A comiXologist recommends:
Terror Assaulter (OMWOT)
by: Harris Smith
It’s a common misconception that in order to “smart,” media must wear its intelligence on its sleeve. Not that public intellectualism is a bad thing, but it’s often the case that comics, or films or books or TV shows or whatever that aspire to do more than just entertain do so in a way that really lets you know what they’re doing. Again, this is not a bad thing, it’s a model that’s produced some illuminating work, books like The Invisibles or Transmetropolitan or Saga. We’d be worse off without all of them. Still, there’s something to be said for subtlety, for a kind of liminal intelligence that requires the reader to do the heavy lifting, to read in between the lines, to draw conclusions that may not be obvious.
This is the mode in which Benjamin Marra’s new graphic novel, “Terror Assaulter (O.M.W.O.T.),” operates. On the surface, there is nothing subtle about Marra’s work- this is a comic whose cover features a sunglasses-clad secret agent with a cigarette dangling from his mouth decapitating a chainsaw wielding barbarian with a samurai sword- but it’s this very lack of subtlety where the intelligence of “Terror Assaulter” lies. Marra plays on genre conventions, drawing from 80s and 90s action films and comics, in what is ultimately a profoundly thoughtful post-structuralist decoding of the social constructs of gender, authority and violence, and the ways in which these ideas collide within popular culture.
The result is an intricately constructed art comic that presents itself as a stripped down, ultra-simplified action comic. Its satirical elements are hilarious, more so because Marra doesn’t announce them as satire, he plays the whole thing completely straight. Rendered exclusively in primary colors, it’s also a beautifully crafted work, and highly entertaining. Though much of the copious ass kicking and gun blasting in the book is done in the service of Marra’s understated satire, it’s also a hell of a fun read.
Though he’s created some excellent work in the past (Night Business and Blades & Lazers, in particular), “Terror Assaulter” feels like a proclamation that Ben Marra has arrived as a major creator on the indie comics scene.
[Read Terror Assaulter (OMWOT) on comiXology]
Harris Smith is a Brooklyn-based comics and media professional. In addition to his role as a Senior Production Coordinator at comiXology, he edits several comics anthologies, including Jeans and Felony Comics, under the banner of Negative Pleasure Publications. He’s also the host of the weekly radio show Neagtive Pleasure on Newtown Radio.