The thing that I love the most about Joe Kubert’s art is the speed with which it looks like it was made. Each mark embodies the feeling of Kubert’s quickness and pressure of his hand (though I’ve heard rumors he was ambidextrous and would often ink with both at the same time—so, hands then if true). It’s like those ink lines are hovering in the air and Kubert is stabbing them with the pen nib or brush tip and nailing them down to the Bristol board. I love that feeling in comic book art. I can also dig meditative, deliberate mark making. But the off-the-cuff, cavalier, don’t-give-a-shit, keep-it-moving attitude in Kubert’s inks is a feeling that is incredibly inspiring.
Benjamin Marra is the creator, writer, and artist of the comics NIGHT BUSINESS, AMERICAN BLOOD, and TERROR ASSAULTER: O.M.W.O.T. (One Man War On Terror), all published by Fantagraphics. Acclaimed writer Grant Morrison chose Marra as a collaborator on the first issue of the relaunched HEAVY METAL Magazine. Marra had two serialized webcomic series appear on adultswim.com. His most recent book is JESUSFREAK, written by Joe Casey and published by Image Comics. In 2016, he was named one of the Art Directors Club's Young Guns. He illustrated the cover of American Illustration 35. In 2017, he was nominated for a Grammy Award for his album art of Wayfaring Strangers: Acid Nightmare, a collection of obscure 1970s post-Age-of-Aquarius Heavy Metal.
On this winter day in Montreal, cartooning isn’t the first thing on Benjamin Marra’s mind. Instead, with his wife and infant son, he’s attempting his ...
