Justin Green (cartoonist)
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Justin Considine Green (July 25, 1945 – April 23, 2022)Justin Green bio
, Iconoclast Editions website. Accessed Dec. 14, 2013.
was an American
cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...
who is known as the "father of
autobiographical An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
comics." A key figure and pioneer in the 1970s generation of
underground comics Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...
artists, he is best known for his 1972
comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
''
Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary ''Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary'' is an autobiographical comic by American cartoonist Justin Green, published in 1972. Green takes the persona of Binky Brown to tell of the " compulsive neurosis" with which he struggled in his youth a ...
''.


Biography

Green was born in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
, but grew up in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
, the son of a
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
father and
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
mother; he was raised Catholic. As a child he at first attended a Catholic
parochial school A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The ...
, and later transferred to a school where most students were Jews. He rejected the Catholic faith in 1958 as he believed it caused him " compulsive neurosis" that decades later was diagnosed as
obsessive–compulsive disorder Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental and behavioral disorder in which an individual has intrusive thoughts and/or feels the need to perform certain routines repeatedly to the extent where it induces distress or impairs general ...
(OCD). Green was studying painting at the
Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...
when in 1967 he discovered the work of
Robert Crumb Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American cartoonist and musician who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contem ...
and turned to cartooning, attracted to what he called Crumb's "harsh drawing stuffed into crookedly-drawn panels". He experimented with his artwork to find what he called an "inherent and automatic style as a conduit for the chimerical forms in own psyche". He dropped out of an MFA program at
Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
when in 1968 he felt a "call to arms" to move to San Francisco, where the nascent scene was blossoming amid the counterculture there. Green's short comics pieces appeared in various titles and anthologies including
Art Spiegelman Art Spiegelman (; born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman on February 15, 1948) is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel ''Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazines ''Arcade (comics maga ...
's and
Bill Griffith William Henry Jackson Griffith (born January 20, 1944) is an American cartoonist who signs his work Bill Griffith and Griffy. He is best known for his surreal daily comic strip '' Zippy''. The catchphrase "Are we having fun yet?" is credited to ...
's anthologies ''
Arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...
'' and '' Young Lust''. But in 1972, he was overwhelmed by an urgent desire to tell the story of his personal anxieties. ''Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary'' is a solo comic book that details Green's struggle with a form of OCD known as
scrupulosity Scrupulosity is characterized by pathological guilt/anxiety about moral or religious issues. Although it can affect nonreligious people, it is usually related to religious beliefs. It is personally distressing, dysfunctional, and often accompani ...
, within the framework of growing up
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
in 1950s Chicago. Intense graphic depiction of personal torment had never appeared in comic book form before, and it had a profound effect on other cartoonists and the future direction of comics as literature.
Art Spiegelman Art Spiegelman (; born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman on February 15, 1948) is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel ''Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazines ''Arcade (comics maga ...
was so inspired by ''Binky Brown'' that he thought he'd try his own memoir-type story, a strip he called "Maus" which some years later became the seed of ''
Maus ''Maus'' is a graphic novel by American cartoonist Art Spiegelman, serialized from 1980 to 1991. It depicts Spiegelman interviewing his father about his experiences as a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor. The work employs postmodern technique ...
''. Green was also a master sign painter, which he described during the 1980s in his monthly comic strip for the trade publication ''Signs of the Times'', that later became a book entitled ''Justin Green's Sign Game'' (Last Gasp, June 1995). In the 1990s, Green focused his cartooning attention on a series of visual biographies for '' Pulse!'', the in-house magazine for
Tower Records Tower Records is an international retail franchise and online music store that was formerly based in Sacramento, California, United States. From 1960 until 2006, Tower operated retail stores in the United States, which closed when Tower Records ...
. It ran for ten years, later collected into an anthology known as ''Musical Legends'' (Last Gasp, 2004 ). Green still made comics the way he did when he started, by dipping a pen nib into an ink bottle.


Personal life

Green's younger brother
Keith Green Keith Gordon Green (October 21, 1953 – July 28, 1982) was an American pianist, singer, and songwriter in the contemporary Christian music genre, who was originally from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York. His most notable songs are " There ...
(c. 1951Keith Green entry
''Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928–1999''. Accessed Dec. 27, 2016.
–1996) was also involved in the underground comix movement, as an underground distributor from c. 1968–1975, and publishing comics under the name Keith Green Industrial Realities (as well as the imprint Saving Grace) in the period c. 1971–1977. He later became an art dealer. Keith Green died in 1996. Justin Green lived in
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, and was married to fellow cartoonist
Carol Tyler Carol Tyler (born November 20, 1951) is an American painter, educator, comedian, and eleven-time Eisner Award-nominated cartoonist known for her autobiographical comics. She has received multiple honors for her work including the Cartoonist Studi ...
. Green and Tyler met in San Francisco in the early 1980s; they have a daughter together, Julia, who is also an artist. Green also has a daughter Catlin b. 1976 and was first cousins with film director
William Friedkin William "Billy" Friedkin (born August 29, 1935)Biskind, p. 200. is an American film and television director, producer and screenwriter closely identified with the "New Hollywood" movement of the 1970s. Beginning his career in documentaries in t ...
(Green's father and Friedkin's mother are siblings).


Death

Green died on April 23, 2022, in Cincinnati. His death was announced by Carol Tyler on her Facebook page.


Bibliography

The following is a list of books by Justin Green.


References


Notes


Works cited

* * * *


External links


Green's blog




* ttp://www.pengrenades.com Pen Grenades: Justin Green's webcomic
Justin Green memorial tribute originally published in The Comics Journal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Justin 1945 births 2022 deaths American graphic novelists American cartoonists Underground cartoonists American male novelists Inkpot Award winners Rhode Island School of Design alumni 20th-century American Jews Former Roman Catholics People with obsessive–compulsive disorder 21st-century American Jews Writers from Boston Writers from Chicago