Benjamin Marra

Grammy-nominated comic-book creator and illustrator from Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada.

Benjamin Marra is the creator, writer and artist of the comics NIGHT BUSINESS, GANGSTA RAP POSSE, THE INCREDIBLY FANTASTIC ADVENTURES OF MAUREEN DOWD (A WORK OF SATIRE AND FICTION) and LINCOLN WASHINGTON: FREE MAN! and is the publisher of TRADITIONAL COMICS. His art is influenced by important artists who are in museums, like those guys, Picasso and Michaelangelo. His personal interests include deep stuff, cultural things, plays, art shows, the mall, sciences, fashion trends, different books and different kinds of music. He is disinterested in lots of stuff though, like, being insensitive.
Marra has been recognized as a serious artist by quality institutions like The Society of Illustrators, The Society of Publication Designers and American Illustration. In 2006, the Art Directors Club, in their eternal wisdom, named Marra as one of their Young Guns. He has also been hired to make art for serious publications and companies like Playboy, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Vice, Marvel Comics, Paper, Nylon, Radar, Widen+Kennedy and McCann-Erickson. He has done album covers for the underground rapper Lil B.
His comic book work has appeared in the anthologies Strange Tales 2, Rub The Blood, Diamond 4 and 5, Jeans and Henry and Glenn Forever.

Benjamin Marra is a controversial, influential and recognized author. He is the author of the following underground comics: Night Business, Gangsta Rap Posse, The Incredibly Fantastic Adventures of Maureen Downd, Lincoln Washington: Free Man!, Pipper and Friends, Blade and Lazers, and Terror Assaulter: O.M.W.O.T. (One Man War on Terror). Benjamin Marra's work is similar to that of masters of mainstream comics such as Paul Gulacy or Jim Steranko but also to that of legendary underground authors like Robert Crumb and Spain Rodriguez. His work as an illustrator has been praised by The Society of Illustrators, The Society of Publication Designers, 3x3, American Illustration and in 2006 he ed the Young Guns club as art director.

His illustrations for Numero Group’s Wayfaring Strangers: Acid Nightmares garnered him a Grammy Nomination. Marra’s work has been recognized by The Society of Illustrators, The Society of Publication Designers, 3x3, and American Illustration. In 2006 he was named as one of the Art Directors Club Young Guns. In 2016 he illustrated the cover of American Illustration 35.
Some of his collaborators include McSweeney’s, Playboy, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Bloomberg, Marvel Comics, Vice, Nike, Vinegar Syndrome, Widen+Kennedy, Doubleday & Cartwright, and McCann-Erickson.
His comic books NIGHT BUSINESS, AMERICAN BLOOD, TERROR ASSAULTER: O.M.W.O.T. (One Man War On Terror), all published by Fantagraphics. Marra teamed up with screenwriters David Birke and Nicholas McCarthy to create DISCIPLES, a graphic novel published by Fantagraphics in 2022. From 2020 to 2022 then continuing in 2023, Marra created a daily comic on his Instagram feed called WHAT WE MEAN BY YESTERDAY to much adulation. When Heavy Metal magazine relaunched in 2016, with Grant Morrison as the new editor in chief, Morrison chose Marra to draw a comic Morrison wrote to be the centerpiece of the flagship issue.
Marra received a B.F.A in Illustration from Syracuse University, where he also studied at their art program in Florence, Italy. He received an M.F.A. in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts.
He lives in Montreal.