, in Portland, OR, on Thursday, April 26th, two days before the Stumptown Comics Fest. Portland folks, come on by.

Facebook Event link

LINCOLN WASHINGTON: FREE MAN | ISSUE 1

LINCOLN WASHINGTON: FREE MAN, is the brand-new comic book from TRADITIONAL COMICS. The first issue will make its official debut at the Stumptown Comics Festival and Toronto Comics Arts Festival. Here is a brief description:

It's 1868, the hostile period succeeding the American Civil War. When the freed slave Lincoln Washington shows up in the small South Carolina town, Butchergrass, with coin and a deed to a plot of land the locals are none too happy about it. In particular, Jasper, the son of a wealthy plantation owner. Lincoln, accused of a crime he didn't commit, must draw on centuries of racial injustice to give him the power to fight his enemies and defend his inherently human right to freedom! Witness the beginning of this Reconstructionist-Era action epic!!

Orders will be available on the TRADITIONAL COMICS website in May!

STORM FIRES OF DOOM | PHOTO GALLERY

Here are some photos from my recent show, STORM FIRES OF DOOM: THE ART OF BENJAMIN MARRA. Check them out here. Or here. All the photos are great and were taken by William Bourassa Jr. Here's his website.

SWORDS BURIED DEEP | ART SHOW AT SPUR GALLERY

I've got an art show opening at Spur Gallery in Baltimore, MD, next month. Baltimore folks, come to the opening reception on Saturday, April 21st, from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM.

STORM FIRES OF DOOM | ALTERNAT FLIER ART

Storm Fires Of Doom: The Art of Benjamin Marra, Opening Reception Saturday, February 25th.

STORM FIRES OF DOOM | OPENING RECEPTION

INTERVIEW | ITALIAN VICE

I get interviewed by Italian VICE's Tim Small. It's up over on their website ... it's all in Italian ...
Check it out here.

ART OPENING RECEPTION | FEBRUARY 25TH

More details to come ...

OBEY INTERVIEW

OBEY's Chris Ziegler interviews me over at their website. We talk about where my ideas come from, loving what you make, stoner-style doodling, photo-reference and other subjects. Here's a piece of the awesome introduction Chris wrote:

Does Marra simply just love drawing a motorcycle tire smearing some thug’s head into pulp on a sidewalk in Nowhere City, U.S.A., circa 1983? Turns out that ‘Fuck yes!’ doesn’t even do the sentiment justice. The adolescent passion unchained here is matched only in the most ridiculously enduring excesses of punk and heavy metal—the soundtrack to what Marra describes as the kind of artwork that spills out of a sullen stoner in the back of the class in high school. His characters and his plots and his worlds themselves are distorted and deformed beyond the laws of physics and society both, but make up for it with the kind of confident enthusiasm you get only when your sword is also a chainsaw, and you can fly, too.

Check out the full interview here.