By: Benjamin Marra (writer, artist, everything)
The Story: More excitement from Benjamin Marra’s comic series set in the mid-1980’s featuring strippers, pimps, bodyguards and a killer.
Review: Benjamin Marra is one of those hidden gems in truly independent comics. Everything he puts out is just awesome whether it is The Incredibly Fantastic Adventures of Maureen Dowd or Gangsta Rap Posse or (in this case) the fourth installment of Night Business. Marra launched Night Business several years ago and even though we’re only on the fourth issue, the story is straight-forward enough that the release schedule doesn’t bug you. That is a pretty impressive feat considering this reviewer can lose the plot thread in Big 2 superhero comics even when Marvel double ships them. I think it says that Marra is just a better storyteller than those other guys.
The story itself is kinda silly at first glance. It revolves around a talent agency for strippers and the bodyguards who protect them, but it also features hookers, pimps, a serial killer and a female vigilante who hunts the streets on a motorcycle wearing nothing but a full-face helmet and her lingerie. It’s violent and features full on sexual content. Sounds wacky, right? But I totally could have a seen a movie with this plotline in 1982 starring Billy Dee Williams and Shannon Tweed. It would have been one of those movies like Roadhouse that was rotten when it came out, but took on a different life when played repeatedly on independent TV stations as a Saturday afternoon movie and folks slowly started to appreciate the purity of the story and the unintentional comedy.
And, in a way, that’s kinda what Marra is tapping into. This isn’t a comic like Gangsta Rap Posse where he is playing it WAY over the top. Night Business is subtle. It has the unintentional humor from some of his overwritten narration boxes, but you just kinda know that Marra is actually shooting for precisely that effect. Only, it isn’t something where you get annoyed and think, “Oh! Get over yourself Marra!”….you just enjoy the show (the same way you love a movie like Nighthawks). The only thing missing from Night Business is a synthesizer driven soundtrack and we’d be back in the early 80’s.
The craft of the comic is also impeccable. Marra doesn’t draw like he’s trying to be the next Alex Ross. Nope….his characters are always a little oddly proportioned and his faces are just strange. But, they’re so consistently drawn (and have been over the years) that I almost think he does this on purpose….especially when you see how well he draws the body of a sexy woman. I think he’s just going for a look. Kinda like those early 80’s movies weren’t always full of beautiful people, Marra’s story has some weird faces. He’s is also a master of sequential storytelling. Look beyond some of those stiff figures and you can really appreciate how well he lays out his panels to tell the story. Marra almost never resorts to one of those panels that populate Marvel/DC comics where you have a headshot of a person with NO context and only a word balloon to tell you what is going on.
Conclusion: I really can’t recommend Night Business enough. Or anything else that Marra produces. It is just high quality adult comic storytelling.
Where to buy: Marra self-publishes through Traditional Comics. You can order individual issues, but if you haven’t yet exposed yourself, you might as well order the whole shebang (all four issues of Night Business, 2 issues of Gangsta Rap Posse and the Maureen Dowd comic) for $21 delivered (in the US). It’ll make you happier than spending the same amount of money on superhero comics. Trust me!
Grade: B+
-Dean Stell
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