ederwin's review
4.0
This sampler contains [b:Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary|6594164|Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary|Justin Green|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347575798s/6594164.jpg|6787893], Justin Green's fictionalized memoir of his struggles with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Combined with a Catholic upbringing this disorder manifests as scrupulosity. In addition to the common Catholic guilt, Binky (Justin's stand-in) is obsessed by the thought that he is committing a mortal sin when doing all sorts of innocuous things. As he enters puberty, he feels he sins when allowing his penis to point toward a church or especially a statue of Mary. This obsession expands into worry about "penis-rays" from his fingers pointing to those targets. Then expands to include penis-rays from his feet. The expands to inanimate phallic symbols, including almost anything that is even vaguely longer than it is wide.
He tells his story with humor, though it must have been tough to live through it. OCD wasn't even a recognized condition in 1971 when this was published.
This is not the first autobiographical comic, but this style of baring one's soul in comics seems to have started here. Possibly inspired by the prose novel [b:Portnoy's Complaint|43945|Portnoy's Complaint|Philip Roth|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327929440s/43945.jpg|911489], it in turn inspired many comics by people such as Robert Crumb, Harvey Pekar, Lynda Barry, Howard Cruse, Alison Bechdel, and Art Spiegelman (who writes an intro).
One little detail caught my attention. Binky feels uncomfortable when his school coach makes him do nude push-ups as punishment in swimming class. I would be, too! Seems really odd to me now, but nude swimming classes for boys was a common thing in 1950s Chicago, and maybe other places.
This sampler collection contains several short comics, and an essay by Justin Green. The essay, which contains more discussion of his OCD, is not as engaging to me as the comic. He seems better at expressing himself visually, though even the comics are text-heavy. The lovely hardcover edition from McSweeney's does not include these short pieces, but they are not essential.
As you may have guessed, there are many drawings of penises. Maybe that balances-out all the vagina drawings from my recent read [b:Black Hole|38333|Black Hole|Charles Burns|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327895219s/38333.jpg|2283546].
He tells his story with humor, though it must have been tough to live through it. OCD wasn't even a recognized condition in 1971 when this was published.
This is not the first autobiographical comic, but this style of baring one's soul in comics seems to have started here. Possibly inspired by the prose novel [b:Portnoy's Complaint|43945|Portnoy's Complaint|Philip Roth|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327929440s/43945.jpg|911489], it in turn inspired many comics by people such as Robert Crumb, Harvey Pekar, Lynda Barry, Howard Cruse, Alison Bechdel, and Art Spiegelman (who writes an intro).
One little detail caught my attention. Binky feels uncomfortable when his school coach makes him do nude push-ups as punishment in swimming class. I would be, too! Seems really odd to me now, but nude swimming classes for boys was a common thing in 1950s Chicago, and maybe other places.
This sampler collection contains several short comics, and an essay by Justin Green. The essay, which contains more discussion of his OCD, is not as engaging to me as the comic. He seems better at expressing himself visually, though even the comics are text-heavy. The lovely hardcover edition from McSweeney's does not include these short pieces, but they are not essential.
As you may have guessed, there are many drawings of penises. Maybe that balances-out all the vagina drawings from my recent read [b:Black Hole|38333|Black Hole|Charles Burns|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327895219s/38333.jpg|2283546].
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