Illustrating the Obsessive: Justin Green's, "Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary"

The genre of graphic novel known as, “Confessional Biography,” has been said to have started with Justin Green’s seminal work, “Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary.” This self-exploratory novel played an integral part in influencing the work of many artists who have, in turn, contributed greatly to the path and popularity of this genre. He has directly influenced such major players in alternative comics as Art Spiegelman and Robert Crumb. The former wrote an introduction to, “Justin Greens Binky Brown Sampler,” in which the story mentioned above is published. Spiegelman notes that due to Green’s not so subtle encouragement, which came in the form of two tabs of amphetamine taped to a letter pleading for a story, that he contributed his first “Maus” piece to a collaborative underground comic¹. This was to spark the idea for his Pulitzer Prize winning comic of the same name based on his fathers experience during the Holocaust. “Maus” was a historically significant work and contributed greatly to the acceptance of comics as a credible literary art form. Spiegelman also observes that “ …before Justin Green, cartoonists were actually expected to keep a lid on their psyches and personal histories, or at least disguise and sublimate them into diverting entertainments.²” According to Mr. Spiegelman, a great artist, teacher and comics historian, Green’s work blew the top off of comics, allowing for a torrent of intimate and idiosyncratic work to flow into the mainstream. Another great contributor to the deconstruction of the accepted persona of comics was Robert Crumb. An important figure in the underground Comix scene of the sixties and beyond, his work, much like Green’s, deals with bizarrely sexual and compulsive topics. He too, venerates Green’s work on the back cover of “Justin Greens Binky Brown Sampler.” Crumb claims Green to be “The first ever cartoonist to draw highly personal autobiographical comics.³” He goes on to credit Green with guiding his own direction in the medium. Justin Green’s impact on these two pillars of alternative comics gives one a sense of the importance his work. More specifically this one story, and the effect it had on the evolution of comics and the autobiographical genre.

In “Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary,” we follow Justin Green’s alter ego, Binky, through his childhood struggles with Catholicism, sexuality and mental illness. These aspects of his life comingle to create bizarre experiences that border on nightmarish hallucinations. Spiegelman describes his comic panels as “intimate secular confession booths.⁴” That is what they appear to be. Much like the work of Spiegelman and many other autobiographical cartoonists, Green reprocesses his early development in an attempt to understand it and exorcize his demons. Like the Catholic confessional booths that filled his young mind with panic and fear, this comic is a confession to the reader in order to undo what had been done to him by the church. What I find most interesting about the work are the ways in which Green gives life to the many manifestations of his illness. His idiosyncrasies are so distinctly a product of his disorder and that’s what makes them fascinating. They range from anthropomorphic blades of grass threatening him in exchange for shelter from the rain, to the transformation of all his extremities into beam projecting Phalluses.

At one point in the story Binky becomes so obsessed with his sinful thoughts, that he creates the nonsensical word, “Noyatin.” This word is, “intoned all day long as a temporary release from guilt pangs that accompany every other though. It blends imperceptibly with the rhythm of his breathing."⁵ His mental torture, on one hand appears to be created by the church, and then subsequently co-opted and twisted by his compulsive disorder.

To a lesser extent, I can relate to the fear instilled in a child by religion. In elementary school I befriended a boy whose parents were born again Christians. Coming out of a secular Jewish background, I had no clue about the workings of sin or the fires of hell. After many a sleepover and story from said boy about the fragile nature of ones soul when confronted with the power of Satan, I had trouble falling asleep at night. I would to repeat phrases concerning my love for God, over and over again, in order to fall asleep. This struck me as similar to Binky’s “Noyatin”, and I’m sure many others have their own version. My parents tried to remedy this by sending me to Hebrew school where I learned, to my relief that Jews did not believe in hell. I dropped out shortly after, moments before becoming a man in the eyes of my religion.

Besides Binky’s sexual attraction to the Virgin Mary, his infatuation with phallic objects, like the rubber bumper guard of a nineteen fifty-eight Cadillac or his sinful penis rays, his conception of the soul seemed particularly quirky to me, and is a poignant place to conclude.

He envisions the soul as a biomorphic, lung-like organ. He believes that the sign of the cross led him to this conception of the exact size and shape of the human soul. Binky also notes that when the lungs cease to function they “give up the ghost,⁶” which is another supporting factor in this vision. It seems so peculiar to me because, in retrospect I had never given much thought to what a soul would look like. Green believed that the soul was like a physical appendage, something essential to life. If not cared for it could be tarnished, covered in tar like spots. He gave a physicality to sin. It was something very real, and in his mind deserving of the fear and turmoil it evoked. At least in his childhood, his ideas, which were heavily influenced by the Catholic Church, appear to have fueled a mental illness that would follow him into his adult years.

Footnotes:

1. Justin Green, Justin Green’s Binky Brown Sampler(San Fransico:Last Gasp, 1995)5.

2. Justin Green, Justin Green’s Binky Brown Sampler(San Fransico:Last Gasp, 1995)4.

3. Justin Green, Justin Green’s Binky Brown Sampler(San Fransico:Last Gasp,

1995)Back Cover.

