Night Business
by Frank Santoro
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
My favorite comic at MoCCA, honestly, was Benjamin Marra’s Night Business. A disciple of Paul Gulacy in spirit, Marra embodies a certain verve that I find refreshing in these mopey times. It may be a little too hardcore, too fanzine-ish for some Comics Comics readers, but for me, it’s a breath of fresh air, and a surprising find at MoCCA.
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.
Labels: Benjamin Marra, MoCCA, Paul Gulacy
I was going to write about this one, Frank. It’s really a bizarre little comic — I couldn’t quite tell whether or not it was an elaborate put-on or not (though I should’ve just checked out the Web site like you did to find out).
It’s definitely too well-executed to be the work of an idiot-savant type, but it’s also so relentlessly sleazy and stupid … Skinemax redux. Very enjoyable, in any case.
From his website- “It’s set in the Reagan-era ’80s and is a genre I’ve dubbed Neon Noir.”
Neon Noir.
Nice.
Andy Sidaris will direct the feature, I assume.
Ah, makes me nostalgic for Silk Stalkings… or maybe Real Deal comics.
Like Pettibon in reverse!
Ben is a cool dude, very kind and gracious at MoCCA