4. Justin Green, Justin Green’s Binky Brown Sampler(San Fransico:Last Gasp, 1995)4.

5. Justin Green, Justin Green’s Binky Brown Sampler(San Fransico:Last Gasp, 1995)38.

6. Justin Green, Justin Green’s Binky Brown Sampler(San Fransico:Last Gasp, 1995)23.

Bibliography

1. Justin Green, Justin Green’s Binky Brown Sampler(San Fransico:Last Gasp, 1995).

Not So Clumsy:A Look Into Jeffery Brown's first Graphic Novel

Jeffery Brown’s, “Clumsy,” is an intimate graphic novel in which he reflects upon moments from his second long term relationship. During this time, which lasted just under a year¹, Brown unself-consciously takes the reader through many of his most vulnerable experiences. The short, often one-page vignettes reveal the profound sense of loneliness, longing and heartache that existed between him and his then girlfriend, Teresa. Often times he depicts himself as a needy person who leans on his partner for reassurance to the point of an unhealthy co-dependence. Brown’s drawings, like the title of this book, appear clumsy at first glance. However, closer inspection reveals a thoughtful simplicity behind the work. Similarly, the sparse dialogue and short titles have a Zen-like quality, giving the autobiography a meditative fluidity. The immediacy of Brown’s working methods, in which very little planning was involved, was an essential element in creating such a raw and honest account of this specific time in his life. Self-realizations creep out innocently through the cracks of his carefully chosen memories. He paints himself as neither the hero of the story, or the villain, but instead shines an un-heroic light on his flaws and vulnerabilities. At points, I was hit with involuntary feelings of embarrassment in reaction to his blatant expressions of emotion. In contrast to his sense of weakness, there is also courage and acceptance in depicting such candid and naked moments and subsequently, disseminating those moments to the world. When woven together, these ephemeral moments, drawn with vital and poetic simplicity, create a non-linear story world that becomes more than the sum of its parts.²

Whereas most graphic novelists plan and re-plan their work, using storyboards, rough sketches, penciling and finally inking, Brown bypassed these steps completely. Using only a technical pen, he drew the comic directly into his sketchbook.³ The sketchbook that Brown used to create the original comic is actually the same dimensions as the published product. This preservation of the original work allowed for all it’s vitality and raw emotion to translate clearly into the finished piece. Brown’s unrefined drawings invigorate and animate the story. Working in such an instantaneous manner, he sabotages any impulse to rework or overcomplicate his stories. The moments are transcribed much as they are remembered, quickly and out of order. The result retains an unprocessed and unedited honesty. The act of drawing was itself his way of processing the events, which must have been fresh in his mind. “Clumsy” was drawn during his relationship with Teresa and finished just after their break-up. When questioned by Ira Glass on, "This American Life," about the emotional difficulty of making this book, Brown answered, “When you break up with somebody aren’t you just drawing their face over and over again anyway? So it’s just like I was doing something instead of sitting their thinking about it.”4 The proximity of events remembered combined with the immediacy of his working methods made for a realistic portrait of his relationship, warts and all. That is what makes his work so relevant.

“A Morning Story,” is a two-page vignette wherein Brown’s sexual advances toward Teresa go unmet. Using sparing dialogue and neatly composed panels, he is able to relate feelings of sexual frustration, sadness and yearning. Brown plays with the tension that exists between the agonizing heartache of his experiences and the playful nature in which he describes the events. The simplicity of the title itself is reminiscent of a poem. Like poetry, Brown does not overfeed the reader with information but leaves ample space for one to breath and enjoy the mystery of what he has given us. In a childlike way, Brown visibly edits the title with a small black box that appears above it. He repeats this at various times throughout the book. The correction innocently hints at the frustration evident in the story below it. Given the intimate nature of the situation, “A Morning Story,” sounds a bit euphemistic, but it is in this way that brown creates the whimsical tension we find throughout the novel. Brown uses the same straightforward descriptions in his drawings. They become a powerful tool employed in tapping the core of his memories and drawing out the essence of the moment. The first page is a series of six panels all composed in the same way; a birds-eye view of Brown and Teresa, two pillows and a rumpled sheet. He leaves room for their simple body language and facial expressions to speak of discontent. In the third panel, Teresa attempts to console Brown stating, “I’m sorry, I wish I could please you.” Her statement, though innocent, is a metaphysical one. It articulates Brown’s insatiable need to be pleased and validated. His silent reaction in the following panel, in which he stares blankly out at us, the readers, seems to be a moment of reflection on the precision of her qualification. The story ends on a sad note, as he and Teresa press their foreheads together, their bodies at arms length, in a silent struggle to connect. Although happier stories are spread throughout the novel, the moments of desperation and sadness seem to stand out the most. Brown states, “I always use memory as an editor...I’m letting my memory tell me what the important things were.”⁵ It may be that the honesty inherent in his work and process gave voice to this anguish.

1. Jeffery Brown, Clumsy(Marietta: Top Shelf Productions,2006).

2. David Herman, narrative Worldmaking in graphic Life Writing(Madison: The university of Wisconsin Press, 2011)236.

3. patrick, montero. Daily News, "Dailynews.com." Last modified Sept.8th 2008. Accessed October 20, 2011. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/arts/2007/11/01/2007-11-01_comic_book_artist_jeffrey_brown_more_tha-1.html.

4.Ira, Glass. This American Life, "thisamericanlife.org." Last modified Sept.8th 2008. Accessed October 20, 2011. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/237/transcript.

5.dan, stafford. Ifpthendirt, "http://www.ifpthendirt.com." Last modified Sept.8th 2008. Accessed October 20, 2011. http://www.ifpthendirt.com/interviews.html.